Relation between the DigCompEdu and the DigComp2.1
Both the DigComp 2.1 (in its initial version DigComp) and the DigCompEdu are born from the need to create reference frames that serve all citizens in general, and Europeans in particular. For this reason, the European Commission within the 8 key competences for lifelong learning chose the Digital Competence as one of them, the Commission defines the Digital Competence in the following way:
“Digital competence involves the safe and critical use of Information Society Technologies (IST) for work, leisure and communication. It is based on the basic ICT competences: the use of computers to obtain, evaluate, store, produce, present and exchange information, and communicate and participate in collaborative networks through the Internet. “
For a few years now, technology has been tending to be introduced in all areas of our lives, for that reason, citizens (DigComp 2.1) and educators (DigCompEdu), so it is absolutely necessary to create tools to calculate the impact of these in our lives and especially referential frames to be able to evaluate the knowledge that we have of the matter and to know in which direction we have to continue to be able to advance with the knowledge.
For these reasons, today in Europe, the benchmark has become DigComp, a framework developed in 2013 and updated first in 2016 and then again, being the DigComp indicates the digital competence for “citizens”.
To which was later born the DigCompEdu that proposes to define the necessary digital skills for teaching, thus indicating the digital skills that teachers should have.
DigComp 2.1, the latest version of DigComp serves as a frame of reference for entities, administrations and professionals working in the field of training related to the use of technologies. The latest version of this document is adapted to digital advances, discussing transversal issues such as security and problem solving, and other more common ones such as content generation, interaction through digital tools or simple communication. All of them include differentiated competences (a total of 21) that are defined through 8 levels of aptitude, since the first two versions of DigComp (1.0 and 2.0) had only 3 levels of aptitude.
The figure of the educator requires an increasingly broad set of skills. Increasingly relying on digital devices and the duty to help students become digitally competent requires well-educated educators to develop their digital competence.
In conclusion, it should be noted that digital competence goes far beyond the usual use we make of our mobile or our computer, and implies a creative, critical and safe use of information and communication technologies, aimed at achieving the related objectives with work, employability, learning, free time, inclusion and participation in society and, therefore, requires knowledge related to both the specific language of these technologies, and certain behaviour patterns, including , of programming. Above all, taking into account the use that should be given by educators. All this entails the control of the main computer applications, the access to secure sources and the knowledge of the rights and freedoms that assist people in the digital world.