What does it mean to be Digitally Competent...?

I’ve been giving some thought to the concept of whether I consider myself to be digitally competent. Do I believe I have the necessary IT skills to be able to call myself truly digitally literate?

There has been much said since Prensky (2001) introduced the term ‘digital native’ to the World claiming that today’s generation of human beings require a digitally rich media learning environment to continually stimulate them, due to their continual exposure to digital technology within their lives. This is in direct opposition to individuals such as myself who would be classed as a ‘digital immigrant’ as I have been introduced to this new digital technology and had to adapt to its presence in my distinctly analogue world. Similarly, a ‘native’ is deemed to be more adept at using digital technology than an 'immigrant'; but is this true? 

A competence is defined as “a demonstrated ability to apply knowledge, skills and attitudes for achieving observable results” (CEN, 2013). This is a holistic concept directly related to workplace activities and incorporating complex human behaviours which are  expressed as embedded attitudes. Can you really say based on this definition that most young people today are digitally competent? I think not...well, with the exception of a few, such as the young teenager who recently held TalkTalk to ransom after his single handed take down of their digital network.

Jones-Kavalier and Flannigan (2008) defined digital literacy as "an individual’s ability to perform tasks effectively in a digital environment"; where digital means any information represented in numeric form in use by a computer, tablet or in fact any modern mobile device, and literacy includes the ability to read and interpret such media. To reproduce data and images through digital manipulation and to evaluate and apply new knowledge gained from these digital environments.

So from these descriptions, do I qualify? Do I meet the grade? Am I able to confidently call myself a digitally competent person of the 21^st century? Yes, I believe so. I am confident of my IT skills and achieved knowledge levels gained within the arena of Information Communication Technology (ICT). Suffice to say I can use digital resources to create, utilise, educate, inform and demonstrate as well as being able to continually develop my understanding of computers and IT skills to a standard where I can fix 99% of problems I encounter.

Interestingly, the European e-Competence Framework (e-CF) version 3.0 provides a reference of competences in relation to ICT within the workplace, using a common language for the competences, skills and capability levels of a variety of roles, that can be understood throughout Europe. If your interested, check out those skills competencies they believe are relevant for anyone involved with Education and Training Provision (click here). 

Would you meet the grade?

References:

CEN (2013) European e-Competence Framework (e-CF). version 3.0 [online]: available: Here

Jones-Kavalier, B. and Flannigan, S. L. (2008). Connecting the digital dots: Literacy of the 21st century. Teacher Librarian, 35(3), 13-16.

Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1 . On the Horizon 2001 9:5 , 1-6