Developing a digital competence self-assessment toolkit for nursing students

As digital skills are the most transferable generic skills applicable to 90% of professions (European Commission, 2011) with a 95% of all businesses having access to the internet, the requirement for digital competence is likely to increase; therefore, the need for quantification and the establishment of appropriate indicators (metrics) in a generic format is a priority. This research presents the results of the development and testing of a self-assessment toolkit for the measurement of digital competence characteristics and attitudes, which was piloted with a group of first year nursing students. The survey self-assessment toolkit was derived from the early findings of Janssen’s and Stoyanov’s study (2012) that was part of the wider EU Digital Competence (DIGCOMP) project. Twelve digital competencies were identified, five statements per classification area were defined, and a six-point agreement scale was used; the usefulness of the toolkit was validated through examples of the types of the extracted results (digital competence maps) which were analysed and tested for the mapping of the digital competence characteristics of individuals and groups. The findings suggest that the DIGICOMP framework is applicable as a generic digital competence framework for professional practice. Parallel work of in-depth interviews has identified significant themes that can be investigated in relation to developing the work further in healthcare education; however, these results should be considered in the context of an indicative demonstration of the potentials and the limitations of the toolkit.