Academic literature on the topic 'Adequate digital skills'

Digital skills are a prerequisite today for working, studying, civic participation, and maintaining social relationships in our digitalised technical world. These skills are also important both as a general goal and an instrument for learning. This study briefly presents the aims that are related to digital skills of the Finnish curricula, and explores, using a large sample (N = 3,206) of Finnish upper secondary school students, these young people’s digital skills and their distribution. The study provides new insights into the state of these skills and differences found in them and focuses on the relationship between these results and the students’ present educational choices and future study/employment intentions. The actual variability of digital skills among upper secondary students is one of the main findings of the study. On the same educational level, it was found that digital skills vary enormously, particularly for students’ current educational choices and their future intentions. Digital skills are also distinctly associated with age for 15 to 22-year-olds. At the same time, gender alone appears to have no prominent effect on the level or adeptness of upper secondary school students’ digital skills.

This paper reviews the use of digital skills among teachers to teach English language lesson at schools in Malaysia. It starts by tracking the scenario of digital natives in Malaysia who are studying at school. Next, it reviews the government policies related to the integration of ICT in education especially in English language education as the government has invested a large amount of money to roll out the plan. This is followed by the discussion on teachers’ digital skills in conducting English language classes. It reveals that the barriers of ICT integration are the lack of system support and teachers’ reluctance to adopt the integration in English language lesson. This paper also reviews the courses of continuous professional development among language teachers as to deliver e-learning effectively. This paper concludes the ICT integration in English language lessons is vital and the teachers have to equip themselves with adequate digitals skills to meet digital natives’ expectations in learning English.

The COVID-19 outbreak opened a new scenario where teachers must have adequate digital literacy to teach online and to implement a current and innovative educational model. This paper provides the most relevant results obtained from a quantitative study in which 4883 Spanish teachers of all education levels participated to measure their digital skills, during the last school years. It also proposes a digital skills teacher training plan, taking the joint framework of digital skills of INTEF (Spanish acronym for National Institute of Educational Technologies and Teacher Training) as its reference point. The tool ACDC (Analysis of Common Digital Competences) was used for data collection. The results of descriptive analysis show, overall, the low self-perception that teachers have of their digital skills. In addition, this paper studies the relationship existing between the characteristics that define the population and the teachers’ digital skills level. This relationship is obtained through a multiple linear regression model. The study reveals that digital literacy is not a reality that has favored the teaching–learning process and that a training program is urgently required for teachers to reach optimal levels of digital skills, so as to undergo a true paradigm shift, ultimately combining methodology and educational strategies.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between digital skills and employment and in this way accentuate importance of policy interventions for improving digital literacy.Design/methodology/approachUsing Eurostat data, this paper demonstrates statistically significant correlation between digital skills and employment rates in EU.FindingsThis implies why it is so important for governments and employers to seek, propose and implement new strategies to promote digital inclusion, literacy and the training not only for new ICT professionals but also for the whole workforce.Social implicationsDigital skills, particularly digital literacy, are an important factor for socio-economic development of the society and employability of the labour force. Without adequate digital literacy, it is not possible to participate in the economy and the digital society, particularly having in mind the digital transformation that the world of work is experiencing in the content and the organisation. Beyond the work environment, it also affects the way people live and communicate.Originality/valueIn this paper, the importance and definition of digital literacy are elaborated, explaining the measurement of digital literacy and skills, as well as the relation between digital literacy and employability.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore the essential digital competencies for developing and managing digital libraries. The study identified useful training programs for university librarians to acquire digital competencies. It examined their digital competencies for developing and managing digital libraries in universities of Pakistan. This study also evaluates their digital knowledge in applying security measures to protect digital contents. Design/methodology/approach The quantitative research method was used to conduct this study. Research questions and hypothesis were developed to achieve the objectives. In-depth review of related literature was conducted to draft a list of essential digital competencies for developing and managing digital libraries. It was circulated among the panel of experts to get their valuable feedback to make a final list of digital competencies for developing and managing digital libraries. A questionnaire was developed to measure the status of digital competencies of university librarians in Pakistan. It was pre-tested on 20 respondents before applying to the whole population. SPSS software was used to analyze data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to achieve results. Findings The findings of the study showed that digital competencies for developing and managing digital libraries fall into three main categories: digital competencies for developing digital libraries; digital competencies for managing digital libraries; and digital competencies to protect digital contents. The results revealed that training programs offered by Higher Education Commission (HEC), library associations, library schools, in-house trainings, use of online tutorials and trainings offered by skilled professionals are highly important and useful for university librarians to acquire digital competencies. The study concluded that the university librarians working in HEC recognized universities in Punjab province possess basic level of digital competencies for developing and managing digital libraries. Their digital competencies vary on the basis of their university type, i.e. public and private sector. Research limitations/implications This study measures digital competencies of university librarians in Pakistan. The study has practical implications for librarians, library schools, library associations, university libraries and HEC. Practical implications This study has practical implications for librarians, information professionals, libraries and library schools. The results are useful for librarians to get knowledge of digital competencies which are essential for developing and managing digital libraries and protecting digital contents. They can develop their digital competencies in identified areas. This study has identified useful training programs for university librarians for acquiring digital competencies. The university librarians should use these programs to gain needed digital skills. Social implications Librarians can get knowledge of digital competencies for developing and managing digital libraries to face the challenges of digital age. Originality/value In contrast to previous research work on investigating computer skills, information and communication technology skills, technological skills and general digital skills, this study particularly identifies the essential digital competencies for developing and managing digital libraries. It helps library and information science schools, library associations, training groups and university libraries to offer adequate training opportunities in identified areas to meet the challenges of the digital age.

