European Commission
Do you know what a botnet is? Can you set up two-factor authentication? And why is it important to clear cookies? Anyone can now use a new online tool dsigned to help evaluate their digital skills. The test takes around 20 minutes and is available in the 24 official EU languages as well as Icelandic, Norwegian, Turkish, Serbian and Macedonian.
According to the latest Digital Economy and Society Index, 44% of Europeans do not have even basic digital skills. Thus, an important part of European society cannot fully benefit from the new opportunities that digital technologies create. The Commission is launching a new online test, that will help respondents understand their strengths, weaknesses and to find appropriate training opportunities.
Understanding one’s digital competences is the first step on the learning journey, and the test can help students to decide about their careers later on, employees to grow in their profession and job seekers to increase their chances of being recruited. This initiative contributes to the Digital Decade strategy and one of its targets: that 80% of Europeans will be equipped with at least basic digital skills by 2030.
5 domains to understand your level of digital skills
The Test your digital skills self-assessment tool is designed with user needs and experience in mind. It can be accessed either from the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform and from Europass. The test is available in 29 languages and can be accessed on phones, tablets or computers. The questions are based on the Digital Competence Framework 2.1 (DigComp) and cover its five domains:
- Information and data literacy
- Communication and collaboration
- Digital content creation
- Safety
- Problem solving
When the respondent completes the test, they will receive their overall result and the scores in each of the five DigComp competence areas listed above. They will be able to download a report and store their results on their Digital Skills and Jobs Platform or Europass profile. On top of this, the platforms will also suggest open online training opportunities that will help strengthen skills in each of the 5 domains. The test can be taken multiple times to monitor progress and choose the right training at the right time.
The test is provided as an open source software so that any organisation, company or institution can integrate the test into its platform, application or service. The tool is the outcome of a project funded by the European Parliament.