Measuring the levels of 21st-century digital skills among professionals working within the creative industries: A performance-based approach

TLDR

The study aimed to assess the actual digital skill levels of creative industry professionals. The authors used a performance‑based test comprising authentic tasks to evaluate information, critical‑thinking, creativity, and problem‑solving skills among 87 creative‑industry professionals. Results showed that participants struggled most with digital information evaluation and problem‑solving, rarely cross‑checking answers or offering multiple solutions with explanations, highlighting significant skill gaps that inform detailed skill indices for creative‑industry professionals.

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to measure the actual levels of digital skills among professionals in the creative industries. Therefore, the levels of the following four types of digital skills were examined by means of a performance test: information, critical-thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills. Authentic tasks were developed for each skill and were performed by professionals working within the creative industries (N = 87). As a result, one observational test directly measured a refined set of indices for each skill. The results reveal that the participants have most difficulties with digital information evaluation and problem-solving skills. For example, the participants rarely checked their answers on another website or provided multiple solutions with an explanation. The results contribute to determining detailed skill indices related to the differences in working professionals' digital skill levels.