This article describes the process of design, validation, and implementation (N = 609) of a questionnaire drawn up ad hoc to assess the digital competence of compulsory education students (ages 11 to 13) in the area of communication. The test measures students’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes in the six competences that make up the area of communication, as established in the Framework for the Development and Knowledge of Digital Competence in Europe (DigComp): interacting through new technologies, sharing of information and content, online citizen participation, collaboration through digital technologies, netiquette, and digital identity management. The purposes of the study are to design and validate an instrument to assess compulsory education students’ digital competences in the area of communication based on their knowledge, skills, and attitudes and to analyse such instrument’s psychometric characteristics with special emphasis on its reliability and validity. The method used consisted of the implementation of various psychometric validation techniques and the analysis of the results based on statistical descriptions. Items show adequate discrimination and difficulty indices. Validity was guaranteed through expert judgement and factorial analysis of the test. The conclusion stresses the pressing need for education centres to provide students with adequate educational-communicative training.

Background: Due to constraints in time and resources, medical curricula may not provide adequate opportunities for pre-clerkship students to practice clinical skills. To address this, medical students at the University of Alberta developed a digital peer-to-peer learning initiative. The initiative assessed if students can learn clinical skills from their peers in co-curricular practice objective structured clinical exams (OSCEs).Methods: A total of 144 first-year medical students participated. Students wrote case scenarios that were reviewed by physicians. Students enacted the cases in practice OSCEs, acting as the patient, physician, and evaluator. Verbal and electronic evaluations were completed. A digital platform was used to automate the process. Surveys were disseminated to assess student perceptions of their experience.Results: Seventy-five percent of participants said they needed opportunities to practice patient histories and physical exams in addition to those provided in the medical school curriculum. All participants agreed that the co-curricular practice OSCEs met this need. The majority of participants also agreed that the digital platform was efficient and easy to use.Conclusion: Students found the practice OSCEs and digital platform effective for learning clinical skills. Thus, peer-to-peer learning and computer automation can be useful adjuncts to traditional medical curricula.

The article highlights the problems of the impact of "digitalization" of society on the formation and transformation of human capital, and above all, the development of new competencies, knowledge and skills. The main components of human capital in the modern era, the features of the formal and informal educational process are clarified and disclosed. The necessity of minimizing the precariat class is proved. The main directions of qualitative improvement of human capital adequate to the challenges of the digital age and globalization are defined.

The article deals with some pedagogical aspects of the digitalization of education. The idea of a digital teacher as the leader of digital educational activity is in the focus of the theoretical analysis presented in the article. It is noted that knowledge and information, together with sustainability initiatives, organizational and technological innovations, start-ups, next-practice platforms, smart solutions, systems, technologies and instruments, etc., have become the present-day key drivers of innovative educational platforms, online courses, digital textbooks, etc. influence on the transformation of the educational environment. Education is becoming more personalized. The content of teaching and learning is being changed radically according to its new values, meanings, orientations, as well as educational and pedagogical discourses. It is stressed in the article that teacher’s digital skills and competencies should be identified as the key professional pedagogical skills and competencies for his or her life-long learning, professional development and professional growth due to the challenges of the 21st-century knowledge, information and innovations society and education. As it is stated in the article, to fulfill a system of professional-pedagogical and educational functions more effectively and to guarantee the optimal implementation of information and communication technologies. It is quite necessary for teachers to have adequate skills and competencies that characterize his or her digital professional culture of teaching.

