The Coalition for Digital Intelligence (CDI), a platform created in association with the World Economic Forum (Forum) and formed jointly by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), IEEE Standards Association (IEEE), and DQ Institute, has today launched the DQ Global Standards Report 2019 which is the world’s first attempt to define a global standard for digital literacy, skills and readiness across the education and technology sectors. The OECD, the Forum, the World Bank, and the United Nations have all identified these digital competencies as fundamental for future readiness.
The report is launched at the seventh annual Global Education and Skills Forum (GESF) 2019, a Varkey Foundation initiative, where leading personalities from the public, private, social, entertainment and sports sectors and almost 2000 delegates discuss new ways for education to transform our world, and how new influencers are to bring about seismic change.
The new DQ global standard is the culmination of the successful collaboration across global public, private, and civic education and technology communities that began with the launch of the CDI at the Sustainable Impact Summit, the World Economic Forum in September 2018, and aims to establish a global, common language and set of norms around the digital competencies that will be increasingly required in an era of rapid technological progress.
“Companies, governments and organizations invest millions each year in developing digital literacy and skills, yet there is a severe lack of coordination or a globally shared understanding of what terms like digital skills and digital literacy mean, and it is difficult to address how to improve and sustain them. For the world to build comprehensive digital competency more efficiently and effectively, there is an urgent need for coordination and consensus on a common set of understanding, structure and taxonomy — a global standard for digital literacy, skills, and readiness. That’s what this report sets out to achieve, ”explains DQ Institute Founder, Dr Yuhyun Park.
The CDI aims to establish a global framework for Digital Intelligence, DQ, which includes a common set of definitions, language, and understanding of comprehensive digital literacy, skills, and readiness that can be adopted by stakeholders worldwide, including national governments, educators, technology companies, and service providers.
“We have been talking about digital literacy in the U.S. since the 1980s. Unfortunately, we haven’t made much progress, partly because we don’t have a common framework. When we say digital literacy a lot of people just think of computer skills. Others may think about media violence or even computer programming. All are a part of digital literacy, but there hasn’t been a framework to integrate all these pieces. With proper digital literacy education, we reduce the risks children face and give them the skills they’ll need to be successful in a new economy.”, said Douglas Gentile, Professor of Psychology at Iowa State University.
The DQ Framework
DQ is a comprehensive set of technical, cognitive, metacognitive, and socio-emotional competencies that enable individuals to face the challenges and harness the opportunities of digital life. It is made up of three levels, eight areas, and 24 competencies composed of knowledge, skills, and attitudes and values.
The DQ Standards are unique as overarching concepts that encompasses the competencies of digital literacy, skills, and readiness, with a systematic structure built on the OECD’s Education 2030 Learning Framework and by aggregating 25 leading global approaches including UNESCO’s Digital Citizenship Competency Framework, European Commission’s Digital Competence Framework, US Common Sense’s Digital Literacy Framework and Singapore’s Skills Frameworks. DQ has a common language and taxonomy, with an adaptable framework that enables national and organizational adoption, customization and agile evolution to ensure that the framework remains pedagogically and technically up-to-date.
Vikas Pota, Chairman of the Board, Varkey Foundation, which runs GESF, said: “With the theme of this year’s GESF being “Who is changing the world?”, the launch of this report could not be better timed. The DQ global standards allow organizations and individuals to fully harness digital technology, but also maximize personal strengths such as empathy and global citizenship. By giving the critical digital skills issues of the future a key reference point, the DQ global standards represent a significant step forward, and I look forward to witnessing their wider adoption across the world.”
Edited by Neo Sesinye
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