This document discusses strategies to reduce the gap between those with strong e-skills and those without. It addresses 3 main points: 1) A knowledge economy demands a highly qualified workforce with strong e-skills to remain productive and competitive. However, many countries face mismatches between the skills taught in schools and those demanded by employers. 2) Efforts to integrate information and communication technologies (ICT) into education have been uneven, and initiatives have not always led to improved academic performance. Basic ICT skills are still lacking for over a third of Europeans. 3) E-competence involves more than just technology skills and includes abilities like managing knowledge, collaborating, innovating, and using digital tools critically across

1. Photo by: Van Wedeen, Ruopeng Wang, Jeremy Schmahmann, and Guangping Dai of the MGH Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging in Boston, MA; Patric Hagmann of EPFL and CHUV, Lausanne, Switzerland; and Jon Kaas of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN. [+]
Dr. Cristóbal Cobo Romaní
e-competencies.org
Visiting Fellow SKOPE,
University of Oxford
How to reduce the gap between the
e-skilled and the non e-skilled?

2. - Strategies to promote the development of e-

- competencies.
Trends that are likely to have an impact on the

- e-skills development.
Mapping the e-skills gap.
-

Comparative analysis (benchmarking) policies,

strategies and programmes.

3. <DIR>
1. Knowledge economy demands
a highly qualified labour force.
Why HQ labour force?
2. Uneven strategies to integrate
ICT in the educational sector.
How effective have the IT & Ed.
initiatives been?
3. Relevance of ICT competence
in a broad sense.
What means e-competence?
4. Recommendations,
Conclusions (in process).
So what?

4. Knowledge society: - memory and + ability to
interrelate contents in different contexts.
Current education: Demanding the capacity to stimulate creativity,
invention, imagination, as well as the ability to be constantly innovative.
education

5. 1.Knowledge economy demands
a highly qualified labour force.
Knowledge Economy Index (KEI) [World Bank, 2008.]
See Index +

6. 1.Knowledge economy demands
a highly qualified labour force.

7. 1.Knowledge economy demands
a highly qualified labour force.
Relationship between the global market and the
up- skilling workers:
- Many countries are experiencing skill gaps.
- Employers cannot find suitable, qualified workers.
- Pressure to upgrade the skills of domestic low-qualified workers.
Relationship between qualification and productivity:
- Differences in productivity: explained by low skills & ed. achievement.
- (R) Correlation between investment in the Human Capital workers
and a country’s future growth, labour productivity & competitiveness.
What are the challenges for the next 5 to 10 years?
- Young people: Being prepared for modern labour markets
(comm. skills from literacy and numeracy to IT and foreign languages).
- (R) Mismatch between skills taught (schools) & demanded (firms).
OECD. 2006. Skills Upgrading, New Policy Perspectives. Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development. +

8. 1.Knowledge economy demands
a highly qualified labour force.
The Lisbon strategy and Education & Training 2010
-(2010) „Europe should become the most competitive and dynamic
knowledge based economy in the world”.
- Key skills: literacy in reading, mathematics and science; language
skills; ICT skills; civic skills & learning to learn.
- Technology literacy (knowledgeable workforce,
added value, proficient ICT skills).

9. Programme for International Student
1.Knowledge economy demands
Assessment (PISA): 90% World Econ.
a highly qualified labour force.
60 countries, 5~50K students per country.
Toward measuring ICT skills & a range of dynamic tasks.
PISA (OECD )
- Reading, Math., Science & ICT cross-curricular competencies like
comm. & problem-solving will be important for students’ futures.

