Distance Learning, mLearning, Digital Education, Technology

Digital skills, literacies, and competences – there is no shortage of policy documents and well-publicised national aspirations (regardless of which nation you happen to be in!) in this space. But much of the focus tends to be on building up technical competence, tied to particular job responsibilities, or stage of education. Yet, of course, we are surrounded with technologies in almost every aspect of our everyday lives. In part, it frees us from past drudgery, whilst elsewhere it burdens us with new expectations and anxieties. How we live, work, and learn in a digital age is a crucial question.

When considering a response to three documents: Ireland’s National Digital Strategy; Digital Agenda for Europe (now the ‘Digital Single Market‘); and the Digital Roadmap for Irish Higher Education; we wondered whether it might be possible to try a slightly different approach to the more usual development of a competency framework, formal programmes and traditional skills qualifications.