You have probably heard a lot about digital skills – seems everyone is talking about it these days. It has become something every individual is expected to possess. While different academicians and professionals have given different meanings of what they believe it means to be digitally skilled, our best definition of what this means is simple and thus:
To Leverage information, communication and technology for personal and professional development.
You are probably thinking, so what is ICT (The acronym for Information, Communication, and Technology). That, we will break down in another post.
It’s actually really simple? Think of it as personalizing your use of technology to achieve your goals in life. There is an overlap between our personal and professional lives. For instance, what used to be our personal news now seems like public news.
Ask yourself, how do I need to use technology?
When you can answer that question, then you have discovered what digital skills you need to possess to achieve your goals.
The point is, ICT has cut across all spheres of our lives today so it is important that we leverage upon it to improve ourselves and our way of living, not just personally but professionally. This is why we take on that simple explanation of what it means to be digitally skilled. It’s also where the future of EdTech gets interesting, because we may be in the same classroom but what I need to succeed may not be the same as what you need. However, there are some skills everyone, regardless of background, field, gender, or any other reason should possess.
At the end of the day, we should all strive to be good humans. Technology is a tool we can use to get us to where we need to be!