Assessing the students' digitalisation at country level by building a composite index based on PISA 2018

This paper contributes to measuring information and communication technologies' (ICT) adoption by students and compares it among different countries. A composite index named the students digitalisation index (SDI) is built based on the 2018 PISA database and by applying multivariate statistical techniques. The index assesses ICT adoption beyond equipment acquisition (ICT access) and activities performed by using ICT (ICT use), and includes students' perception of their digital skills and competencies (ICT engagement). A digital gap between countries was detected. Statistically significant mean differences are observed in terms of type of country, household income, gender, grade repetition, and parents' highest education. There are no other composite indexes to compare students' digitalisation among countries. The SDI index is useful to explain the consequences of mass quarantine due to COVID-19 in the educational field. Countries with a low SDI are expected to suffer more as they are less prepared for virtual education.