10. Digital Literacy Review (2008):
2.Uneven strategies to integrate
470 digital literacy initiatives EU
ICT in the educational sector.
L1:access & connectivity>
L2:basic ICT skills>
L3:digital skills.
Level 1: Access to ICT
• £300 million have been invested to embed technology in further education (99-09) [Becta].
• The U.S. Department of Education will spend U$ 1 billion ('09-'10) in educational technology [+].
• The European Commission has planned € 1 billion to bring broadband to rural areas [+].
Level 2: Basic ICT Skills [1st digital divide]
470 digital literacy initiatives.
• Over 1/3 of Europeans have no basic ICT skills.
• The demand for e-skills is growing while supply is declining.
• There is an ongoing decline in the # of students starting ICT courses.
• The gender gap (>20% of ICT practitioners in the EU are women).
• 49% of citizens in sparsely populated areas never used the Internet (ECDL/Eurostat).
Level 3: Advanced Use of ICT (Participation+Transaction)
[2nd digital divide]
• Quality of use.
• ICT skills.

11. „Can schools improve their teaching
2.Uneven strategies to integrate
effectiveness by investing more heavily
in technology?” [+] ICT in the educational sector.
[age.gender.education.location]
Source: “Digital Literacy European Commission Working Paper and Recommendations
from Digital Literacy High-Level Expert Group” (+). [Ministerial e-Inclusion Conference, 2008].

12. “There is no evidence, that increased
2.Uneven strategies to integrate
educational use of computers
ICT in the educational sector.
actually raised pupil test scores” [+].
[1.acces. 2. ICT literacy. 3. e-awareness/informational]
Source: “Digital Literacy European Commission Working Paper and Recommendations
from Digital Literacy High-Level Expert Group” (+). [Ministerial e-Inclusion Conference, 2008].

13. „Danish, Swedish students have been 2.Uneven strategies to integrate
leading the acquisition of ICT skills
ICT in the educational sector.
based on informal assistance” [+]
[self-learning & informal learning]
Source: “Digital Literacy European Commission Working Paper and Recommendations
from Digital Literacy High-Level Expert Group” (+). [Ministerial e-Inclusion Conference, 2008].

14. 2.Uneven strategies to integrate
inconvenient truth: ICT in the educational sector.
Benchmarking Access & Use ICT in EU schools [Empirica, 2006]:
The majority of teachers in most advanced countries (Dk. Se. Fi. Ne)* use ICT in less than
5% of their classes. Only 10% of those teachers use the PC more than 50% of their lessons.
- PISA [OECD, 2003]:
Students using PC more frequently at school do not perform better than others.
Highest performances: students with a medium level of computer use.
Progress Towards The Lisbon Objectives [EU 2008] :
“Progress has been patchy”
Se. & Fi. register the lowest use of ICT in Europe
Impact of ICT on students’ performance was highly dependent on teaching approaches.
IEA 2nd Information Technology in Education Study [2006]
No correlation: ICT access & Ø of teachers having used ICT in their teaching.
No correlation: Levels of ICT use & levels of perceived learning gains from ICT use.
Oversold and Underused Computers In The Classroom [Cuban, 2001]:
No clear advances (last decade) that can be confidently attributed to broader access to PC.
Access, Adequacy, and Equity in Education Technology [NEA, 2008, USA]
Most educators use technology @ school for administrative tasks (fewer for class).
InfoDev. World Bank [Kozma, 2005 ]
“The positive impact of ICT use in education has not been proved“.

15. 2.Uneven strategies to ingrate
trends: ICT in the educational sector.
“The impact of ICT on education and
training has not yet been as great as expected”
1. Advanced countries are not (very) intensive ICT users in class.
2. Frequency of ICT use among students does not determine their academic
performance.
3. No correlation between the level of ICT access and the percentage of the ICT
use.
4. The impact on education and training has not been as great as expected.
5. No clear advances over the last decade that can be confidently attributed to
broader access to PCs.
6. Very little scientifically based research to gauge the effectiveness of
technology.
7. Increasing PC access does not bring about more learning experiences.
8. Educators use technology regularly at school for administrative tasks, but
substantially fewer use it for instruction-related tasks.
9. Students of the most advanced countries developed their ICT skills (mostly)
through self- and informal learning.
10. There’s a lack of coordination between the adoption of technology in the
classroom and the embracing of flexible learning strategies.

