Abstract:

A new trend that is spreading in different parts of the world, advocates a gradual transition of digital literacy to the notion of digital competences, since these are key competences for lifelong learning. Calvani, et al. (2009) define digital competence as the ability to explore and act with flexibility in situations involving new technologies to be able to analyze, select and evaluate critically the data and information, to exploit the potential of technology in order to represent and solve problems and also to be able to build and share new knowledge while having a sense of responsibility and respect of the reciprocity of rights and obligations. The CompéTICA (Compétences numériques en Atlantique, www.competi.ca) project is an ongoing partnership development initiative aiming at the life-long continuum of digital competences While we continue working collaboratively with partners representing schools, community colleges, universities, workforce, and families on our three main objectives, to define the digital competencies as (and/or across) a life-long continuum; to study best (exemplary) practices contributing to the development of transferable ICT skills over the continuum; and to elaborate common understanding (and eventually practices) of how this process can be enhanced at the personal and/or collective level, our first analyses of data seem to point at mutual soft-skills et digital skills development as promising path for successful educational practice (Freiman et al, 2016). The methodological approach guiding our study is rooted in both quantitative and qualitative research paradigms. Our three year exploration of this research topic began in 2015 with a review of the literature surrounding the concept of developing digital skills, also referred to as digital competencies, digital literacy or technological skills. Our review of the literature focused on defining this concept as it evolves from one life stage to another, from early childhood to elementary school or from high school to college for example. According to our review, it seems different countries have varying definitions of digital skill or its derivatives. In Canada, a common working definition of this concept has yet to be proposed. For the purposes of our investigation into the acquisition and retention of digital skills, we have decided to rely mainly on the Canadian non-profit Media Awareness Network’s description (2010) of digital literacy. We will use examples from different case studies, including makerspaces and computer programming initiatives in schools, use of digital sources at the university library, as well as teaching digital literacy to the adults to investigate common paths in the ICT-inclusive ecosystems.

References:
[1] Calvani, A., Ranieri, M., & Fini, A. (2009). Assessing Students’ Digital Competence in Schools. In T. Bastiaens et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2009 (pp. 852-859). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
[2] Freiman, V., Larose, F., Chukalovskyy, R., LeBlanc, M., Léger, M., Bourgeois,Y., Godin, J. (2016). DEFINING AND DEVELOPING LIFE-LONG DIGITAL COMPETENCIES: PARTNERSHIP BUILDING APPROACH. Proceedings of the EDULEARN 2016 international conference, 4-7 July, Barcelona, Spain.
[3] Media Awareness Network (2010). Digital Literacy in Canada: From Inclusion to Transformation. https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/028.nsf/eng/00454.html

Keywords:

Digital competences continuum, partnership development, exemplary practices, soft and digital skills development.