Permasalahan yang dimiliki pelaku Usaha Kecil Mikro dan Menengah (UMKM) di desa Tunjungtirto kecamatan Singosari Kabupaten Malang yaitu masih menjalankan usahanya dengan sistem tradisional, belum memiliki media promosi dan pemasaran serta belum memiliki ketrampilan yang memadai dalam menggunakan media berbasis web. Tujuan kegiatan ini agar para pelaku usaha memiliki media promosi dan pemasaran yang efektif bagi peningkatan penjualan produknya. Metode pendekatannya adalah pelatihan dan pendampingan dengan konten pembuatan platform ecommerce pasar desa digital berbasis web, fungsi dan fitur media berbasis web, dan memberikan bekal ketrampilan yang memadai tentang cara menggunakan medianya. Hasil pengembangan dan evaluasi kegiatan dapat disimpulkan bahwa terdapat peningkatan pengetahuan dan ketrampilan dalam hal pembuatan, pemanfaatan media berbasis web dengan indikator telah terwujudnya media online dan sekaligus diuji coba untuk kegiatan promosi dan pemasaran produk mereka.Kata kunci—Pasar Desa, Digital, Media Promosi, UMKM Abstract Problems that are owned by Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the village of Tunjungtirto, Singosari sub-district, Malang Regency, are still running their business with traditional systems, do not have promotion and marketing media and do not yet have adequate skills in using web-based media. The purpose of this activity is for businesses to have effective promotional and marketing media to increase sales of their products. The approach method is training and mentoring with the content of making web-based digital village market ecommerce platforms, web-based media functions and features, and providing adequate skills on how to use the media. The results of the development and evaluation of activities can be concluded that there is an increase in knowledge and skills in terms of making, using web-based media with indicators that online media have been realized and at the same time being tested for promotional activities and marketing of their products.Keywords—Village Market, Digital, Media Promotion, SMEs

Den digitala tekniken förändras ständigt, vilket innebär att människor behöver anpassa sig och utveckla sina färdigheter. Detta innebär även att förskolan behöver göra förändringar i sin verksamhet för att kunna ge barnen rätt möjligheter för att utveckla adekvat digital kompetens. I en verksamhet där förskollärare och barn har olika förhållningssätt gällande digitala verktyg ställs förskollärare inför en del utmaningar i sitt praktiska arbete. Kvalitativa forskningsintervjuer har utförts med tre legitimerade och verksamma förskollärare i tre olika kommuner, för att belysa utmaningar i förskollärarnas praktiska arbete och undersöka om kvalitativa aspekter och innehåll kommer i skymundan. Syftet är att öka kunskapen om arbetet med digitala verktyg i förskolan och förståelsen för förskollärares uppfattningar om digitalisering och adekvat digital kompetens. Detta görs genom tre forskningsfrågor. Den första forskningsfrågan riktar sig till att avgöra hur förskollärare beskriver sin uppfattning om digitalisering och adekvat digital kompetens. Den andra för att avgöra hur förskollärare beskriver sitt praktiska arbete med digitala verktyg och den tredje för att avgöra vilka faktorer förskollärare ser påverkar arbetet med digitala verktyg och barnens lärande. Slutsatsen är att förskolorna rör sig framåt med digitaliseringen och införandet av digitala verktyg i sina verksamheter, men att arbetet inte är helt lätt. Förskollärarna saknar tydliga direktiv om hur arbetet ska göras för att på bästa sätt uppnå att alla barn ska få adekvat digital kompetens och ett lärande som tydligt kopplas till de digitala verktygen. Det går även att se att leken kommer i skymundan som en kvalitativ aspekt och ett innehåll gällande digitala verktyg. Av denna anledning är det av vikt att undersöka vilka ramfaktorer i svensk förskola som kan förändras för att digitala verktyg ska få en naturlig plats i leksammanhang.Centrala begrepp: förskola, digitalisering, digitala verktyg, lek, adekvat digital kompetens, lärande
The digital technology is constantly changing, which means that people need to adapt and develop their technological skills. This also means that the Swedish preschool needs to make changes in order to be able to give the children the opportunity to develop adequate digital skills. In teaching establishments where preschool teachers and children have different approaches regarding digital tools, preschool teachers are faced with some challenges in their work. Qualitative research interviews have been conducted with three fully qualified and active preschool teachers in three different municipalities, in order to highlight these challenges and to investigate whether qualitative aspects and content gets sidelined. The purpose of this study is to increase knowledge about the work with digital tools in preschools and understanding about preschool teachers' perceptions of digitization and adequate digital competence. This is done through three research questions. The first research question is aimed at determining how preschool teachers describe their perception of digitization and adequate digital competence. The second one to determine how preschool teachers describe their practical work with digital tools and the third to determine which factors preschool teachers see affects the work with digital tools and children's learning. The conclusion of this study is that the preschools are progressing with the digitization and the introduction of digital tools in their daily operations, but that the work is not easily done. The preschool teachers lack clear directives on how the work should be done in order to achieve the best possible outcome for all children to receive adequate digital competence and a learning that is clearly linked to the digital tools. It is also possible to see that the children's play fade into obscurity as a qualitative aspect regarding digital tools. For this reason, it is important to further investigate which framework factors can be changed in Swedish preschools in order for digital tools to have a natural place in children's play.

