This slide deck highlights data collected during 2011 and 2012 by the OECD, and conclusions drawn in computer literacy for Canadians (+USA) for ages 45 - 65.

1. ICT Training for an Aging Workforce
Based on the OECD Skills Outlook 2013 (Study)
OECD (2013), OECD Skills Outlook 2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills, OECD Publishing.
doi: 10.1787/9789264204256-en
Prepared by Dianne Clark
http://trendspire.ca
Tuesday, 28 January, 14

2. What is the OECD?
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
‣ Represents 34 countries:
•
Focuses on domestic/international market economy;
•
Compares policy experiences;
•
Answers common problems;
•
Identifies good practices;
•
Co-ordinates (domestic and international) policies.
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3. Nature of the OECD Skills Outlook 2013 (Study)
Measuring key information-processing skills...
Invaluable in our 21st-century economies
‣ Reporting on Results of Survey of Adult Skills
‣ 166,000 Adults; Ages 16-65
‣ A product of the Programme for the
International Assessment of Adult
Competencies (PIAAC).
‣ Collected between Aug 2011 - Nov 2012
‣ Published November 2013
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4. W5: To Showcase ICT Knowledge, Skills and
Competencies for Canadians, aged 45 -65 (2012)
Definition of ICT: Information and Communications Technology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_and_communications_technology
‣ Proficient skills are required to access, process,
evaluate and analyze information effectively in a
goal-oriented way.
Which Results in Computer Literacy:
•
-
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“The capacity to use ICT tools and applications and the
cognitive skills required to solve problems”

5. Those With Access to ICT
(2010: Table A1.2, Table A1.2)
%
Access to the
Internet
USA
77
71
Canada
82
78
Netherlands
92
91
Iceland
93
92
Korea
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Access to a
Computer
82
97

6. Overall ICT Proficiency Levels
Age 45 - 65 (2012)
%
Table 3.3 (P) [Part 4+5]
No
Opted
Experience/
Out Failed Core
Below
Level 1
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
Can Search Can reserve a
Can sort EDigital
Cannot use a
for, select Meeting Room
using a
Readiness,
Mails Into
Computer
and email an Reservations
Yet No Skills
Folders
excerpt
System
Sample
Task
Chose not to
Participate
in Computer
Assessment
USA
12%
14%
19%
32%
20%
3%
Canada
9%
19%
20%
30%
19%
3%
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7. Conclusions
ICT Proficiency Levels
Table 3.3 (P) [Part 4+5]
‣ In 2012
•
40% of Canadians aged 45-65 could not operate
a computer
•
90% of Canadians aged 45-65 could not interact
with an online form system
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8. Distribution of Low ICT Proficiency
For Adults 45 - 65
Attributes for
45 - 65
84%
50%
63%
33%
Highest numbers were for those 45 - 65: who did/could not take the ICT assessment
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9. Why a Decline in Proficiency?
‣ Related both to differences in the amount and
quality of the opportunities that individuals have
had to develop and maintain proficiency
•
Particularly, (but not exclusively, through formal
education and) training over their lifetimes
•
AND effects of biological aging
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10. Definition of Human Capital
“Knowledge, Skills, Competencies and Other Attributes
embodied in individuals that are relevant to economic
activity”
“Is an important factor in securing employment and
generating income”
OECD, 1998, p. 9
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11. ICT Skills Needed in the
st
21
Century
Major Trends Influencing Development and Use of Skills:
‣ Access to computers and iCTs is widespread
and growing
‣ ICTs are changing how services are provided
and consumed
‣ Employment in services and high-skilled
occupations is growing
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12. World Industrial Share
Percentage change since 1980 (0.0)
2007
Total
Total Services
Manufacturing
Community, social
and personal
services
Finance,
Insurance, real
estate and
business services
International
Trends
-31.38
23.32
18.64
93.77
Communication
Services
High-tech
manufactures
Medium-high
tech
manufactures
Medium-low
tech
manufactures
Low-tech
manufactures
-15.76
-7.42
-31.05
-31.49
-41.47
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13. Importance of Skill Proficiency
For Workplace Productivity
‣ An individual’s occupation is more strongly
associated with how that person uses skills at
work than either his or her educational
attainment or the type of employment contract
he or she has.
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14. Information-Processing ITC Skills
‣ Using e-mail, Internet, spreadsheets, word processors,
programming languages; conducting transactions on line;
participating in online discussions (conferences, chats)
‣ Facing complex problems (at least 30 minutes of thinking to
find a solution)
‣ Are necessary for fully integrating and participating in the
labour market, education and training, and social and civic
life;
‣ Highly transferable, in that they are relevant to many social
contexts and work situations;
‣ and “learnable”
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15. Those who are proficient in ICT and generic skills:
Key Skills and Economic Well-Being
‣ Increase likelyhood of employment, selfemployment and higher earnings
‣ Are helpful in fostering trust, understanding and
mutually rewarding social activities through textbased communication
‣ Reveal that adults with higher levels of skills are
more likely to report that they engage more in
volunteer activities
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16. Perhaps most important
Proficient ICT skills contribute to better health!
‣ People need information- processing skills to
cope with modern healthcare systems
‣ Individuals are increasingly being expected to
assume more responsibility for managing their
health and well-being
‣ Adults with lower levels of skills in literacy are
more likely to report having a fair to poor health
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17. Those left untrained
May grow to lack the basic skills needed for everyday tasks
‣ Even among adults with computer skills, most scored at
the lowest level of the problem solving in technology-rich
environments scale.
‣ Can use familiar and widely available computer
applications to access and use information to solve
problems that involve explicit goals and the application of
explicit criteria, and whose solution involves few steps.
‣ Considerable risk still exists where tasks require the
ability to use a wider range of applications in less familiar
contexts, and to solve problems involving complex
pathways to solutions that require navigating around
impasses.
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18. Solutions
Training Opportunities for Canadians aged 45 - 65
‣ Target those ‘ready’ to improve ICT Skills
•
Those who opted out of ICT test, failed the core test,
and/or achieved less than Level 1
‣ Train those who attained higher, as a show of
support and to provide mentorship to others
‣ Provide a variety of structured and unstructured
learning opportunities
•
ICT activities engaged in, outside of work are more likely
to stick with participants
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19. Digital Knowlege Centre
Training for Professionals 50+
Analyst: Dianne Clark
Linkedin: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/trendspire
http://trendspire.ca
Click to PLAY
Tuesday, 28 January, 14