The digital competence of students before and after the pandemic

What is the level of digital competence among secondary school students? Are they more adept at assessing information or communicating on social media? Does digital competence go hand-in-hand with academic performance? Who are more digitally competent, students or their teachers? And, compared with before the pandemic, has the level of digital competence increased or has it dropped together with academic performances?

For the first time it is possible to provide a clear answer to these questions thanks to the "Benessere Digitale Scuole” (“School Digital Wellbeing”) project, the first in Italy to assess digital competence with a statistically comprehensive test. On the basis of 3900 tests taken by students from different types of schools, and 305 of their teachers, the report provides a rich and in-depth overview of digital competence in secondary schools. The conclusion reflects on the results and the takeaways for public policymaking and the daily activities of teachers and parents.

Marco Gui is associate professor and director of the “Digital Wellbeing” research centre of the Department of Sociology and Social Research of the University of Milan-Bicocca. He is author of a large number of national and international studies on inequality in the use of digital media, on the relationship between digital media and quality of life, on digital competencies and on the use of technology in teaching. He is author of “A dieta di media. Comunicazione e qualità della vita” (‘Media diet. Communication and quality of life’), published by il Mulino, on the problems of communication overload, and of “Il digitale a scuola. Rivoluzione o abbaglio?” (‘Digital technology at school. Revolution or mistake?’), also published by il Mulino, which offers an assessment of policies on the digitalisation of education. Marco Gui is also one of the founders of the “Network of community pacts for digital education” (www.pattidigitali.it).

Giulia Assirelli, sociologist, collaborates as an independent researcher with various national research institutes and with a network of international universities. Specialising in quantitative methods and impact assessments of public policies, she mainly focuses on issues connected with teaching and social policies. The results of her research have been published in prestigious national and international science journals. She collaborates with the “Digital Wellbeing” research centre of the University of Milan-Bicocca on topics related to digital competence.

Programme appointments must be booked and this can be done online, subject to availability.