In the textbook, in section I, the norms and standards of the official business style, genre templates, rules for preparing documents, and the basics of business ethics are set out in a simple, accessible form. It highlights aspects of business communication that, despite their importance, are not reflected in manuals on similar topics. This is information about the problems of adequate understanding of information, working with business terminology, and also gives an assessment of business jargon. Special attention is paid to the forms of information compression in the business text. The theoretical positions are illustrated by relevant examples from various areas of institutional communication. Section II offers a system of exercises for working with the voice as the main tool of business communication. This is the development of good diction and correct reading skills, exercises for mastering the basic rules of Russian orthoepy. Recommendations are given for preparing for a successful oral presentation. The features of phrase construction, the length of the phrase, contact-setting means, the rhetorical potential of the influencing speech, working with special vocabulary and digital information are considered. Meets the requirements of the federal state educational standards of higher education of the latest generation. For undergraduate students studying in management-related specialties.

In the era of digital archaeology, the communication of archaeological data/contexts/work can be enhanced by Cloud computing, AI, and other emergent technologies. The authors explore the most recent and efficient examples, ranging from some intrinsic properties of AI, i.e. capabilities of sense, comprehend and act, and looking at their application in communication both among specialists of the archaeological sector and from them to other recipients. The chapter will also provide a high-level overview of knowledge extraction solutions from tons of structured and unstructured data, to make it available through software applications that perform automated tasks. Archaeologists must be ready to go down in trenches and communicate their studies with a deep consciousness of chances given by these technologies, and with adequate skills to master them.

In 2009, the Romanian Government engaged itself to the ambitious goal of providing most of the traditional administration services through electronic means. The authors’ larger aim is to assess the policy’s chances of success by looking both at the history and the current level of e-development in Romania. While most of governments’ actions are incremental, only marginally modifying existing programs or practices, the e-government policies around the world do not necessarily fall within this model. However, even the miraculous advancements depend on specific realities. Based on the relevant literature, the authors consider the way towards the success of a nation-wide e-government public policy as being paved by several major pre-requisites: educated citizenry, adequate technical infrastructures, offering of e-services that citizens need, commitment from top government officials, and membership in international organizations supporting e-government development. Results stress the importance of the EU membership and the disequilibrium between the level of Romanians’ e-knowledge and that of governmental e-services. The chapter concludes that in the case of Romania, a successful e-government policy should primarily target the raise of citizens’ Internet and computer related skills.

The access to technology has been a problem for most minority students—what some call “the second digital divide” or differences in the use of technology. Access to adequate equipment and reliable high-speed connections remain a concern, but gaming can be a great tool to bridge this divide. The way that technology is employed in learning for minorities is an even bigger and more important issue. In the United States, among black men aged 25 years and older, 45% have attempted college but only 16% have earned college degrees. Technology can be a great contributor in meeting the possibilities of increasing graduation numbers. Gaming and education technology can be used to enhance minority skills in preparation for college and university. Considerable success has occurred when games are specifically designed to address a specific problem or to teach a certain skill. The development of instructors for minority students can be extremely positive in meeting the social economic divide. Tailoring technology and software based on different learning styles and cultural experiences could better guide the instructor. Community college can be within reach of minority students, providing them with the opportunity to succeed in education sciences and technology. The instructor in this new technology can be created by public policy, legislation, and research.

Adequate knowledge about the information needs and seeking behaviour of users is vital for developing digital library collections, services and facilities to meet their information needs effectively. Information seeking as an underlying feature in research cannot be done without an enabling environment where needed resources and services are provided. The available literature reveals that although librarians have made good progress in adapting primary values of librarianship which are to support intellectual freedom and equitable access to information, information seeking process in the Digital Libraries has, however, been found not to be without limitations. Seeking scholarly information in the Digital Libraries is limited by the availability of reliable and affordable information and communication technologies. Information seeking in the Digital Libraries has been found to be limited to those scholars who are affiliated with organisations which have the money and skills to provide access. It has been found limited to those who are literate, information literate and have a command of the major languages of commerce and scholarship (English in particular). Infrastructure, education and skills as well as content were the three spheres identified in this Chapter as preconditions that must be satisfied if broad digital scholarly information is to be sought without restrictions. Provision of effective service in the Digital Libraries as recommended in this Chapter requires sufficient understanding of the real needs of information users and making precise efforts to satisfy them. This can best be achieved through formal in–depth studies of the information needs and seeking behaviour of users. Librarians, especially those involved in bibliographic instruction should be interested in ways individuals approach the library (be it digital or physical) and the methods they use to search for needed information. Strategies intended to improve the provision of library services should be redesigned towards information skills development and information resource awareness.

