Education
“The importance of the digital divide in education goes beyond the issue of access to technology.
A second form of digital divide has been identified between those who have the necessary competences and skills to benefit from computer use and those who do not.”
- OECD Report 2010 – “Are Millennium Learners Making the Grade?”
"I started this as a beginner, just like my other colleagues, now I feel much more assertive and rather equal to our pupils because they had much higher level of knowledge in computers” - English language and literature teacher, ECDL for Teachers project Kosovo
The impact of ICT (and digital skills) in education cannot be downplayed. Although young people will acquire the skills required to use commonly available technology in a range of ways (both formal and informal), a mixture of technical skills and conceptual knowledge should form a central part of students’ school experience, both as a subject in its own right, and as a way of facilitating learning and development. The situation of young people currently studying who are not sufficiently skilled to meet the digital requirements of tomorrow’s job market will also have serious consequences on the future competiveness of national and international economies. Therefore, greater efforts must now be made at both national and international levels to embed digital literacy into schools and education policies, and in this way ensure that today’s school-going children will be able to work, communicate, and participate fully in an increasingly knowledge-based society.
Digital skills are also becoming increasingly important for teachers and educators, and if they are to be able to utilise all available teaching resources, and inform their students in an engaging and relevant way, ICT knowledge and digital skills will become indispensable teaching tools.
Improved digital literacy and skills’ development have a very positive effect in education – both for teachers, and for students.