16. “Yet the educational consequences of the full
OECD. 2004
use of ICT are far from clear […]
The impact of new technology in schools
ultimately relies on how it is used”
Technological Myth
Are Students Ready for a Technology-Rich World?
(Programme for International Students Assessment. OCDE, 2008).

17. “ICT are primarily being
used to reinforce
existing teaching
paradigm, rather than
support a significant
qualitative change in
learning” [OII, R. Eynon].

18. 3.Relevance of ICT competence
in a broad sense.
“The workforce now requires employees to know how to do more than
simple procedures […] who can recognize what kind of information
matters, why it matters, and how it connects and applies to other
information […] It is an emphasis on what students can do with
knowledge, rather than what units of knowledge they have”
[Education sector, Silva, 2008].

19. e-competence: 3.Relevance of ICT competence
Capabilities and skills to in a broad sense.
manage tacit and explicit
knowledge, as well as to - European e-competence Framework:
use digital technologies ICT user skills + e-Business skills + ICT Practitioner
in a knowledge-based
- OECD:
economy.
Basic skills + Advance skills + Specialist skills
E-competence goes - ECDL/Council of European Professional
beyond the use of any Informatics Societies (CEPIS):
ICT practitioner /
specific ICT, it also
ICT end-users-skills /
includes working e-business skills /
collaboratively, to
(underlying concepts)
constantly innovate and -e-awareness (understanding)
create new ideas while
-technological literacy (use ICT)
facing changing
-informational literacy (assess & use critically)
problems in unknown
-digital literacy (manage, integrate, create, share)
contexts.
-media literacy (merging & message)
(Gilster 1997, Peña, 2009, Ontario Association for Media Literacy 1989, CEDEFOP 2004, ETS 2003, Pernia 2008, OECD 2007,
Next Generation Learning, UNESCO 2008 and Boles, 2009, Jenkins 2008, Charter for Media Literacy, 2009).

20. E-Awareness: Understanding the relevance of information & knowledge and
the ICT in a knowledge-based-society. Lifelong learning paradigm. Use of
ICT as a medium to facilitate individual or collective acquisition of knowledge.
Digital Citizenship (legal & ethical behaviour).
Technological Literacy: Confident & critical use of electronic media for study,
work, leisure and communication. Main ICT operation (information storage &
management). These abilities could be acquired in a formal environment (e.g.,
ECDL) or informal ways (through self-learning or mates).
Informational Literacy: Ability to read with meaning, to understand, assess
(reliability and quality), connect and critically use the information in multiple
formats & diverse digital sources. Decide what information is needed in a specific
context or task.
Digital Literacy: Information management skills (instrumental) combined with
critical thinking, creativity and innovation (strategic). Access, retrieve, store,
manage, integrate, evaluate, create, present, share, exchange & communicate
information or knowledge in multiple formats .
Media Literacy: Understanding of how the traditional mass media and the
digital media are merging, evolving toward a new media landscape. How are
they adopting new formats & their implications.

21. “ICT professionals demand will
4.Relevance of ICT competence
exceed supply by around 12% per
in a broad sense.
year over the coming years” [+].
BECTA (2008-2011):
Development of capabilities: Training
(effective use of IT), networking between
stakeholders, best practice, informal learning,
up-skilling the workforce, incentives to use
online & blended learning, update training &
qualifications (e-assessment).
Promoting the e-engagement: e-awareness
acquisition, promotion of e-skills, increasing
engagement of learners, promotion of
interoperability, policy advice, promoting the
use of standards.
Standardization (human & technological):
Definition of IT professional standards &
adoption of standards in the e-learning
British Strategies:
practices.
e-skills UK,
Research & Evaluation: ensuring that the Becta,
education and training experience is tailored to Big Ambition,
different learners’ needs, evaluating the impact CC4G,
of the mentioned initiatives & development of Functional Skills,
e-assessment.
*Veugelers, M. and Newrly, P.(2008) How to strengthen digital literacy? Practical example of a European initiative “SPreaD” [pdf]. Nº 12 • February 2009. ISSN 1887-1542 (www.elearningpapers.eu +)