Adequate knowledge about the information needs and seeking behaviour of users is vital for developing digital library collections, services and facilities to meet their information needs effectively. Information seeking as an underlying feature in research cannot be done without an enabling environment where needed resources and services are provided. The available literature reveals that although librarians have made good progress in adapting primary values of librarianship which are to support intellectual freedom and equitable access to information, information seeking process in the Digital Libraries has, however, been found not to be without limitations. Seeking scholarly information in the Digital Libraries is limited by the availability of reliable and affordable information and communication technologies. Information seeking in the Digital Libraries has been found to be limited to those scholars who are affiliated with organisations which have the money and skills to provide access. It has been found limited to those who are literate, information literate and have a command of the major languages of commerce and scholarship (English in particular). Infrastructure, education and skills as well as content were the three spheres identified in this Chapter as preconditions that must be satisfied if broad digital scholarly information is to be sought without restrictions. Provision of effective service in the Digital Libraries as recommended in this Chapter requires sufficient understanding of the real needs of information users and making precise efforts to satisfy them. This can best be achieved through formal in–depth studies of the information needs and seeking behaviour of users. Librarians, especially those involved in bibliographic instruction should be interested in ways individuals approach the library (be it digital or physical) and the methods they use to search for needed information. Strategies intended to improve the provision of library services should be redesigned towards information skills development and information resource awareness.

This book chapter will assess the state of digital humanities across Hong Kong academic libraries and evaluate the potential for international collaborations. A survey was administered to the eight member institutions of the University Grants Committee in Hong Kong to examine the level of engagement in digital humanities, support structure at their institutions, partnership opportunities, etc. Survey respondents indicated the importance of supporting digital humanities, but this importance has not been fully reflected on the institutional level. Hong Kong libraries have undertaken a range of activities to support digital humanities, and they embrace intra-institutional partnerships. Surveyed institutions also indicated that the potential for international collaborations, in particular, exists and is worth the efforts of further exploration. Their major challenges are building a strong faculty-librarian partnership, getting adequate financial and personnel resources, and enhancing staff experience and skills in this area.

Prensky (2001) posited the emergence of a new generation of “digital natives” fluent in the language of cyberspace and familiar with the tools of user-generated content. If correct, the existence of this group would necessitate a thorough reconsideration of pedagogy to meet their radically different learning needs, which dovetail with the nascent Web 2.0 and its communities of users. The study examined in this chapter addressed a series of questions about the implications of digital natives in Japan, and found contemporary users of technology to be in firm control of only a limited number of skills. Learner use and perception of technology appeared to be mediated by several variables: technological proficiency or the lack thereof, tradition, willingness to use technology (WUT), and gender. The research instruments utilized in this chapter were analyzed and found to be psychometrically adequate. It is argued that these categories and scales will provide a useful resource for further attempts to understand the potential of Web 2.0 and the concept of the digital native in other educational traditions and contexts.

The development of intercultural communicative competence is increasingly important in this globalised and highly digitalised world. This implies the adequate understanding of otherness, which entails a myriad of complex cognitive competences, skills and behaviour. The TILA project aims to study how the use of digital communication means in foreign language education can contribute to the development of intercultural understanding when communicating with peers across borders. Understanding is the result of a collaborative construction of shared knowledge, which can be supported through the use of meta-communicative devices (MCDs) (). This case study investigates how pupils used communication strategies during video communication sessions to achieve intercultural understanding. Results reveal that task-based telecollaboration sessions offer learners the opportunity to achieve mutual understanding by utilizing a variety of meta-communicative devices that help the learners to compare their cultures in relation to time, space and habits, verify meaning and clarify utterances.

Advances in computer technology have led to the increase in the use of information technology in business (Barron, 2002). Computer-mediated communication in the form of the Internet offers unprecedented avenues for the exchange of information and the delivery of instructional materials globally and locally (NHDP, 2003; Robey, Boudreau, & Rose, 2000). Through the Internet and related technologies, people are able to acquire skills and knowledge, adapt learning experiences to their own needs, and assimilate information faster (Azad, Erdem, & Saleem, 1999; NHDP). An organization that is making use of such etechnologies for the advancement of e-business is the Advance Information Technology Institute’s Kofi Annan Center of Excellence for Communications and Information Technology (AITI-KACE), established in 2003 in Ghana. The center is a collaborative initiative between Ghana and India, and is aimed at bridging the gap between education and industry. This initiative was in response to Ghana’s recognition of the social and economic benefits of information and communications technologies. The center is considered part of a national initiative to educate Ghanaians and unleash their creative potential in the use of digital communication technologies for business and education. It is a major skills-development and training institution whose graduates can transition into industry immediately as employees or employers. Ghana’s main challenge is that computer education at all levels is inadequate, and businesses are struggling to incorporate computer applications in their operations. Despite the relative advances made in the adoption of e-technologies in businesses and education, the greatest challenge lies in the fact that a greater part of the adult population does not have adequate knowledge and skills in computer software applications or hardware in order to explore their use in everyday activities or at their workplaces. It is therefore expected that by enrolling in the programs at AITI -KACE, a participant1 can either be employable or have skills to venture out into self-employment. AITI -KACE targets adults—at least those who have completed high school.

