Digital Literacy: “Canada Ranks High in Digital Skills: OECD Report”
From The Star (Toronto):
Canadians are not quite as advanced as the Japanese or the Finns on things like literacy and numeracy, the first annual Adult Skills report by the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development found.
But Canada outscores Germany, the U.K. and the U.S., when it comes to the all important new age digital skills, the report to be released Tuesday found.
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The landmark report was undertaken because of the growing importance of high-tech skills in the labour market, according to the authors the OECD Skills Outlook 2013.
The findings are based on a massive survey of 166,000 people in 24 countries, including 27,000 in Canada.
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Sweden and Finland scored highest on digital skills, based on tests that involved sorting email into folders, finding data in spreadsheets, and setting up a meeting using more than one application to manage scheduling conflicts.
Out of all 24 countries surveyed, Canadians ranked 7th in computer skills, 11th in literacy skills and 15th in numeracy skills. The latter finding didn’t surprise the education minister.
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About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.