Digital competences: A foundational digital literacy for all

In a European Union (EU) policy and research context, the EU Commission has acknowledged the necessity of digital literacy for engaged citizenship and lifelong learning within the dynamic digital domain. The EU’s Digital CompetenceFramework is the result of an EU research drive to engage and develop key concepts for the knowledge economy and the knowledge society. The EU Commission-funded research has conceptual reference modelling at its core, and DigComp is createdin this way – so that it can integrate easily into the broader EU knowledge model. This endeavour embraces a holistic approach to education addressing the basics of what it is to be aware and educated in a range of digital literacies in ourever-changing, ever-challenging digital environments. Educators can harness the positive side of networked technologies by creating class assignments that use blogs, wikis, and private Facebook pages to promote collaboration and productive exchange of ideas.