Implementation of the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics has provided teacher educators a great opportunity to reexamine whether teacher preparation programs adequately provide the experiences to develop the base of knowledge and 21st century skills necessary to be effective teachers. The Mathematics TPACK Framework provides a roadmap for a series of pathways to integrate three knowledge components that are essential in teacher development: content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and technological knowledge. In this chapter, the authors examine how a teacher preparation program has evolved to integrate meaningful uses of digital technologies in content and pedagogy that are relevant to the teaching and learning of mathematics through the lens of implementing the Common Core State Standards.

Digital literacy has become more and more important in the last decade, and many people predict that in the future, the need for digital skills will be even more crucial than it is today. The dynamic development and use of technology are becoming increasingly common in all areas of life, changing demands of modern life and the labor market, which makes it necessary to educate students from many different study-programs on how to use different digital tools and how to program. Depending on different professions, there are different requirements on what it means to have digital literacy. For some it is most important to know how technologies are created or to use the product effectively, for others it is the security of data transfer that is essential. The different professions have different needs for digital literacy and different use for programming skills. Teaching computer programming can be particularly difficult in the case of introducing programming for non-computer scientists. While computer science itself (programming) is relatively well described in the subject’s literature, the use of programming in other professions is not well defined. There are different suggestions, recommendations according to the level of education (primary, secondary, higher) or the study-programs the students take. There is no definition of what digital literacy is in different professions, what it means to know computer programming in different professions, and to what extend the students from non-computer science courses should master digital literacy and programming. That can cause challenges for the teachers and students in non-computer science professions that are required to know computer programming for their future jobs. There is no doubt that academic computer science skills for non-programmers can mean/contain different knowledge depending on course curriculum, teachers' experience, chosen literature, but the level of obtaining digital skills should be comparable, adequate, and relevant for the modern citizen. This article presents requirements, some descriptions/cases of introduction to programming for non-computer scientists from a teacher’s perspective. An adaptation of the general programming knowledge into the specific need of different subjects. The data is collected from higher education teachers that have different backgrounds and are teaching at different study-programs to get various views and experiences. The analysis of the findings uses SOLO-taxonomy to compare to what extend the different courses introduce programming to students.

Digital technologies are central elements of today's society. In this context to achieve an adequate degree of development of Digital Competence for professional performance is essential, as well as for life in society and the exercise of citizenship. Higher Education must actively contribute to develop Digital Competence, training students to effectively use digital technologies. That need is exacerbated in the case of initial teacher training, not only because of the progress towards a digitalized school, but also because of the fundamental role in the training of future generations. With the aim of promoting the development of Digital Teaching Competence, this paper presents an innovation project implemented in the Degree of Teacher of Nursery and Primary Education of the University of Valencia that is based on the didactic use of EduBlog. The selection of this digital tool responds to its multiple benefits on the work of curricular content, the development of digital skills and the creation of a positive climate in the classroom. The project developed with a total of 131 second-year students demonstrates that the use of EduBlog has a positive impact on the learning process and on the increase in student engagement and motivation.

Previous research studies on digitalization as an important driver of development has been largely discussed in the context of entrepreneurship, determining its effects on economic growth. Over the past decade, the role of digitalization in public administration – in providing quality and user-friendly services – has been stressed, with less emphasis being placed on its importance in strategic planning. The driving force of change is digital transformation, which requires digital skills and knowledge. The digital literacy of European Union residents has improved, yet in seven EU Member States it was rated as low or very low. Lifelong education helps to deal with this problem, and it has become a necessity for the entire society. The aim of the present research is to determine the role of digitalization in strategic policy documents in the context of lifelong education. The paper analysed the National Development Plan of Latvia 2021-2027 (final version), the Digital Agenda 2020 for Estonia and the Progress Strategy “Lithuania 2030”. The mentioned strategic documents have set a number of goals and objectives directly relating to the implementation of digitalization in order to facilitate the work of society, enterprises and public administration. The policy documents refer to digitalization in lifelong education as mostly a communication and information tool requiring adequate digital skills to be provided by educational institutions. The research employed the monographic, content analysis and descriptive methods. The strategic policy documents of Latvia have been compared with the corresponding documents of the other Baltic States, as the historical and economic development of the countries has followed a relatively similar scenario, and all the Baltic States are EU Member States.