22. 4. Recommendations,
“Technology is invisible and intuitive;
students don’t ‘learn technology„ ” [Oblinger, 2005] Conclusions (in process)
1. Long Term Agenda.
[ICT Competency Standards for Teachers. UNESCO, 2008].
2. Stakeholders Partnerships.
3. e-Inclusion.
4. Standardization.
5. e-Awareness.
6. Pedagogical Shift.
7. e-Skills Teachers.
8. R&D.

23. 4. Recommendations,
Conclusions (in process)
1. Long Term Agenda:
- Integrate a broad range of
views (national & global
context).
- Common strategies &
standards to face the need for
a highly qualified workforce for
the coming decades.
Illustrator: Allan Stochholm

24. 4. Recommendations,
Conclusions (in process)
2. Stakeholders
Partnerships:
- Dialogue between education,
businesses and users.
- Collective initiatives to
improve the educational
sector.
- Challenges in the up-skilling &
re-skilling of the current and
the next workforce.
Illustrator: Allan Stochholm

25. 4. Recommendations,
Conclusions (in process)
3. E-inclusion:
- Not just ideal “knowledge
worker”.
- Keep in mind levels 1, 2 & 3.
Short-middle term, reach the 3rd
level of e-competence (info.,
media & tech. literacy & e-
awareness).
- Reduce the gender gap.
- Free software and low cost
technology, subsidizing SMEs.
Illustrator: Allan Stochholm

26. 4. Recommendations,
Conclusions (in process)
4. Standardization:
-Set ICT competencies,
standards (criterias) &
certifications.
- Common understanding
should be nationally but also
internationally recognized.
- Simplify mobility of the
workforce.
- Generate the needed
conditions.
+ European e-Competence Framework.
+ ECDL.
+ European credit transfer system.
+ Ministry of Education in Taiwan.
Illustrator: Allan Stochholm

27. 4. Recommendations,
Conclusions (in process)
5. e-Awareness:
- Promote continuous updating
of ICT competencies.
- Engaging new generations of
professionals in technology-
related careers.
- Understanding the importance
of ICT competence (big picture)
- Acquisition of e-competence as
continuous process (informal).
- Promoting the acquisition of
these skills in the people´s own
work/study context.
-Bottom –up approach.
Dan Perjovschi

28. 4. Recommendations,
Conclusions (in process)
6. Pedagogical Shift:
- Uneven & patchy results.
- Avoid reductionist approaches.
- Impacts are not always
predictable.
- ICT + project-based learning, self &
collaborative learning, combining
knowledge & disciplines, merging
divisions between on/off learning
(blended).
- Re-think the curriculum (not
limited to ICT).
- Self & informal learning.
- Assessing non-formal/tacit.
Illustrator: Allan Stochholm

29. 4. Recommendations,
Conclusions (in process)
7. E-Skills Teachers:
- Impact of ICT on students are
highly dependent on the
teaching approaches.
-New role of teacher (ppt.).
-Flexible ICT Competency
Standards & other “soft skills”
(communication skills; team-
working skills; problem-solving
skills; entrepreneurial skills;
creativity; among others).
-ICT Peer Coaching. Networks.
- Certification.
- Incentive to teachers.
- Pedagogical ICT skills
(avoid the restrictive use of ICT).
Illustrator: Allan Stochholm

30. 4. Recommendations,
Conclusions (in process)
8. Research &
development:
-More evidences are required
from critical studies.
-Evaluate systematically the
effectiveness & impact.
-“Internal” evaluation an
“observatory perspective”,
- Bring new insides & best
practices from other
contexts.
Dan Perjovschi