ACER to develop global assessment of digital learning skills

Conducted every three years since 2000*, PISA is a leading international survey that measures 15 year-old students’ ability to apply their knowledge and skills to real-life problems and situations. In addition to measuring performance in reading, mathematics and science, each PISA cycle also assesses student proficiency in an ‘innovative domain’.

The PISA 2025 innovative domain of Learning in the Digital World will examine the extent to which students can use digital resources to learn to solve problems computationally. This includes both their ability to implement a set of cognitive practices that are relevant for learning with digital tools, and how they regulate their thinking and behaviours while learning with digital resources.

ACER has extensive experience in designing and implementing complex, large-scale international assessments. ACER worked closely with the OECD to design, establish and implement PISA during its first five cycles (2000 to 2012), and is supporting the implementation of the first cycle of the OECD’s Study on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) and the International Early Learning and Child Well-Being Study (IELS).

ACER Deputy CEO (Assessment), Dr Catherine McClellan, welcomed the OECD’s decision to award responsibility for the Learning in the Digital World assessment to ACER.

'Learning in the Digital World presents a unique forward-thinking development in international large-scale assessment. ACER welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with the OECD to successfully measure and report on the skills and attitudes that students need to develop to harness the potential of technology for learning autonomously,' Dr McClellan said.

The Learning in the Digital World assessment tasks will be designed to assess skills important in STEM and social science subjects. A wide variety of interactive tools and resources, such as captioned videos, animated graphics, model-building and data analysis tools, block-based programming, simulated environments, and hyperlinked text, will be used to create open-ended tasks that provide learning opportunities for students, in the form of worked examples and automated feedback.

Several pilots of the assessment tasks will be conducted in 2022, ahead of the Field Trial in 2024. The Main Survey will be conducted over nine months in 2025.

*The PISA cycle due to take place in 2021 has been postponed until 2022 in light of COVID-19, and the triennial forward schedule adjusted accordingly.

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