In the paths for transversal skills and orientation (PCTO), italian students are considered like workers and therefore they must receive adequate information and training on occupational safety and health (OSH). These methods allow the students not to be excluded from the preventive measures of the health and safety at work by directing them towards self-protection.Today, this process can be supported through the use of digital tools such as videogames. The study describes a participative research and co-design work in 7 Italian high schools of agricultural, construction and manufacturing sectors, in order to co-create an educational tool (videogame) to promote OSH during the PCTO. The format could be a support for training and usable both in the classroom and in internship, according to the indications for the serious game’s design.The study applied qualitative and quantitative methods: survey (277 students), word cafés/focus groups (50 students), 10 semi-structured interviews and 3 WhatsApp groups (12 students) to facilitate the participation and the engagement of teachers, students and OSH experts. Learning by playing has always been an activity, technologies today make it easy and funny, while gaming can offer cognitive and operational elements suitable for recognizing and therefore preventing the occupational risks.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the main benefits and challenges of using a data-driven recruiting system in enterprises. The trend of increasing digital presence in all fields requires new knowledge and skills of employees. Sustainable development of enterprise is increasingly based on human capital and investment in it. Precisely in these conditions of business, on the one hand, there is increasing pressure to attract and hire the highest quality employees more efficiently, which implies large investments in the recruitment processes and on the other hand to justify those investments. The high-quality data-driven recruitment system provides a way to measure the contribution of recruiting process to the success, to adequately manage existing recruitment programs, and to justify investments in their further development. A special part of this paper will be consecrated to the trends and challenges of using data-driven recruitment in the context of the global crisis of the coronavirus COVID - 19 pandemic.

The definition used for learning objects considers them as any digital entity which can be used, reused or referenced during a technology-mediated learning process. Nowadays, this concept has became essential to the development of pedagogical content to be used in large scale educational projects to which are engaged a wide number of educational agents - students, teachers and faculty staff. Guaranteeing reusability of pedagogical content allows its use on different contexts. Therefore, a repository of learning objects that has a well-defined metadata structure can be used to customize learning processes. Recent researches on Learning Object have been contributing on the search of patterns for instructional content development, in order to make them adaptive, generic, portable and scalable enough to improve their potential for reusability. Besides, a wide range of virtual learning environments has been proposed to support these learning objects, with their properties and characteristics. Nonetheless, the great challenge still remains on how adaptive can a learning object be. There are several levels of adaptation that can be reached, and these levels can be established regarding to a wide range of different aspects on teaching-learning processes, varying from the need of keeping track of students’ evolution on building a specified piece of desired knowledge, until their learning styles, a multi-dimensional measure that are not only individual-dependant, but are also influenced by a range of factors so diverse as environment, inter-relational issues and psychological aspects related to how a student deal with certain sort of knowledge to be constructed, or skill to be developed. An architecture for learning objects repositories that intends to be general enough to support different pedagogical approaches and adaptation levels is presented. Such architecture is based on five different but co-related tiers: Syllabus Tier, which encapsulates all organization of learning objects that persist on the Reusable Learning Objects Tier. To select and present these objects in a way that adaptation to students’ background, learning styles and temporal motivation is responsibility of Apprentice Model Tier and Learning Styles Tier, that together drive Presentation Tier to dynamically built the most adequate interface to each student. Therefore, multiple presentations for the same learning object can make learning process more significant to students.

