Digital skill and digital literacy for adults (teachers and families)

Abstract

Children have an increasingly early and close contact with ICT, although they often lack the skills necessary to use them safely and efficiently. In terms of children's digital literacy, adults play a very important role in three main aspects: as trainers or directly responsible for their digital literacy; as companions or referents to which children can ask for help; and as an example of behavior models. To exercise these roles adequately adults need a level of digital competence that should be acquired through specific training. The objectives of this study are: (1) to identify the level of digital literacy in a sample of adults (teachers and families), (2) to indicate what kind of digital competences teachers should develop, (3) indicate what type of digital competences should develop families. The methodology used corresponds to that of a case study, for which a self-designed questionnaire is used with 25 dichotomous response questions, on conceptual and procedural aspects (use of the medium and adequate management of personal information). The results indicate that teachers and families show a high and comparable level of knowledge of concepts related to digital identity, and of basic procedural skills in the use of social networks. However, they show a lesser mastery of practical skills for reputation management and online communication. The conclusions of the study point out the importance of digitally literate adults to make them competent in all the areas identified in the common framework of digital teaching competence.