Back in June 2015 I wrote a post about the announcement from the then Welsh education minister, Huw Lewis, about the introduction of a new Digital Competence Framework (DCF) for schools in Wales. As many of you will know, that framework has since been written and is beginning to be implemented in schools across Wales. In the post, I provided a list to several digital literacy or competence frameworks already in place across many countries, highlighting to the digital pioneer schools who were writing the framework that they didn't have to start from nothing and that they didn't necessarily have to 'reinvent the wheel'. Therefore it was interesting to see this morning an update to one of the frameworks mentioned.
The European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens, also known as DigComp, was first published in 2013 and "consists of detailed descriptions of all competences that are necessary to be proficient in digital environments and describes them in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes." DigComp 2.1, published in May 2017, now focuses on expanding the initial three proficiency levels to a more fine-grained eight level description as well as providing examples of use for these eight levels. Note that this particular framework is not necessarily aimed at schools, but are competencies that are applicable for all people. Examples are highlighted for school and the workplace. The framework is split into these five competencies (I've also included the Digital Competence Framework strands and elements as a comparison):
A quick comparison highlights similarities between the two frameworks, especially around Interacting & Collaborating /Communication & Collaboration; Producing / Digital Content Creation. In fact, if you look at the variety of frameworks mentioned in that previous post, these are very common to all and not surprising that they were included in the DCF.
One thing I do particularly like about the DigComp framework is that the competence descriptors, similar to the Citizenship elements of the DCF, are spread out between the competencies. This in my opinion provides a better context for the learning of these increasingly important skills. Currently schools are being encouraged to use a range of resources from the South West Grid for Learning and Common Sense Media to support the Citizenship strand. As many people are saying (including myself), "You don't even need to use a computer to teach the Citizenship strand." This is because these lesson plans from Common Sense Media, very much have a PSE approach in their class delivery. However, as I go on to explain to schools, what is the point of learning about this strand if you're not going to then model what you've learned in context? For example, '3.3 Copyright and licenses' relate closely to the 'Digital rights, licensing and ownership' element of the DCF. However, the DigComp framework places this within the '3.0 Digital Content Creation' competence, arguably the natural place to learn about ownership and digital rights. Likewise 'Online behaviour and cyberbullying' and 'Identity, image and reputation' from the DCF could be developed through the 'Interacting and Collaborating' strand of the DCF. Here, while using a variety of communication and collaboration tools, pupils can look at how they are managing their identity, netiquette and engaging in citizenship through digital technologies. In my opinion it would be more helpful to teachers to have placed those Citizenship elements into the other strands. DCF could then look something like this:
Interacting & Collaborating
Communication
Collaboration
Online behaviour and cyberbullying
Identity, image and reputation
Storing and sharing
Producing
Planning, sourcing and searching
Creating
Digital rights, licensing and ownership
Evaluating and improving
Data & Computational Thinking
Problem solving and modelling
Data and information literacy
Mmm....not too sure where 'Health and well-being' would go.
The European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens, also known as DigComp, was first published in 2013 and "consists of detailed descriptions of all competences that are necessary to be proficient in digital environments and describes them in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes." DigComp 2.1, published in May 2017, now focuses on expanding the initial three proficiency levels to a more fine-grained eight level description as well as providing examples of use for these eight levels. Note that this particular framework is not necessarily aimed at schools, but are competencies that are applicable for all people. Examples are highlighted for school and the workplace. The framework is split into these five competencies (I've also included the Digital Competence Framework strands and elements as a comparison):
| Digital Competence Framework - Wales | DigComp 2.1 |
|---|---|
| Citizenship Identity, image and reputation Health and well-being Digital rights, licensing and ownership Online behaviour and cyberbullying |
1.0 Information & Data Literacy: 1.1 Browsing, searching and filtering data, information and digital content 1.2 Evaluating data, information and digital content 1.3 Managing data, information and digital content |
| Interacting & Collaborating Communication Collaboration Storing and sharing |
2.0 Communication & Collaboration 2.1 Interacting through digital technologies 2.2 Sharing through digital technologies 2.3 Engaging in citizenship through digital technologies 2.4 Collaborating through digital technologies 2.5 Netiquette 2.6 Managing digital identity |
| Producing Planning, sourcing and searching Creating Evaluating and improving |
3.0 Digital Content Creation 3.1 Developing digital content 3.2 Integrating and re-elaborating digital content 3.3 Copyright and licenses 3.4 Programming |
| Data & Computational Thinking Problem solving and modelling Data and information literacy |
4.0 Safety 4.1 Protecting devices 4.2 Protecting personal data and privacy 4.3 Protecting health and well-being 4.4 Protecting the environment |
| 5.0 Problem Solving 5.1 Solving technical problems 5.2 Identifying needs and technical responses 5.3 Creatively using digital technology 5.4 Identifying digital competence gaps |
A quick comparison highlights similarities between the two frameworks, especially around Interacting & Collaborating /Communication & Collaboration; Producing / Digital Content Creation. In fact, if you look at the variety of frameworks mentioned in that previous post, these are very common to all and not surprising that they were included in the DCF.
One thing I do particularly like about the DigComp framework is that the competence descriptors, similar to the Citizenship elements of the DCF, are spread out between the competencies. This in my opinion provides a better context for the learning of these increasingly important skills. Currently schools are being encouraged to use a range of resources from the South West Grid for Learning and Common Sense Media to support the Citizenship strand. As many people are saying (including myself), "You don't even need to use a computer to teach the Citizenship strand." This is because these lesson plans from Common Sense Media, very much have a PSE approach in their class delivery. However, as I go on to explain to schools, what is the point of learning about this strand if you're not going to then model what you've learned in context? For example, '3.3 Copyright and licenses' relate closely to the 'Digital rights, licensing and ownership' element of the DCF. However, the DigComp framework places this within the '3.0 Digital Content Creation' competence, arguably the natural place to learn about ownership and digital rights. Likewise 'Online behaviour and cyberbullying' and 'Identity, image and reputation' from the DCF could be developed through the 'Interacting and Collaborating' strand of the DCF. Here, while using a variety of communication and collaboration tools, pupils can look at how they are managing their identity, netiquette and engaging in citizenship through digital technologies. In my opinion it would be more helpful to teachers to have placed those Citizenship elements into the other strands. DCF could then look something like this:
Interacting & Collaborating
Communication
Collaboration
Online behaviour and cyberbullying
Identity, image and reputation
Storing and sharing
Producing
Planning, sourcing and searching
Creating
Digital rights, licensing and ownership
Evaluating and improving
Data & Computational Thinking
Problem solving and modelling
Data and information literacy
Mmm....not too sure where 'Health and well-being' would go.
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