Digital Competence Assessment Across Generations: A Finnish Sample Using the Digcomp Framework

BasedontheEuropeanframework(DigComp),aself-assessmenttooldigitalcompetencywheelis usedforthisquantitativestudytomeasuretheindividuals’perceptionstowarddigitalcompetence. Withasampleof197individualsfromdifferentgenerationsinFinland,thisstudyaimstoprovide empiricalevidencethatgenerationaltechnologicalabilitiesarediverse.Thedatainthisstudyshow that “Net Generation,” also coined as “digital natives,” has obtained the highest level of digital competence. Nevertheless, when looking at the performance of all the investigated groups, the slightinter-generationaldifferencewasfoundinthecaseofproblem-solving,whereasprogramming wasfoundastheleastdevelopedcompetencyamongthesegroups.Basedontheresults,thestudy concludesthatdigitalcompetenceisverymuchdistributedacrossgenerations.Thisalsocontributes tointergenerationallearningthatmayenhancetechnologicalskillsacrossgenerations. KeywoRDS Digcomp Framework, Digital Competence, Digital Competency Wheel, Digital Natives, European Commission, Finland, Net Generation, OECD

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