This report maps the African landscape of Open Science – with a focus on Open Data as a sub-set of Open Science. Data to inform the landscape study were collected through a variety of methods, including surveys, desk research, engagement with a community of practice, networking with stakeholders, participation in conferences, case study presentations, and workshops hosted. Although the majority of African countries (35 of 54) demonstrates commitment to science through its investment in research and development (R&D), academies of science, ministries of science and technology, policies, recognition of research, and participation in the Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI), the following countries demonstrate the highest commitment and political willingness to invest in science: Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. In addition to existing policies in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), the following countries have made progress towards Open Data policies: Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, South Africa and Uganda. Only two African countries (Kenya and South Africa) at this stage contribute 0.8% of its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) to R&D (Research and Development), which is the closest to the AU’s (African Union’s) suggested 1%. Countries such as Lesotho and Madagascar ranked as 0%, while the R&D expenditure for 24 African countries is unknown. In addition to this, science globally has become fully dependent on stable ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) infrastructure, which includes connectivity/bandwidth, high performance computing facilities and data services. This is especially applicable since countries globally are finding themselves in the midst of the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR), which is not only “about” data, but which “is” data. According to an article1 by Alan Marcus (2015) (Senior Director, Head of Information Technology and Telecommunications Industries, World Economic Forum), “At its core, data represents a post-industrial opportunity. Its uses have unprecedented complexity, velocity and global reach. As digital communications become ubiquitous, data will rule in a world where nearly everyone and everything is connected in real time. That will require a highly reliable, secure and available infrastructure at its core, and innovation at the edge.” Every industry is affected as part of this revolution – also science. An important component of the digital transformation is “trust” – people must be able to trust that governments and all other industries (including the science sector), adequately handle and protect their data. This requires accountability on a global level, and digital industries must embrace the change and go for a higher standard of protection. “This will reassure consumers and citizens, benefitting the whole digital economy”, says Marcus. A stable and secure information and communication technologies (ICT) infrastructure – currently provided by the National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) – is key to advance collaboration in science. The AfricaConnect2 project (AfricaConnect (2012–2014) and AfricaConnect2 (2016–2018)) through establishing connectivity between National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), is planning to roll out AfricaConnect3 by the end of 2019. The concern however is that selected African governments (with the exception of a few countries such as South Africa, Mozambique, Ethiopia and others) have low awareness of the impact the Internet has today on all societal levels, how much ICT (and the 4th Industrial Revolution) have affected research, and the added value an NREN can bring to higher education and research in addressing the respective needs, which is far more complex than simply providing connectivity. Apart from more commitment and investment in R&D, African governments – to become and remain part of the 4th Industrial Revolution – have no option other than to acknowledge and commit to the role NRENs play in advancing science towards addressing the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals). For successful collaboration and direction, it is fundamental that policies within one country are aligned with one another. Alignment on continental level is crucial for the future Pan-African African Open Science Platform to be successful. Both the HIPSSA ((Harmonization of ICT Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa)3 project and WATRA (the West Africa Telecommunications Regulators Assembly)4, have made progress towards the regulation of the telecom sector, and in particular of bottlenecks which curb the development of competition among ISPs. A study under HIPSSA identified potential bottlenecks in access at an affordable price to the international capacity of submarine cables and suggested means and tools used by regulators to remedy them. Work on the recommended measures and making them operational continues in collaboration with WATRA. In addition to sufficient bandwidth and connectivity, high-performance computing facilities and services in support of data sharing are also required. The South African National Integrated Cyberinfrastructure System5 (NICIS) has made great progress in planning and setting up a cyberinfrastructure ecosystem in support of collaborative science and data sharing. The regional Southern African Development Community6 (SADC) Cyber-infrastructure Framework provides a valuable roadmap towards high-speed Internet, developing human capacity and skills in ICT technologies, high- performance computing and more. The following countries have been identified as having high-performance computing facilities, some as a result of the Square Kilometre Array7 (SKA) partnership: Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Tunisia, and Zambia. More and more NRENs – especially the Level 6 NRENs 8 (Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, and recently Zambia) – are exploring offering additional services; also in support of data sharing and transfer. The following NRENs already allow for running data-intensive applications and sharing of high-end computing assets, bio-modelling and computation on high-performance/ supercomputers: KENET (Kenya), TENET (South Africa), RENU (Uganda), ZAMREN (Zambia), EUN (Egypt) and ARN (Algeria). Fifteen higher education training institutions from eight African countries (Botswana, Benin, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, and Tanzania) have been identified as offering formal courses on data science. In addition to formal degrees, a number of international short courses have been developed and free international online courses are also available as an option to build capacity and integrate as part of curricula. The small number of higher education or research intensive institutions offering data science is however insufficient, and there is a desperate need for more training in data science. The CODATA-RDA Schools of Research Data Science aim at addressing the continental need for foundational data skills across all disciplines, along with training conducted by The Carpentries 9 programme (specifically Data Carpentry 10 ). Thus far, CODATA-RDA schools in collaboration with AOSP, integrating content from Data Carpentry, were presented in Rwanda (in 2018), and during17-29 June 2019, in Ethiopia. Awareness regarding Open Science (including Open Data) is evident through the 12 Open Science-related Open Access/Open Data/Open Science declarations and agreements endorsed or signed by African governments; 200 Open Access journals from Africa registered on the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ); 174 Open Access institutional research repositories registered on openDOAR (Directory of Open Access Repositories); 33 Open Access/Open Science policies registered on ROARMAP (Registry of Open Access Repository Mandates and Policies); 24 data repositories registered with the Registry of Data Repositories (re3data.org) (although the pilot project identified 66 research data repositories); and one data repository assigned the CoreTrustSeal. Although this is a start, far more needs to be done to align African data curation and research practices with global standards. Funding to conduct research remains a challenge. African researchers mostly fund their own research, and there are little incentives for them to make their research and accompanying data sets openly accessible. Funding and peer recognition, along with an enabling research environment conducive for research, are regarded as major incentives. The landscape report concludes with a number of concerns towards sharing research data openly, as well as challenges in terms of Open Data policy, ICT infrastructure supportive of data sharing, capacity building, lack of skills, and the need for incentives. Although great progress has been made in terms of Open Science and Open Data practices, more awareness needs to be created and further advocacy efforts are required for buy-in from African governments. A federated African Open Science Platform (AOSP) will not only encourage more collaboration among researchers in addressing the SDGs, but it will also benefit the many stakeholders identified as part of the pilot phase. The time is now, for governments in Africa, to acknowledge the important role of science in general, but specifically Open Science and Open Data, through developing and aligning the relevant policies, investing in an ICT infrastructure conducive for data sharing through committing funding to making NRENs financially sustainable, incentivising open research practices by scientists, and creating opportunities for more scientists and stakeholders across all disciplines to be trained in data management.