Exploiting Digital Skills in Higher Education

Thus far, digital transformation had a strong impact on business and society. The large-scale adoption of digital technologies changed social relationships and opened up to new opportunities for higher education. Currently, the interplay between innovation and digitalization become are among the most important assets for the educational system. In this light, this chapter aims to explore how digital skills and competencies modify the issue of co-creation in higher education. The authors use the case study analysis to explore such theme. The Little Genius International case is presented and discussed: an international alternative school in English for digital natives recognized as the best benefit corporation for the world. The main contribution of the chapter is that it outlines what are the new digital skills and competencies enabling a better understanding of the concept of students' co-creation in HEIs.

Using ICT in the Classroom for Acquiring Digital Competences

This research will explore the use of ICT tools in primary school and its impact on digital competences. What digital competencies can mean in this context and how they can be integrated into the primary school curriculum are some of the questions this chapter will explore. This chapter will present three case studies with three primary school teachers who participated with their students in CRISS project (CRISS is a project financed by the European Commission, through the Horizon2020 programme, ID:732489) during which all used CRISS platform and their experience with the process of students' digital competences evaluation, obstacles that they encountered during this process, and how the use of ICT tools can improve primary school students' digital competences. The advantages and disadvantages of this type of learning method will emerge and be discussed.

Women Empowerment Through ICT

ICT has the biggest potential today to become a key vehicle for the socio-economic advancement of women. There exists a plethora of opportunities for ICTs to improve women's economic activities in the field of trade, governance, education, health, crafts, employment in formal as well as informal sectors. It can be used to fight many social issues and to empower weaker segments of society. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the opportunities which ICT can provide to improve the life of a woman in India. It will include the voices which speak of how women can fully participate and benefit from ICT and how ICT can be used as a tool to empower women. Women also should have an equal advantage of technology and the use of ICT should not be restricted to the upper section of the society. The aim here is to explore how women in India can improve their lives by using ICT. At last, it will also suggest ways on how all the segments of the female population can have benefited from technology.

The Need for (Increased) ICT Skills in the Era of Digitalization

Automation and digitalization have had profound effects on job losses as well as on skill requirements in advanced economies. This chapter analyzes the spatial distribution of ICT-skills requirements by analyzing some 73,000 job offers for the Austrian region of Styria. This region is characterized by a large variability of specialization patterns throughout its districts as well as differences regarding population density and infrastructure accessibility. The analysis allows to draw conclusions on the need for both basic and special ICT-skills for different education levels for 287 municipalities. The results also draw light on problems related to the new “digital divide” indicating the phenomenon that people have access to digital infrastructure but not yet acquired the digital competences to find work. One interesting conclusion is also that high-skill ICT-requiring jobs have the highest level of agglomeration – both compared with other skill-levels and with non-ICT related academic job positions.

Role of Virtual Laboratories in Teaching Learning Processes of India

Laboratory training and exercises provide hands-on experience to the students. However, the limitations in the laboratory facilities in the engineering colleges may affect the teaching and learning process of the future engineers. Hence, Government of India has started an initiative called Virtual Lab to overcome this issue. The premier institutions in India were funded and these institutes are the nodal centre in providing virtual lab facilities to colleges which do not have sophisticated laboratory facilities. The advancement in IT and internet facilities can no more hamper students and researchers in enhancing their skills and knowledge. Also, in a country such as India, costly instruments and equipment need to be shared with fellow researchers to the greatest extent possible. This chapter discusses and highlights the Virtual Lab initiatives and implementations.

Facilitating the Educational Process in Synchronous Group Advisory Online Meetings in the Hellenic Open University

The Hellenic Open University launched synchronous online group advisory meetings for the academic year 2016-17 through the Skype for Business videoconferencing platform. This chapter focuses on the extent to which interaction, immediacy, and collaborative learning are developed in this particular online learning environment, as well as on the skills required for an efficient adult e-tutor. Research conducted in 2019 has shown that learners scored high in terms of interaction, immediacy, and collaborative learning between each other and their tutor, especially when working in online workgroups, while the learning process was facilitated by immediate e-tutor feedback, which resolved queries, and the effective facilitation of the discussion. In terms of factors hindering the learning process, learners cited the lack of meaningful relationships with their peers as a leading οne, e-tutors pointed to technical problems, while both agreed on the inadequate use of communication and collaborative tools in an online environment.

The Integration of Educational Technologies in Foreign Language Education

The aim of this chapter is to examine the use of educational technologies in foreign language teaching in Greece. It explores whether FL teachers tend to integrate learning tools in their classroom, and if their implementation is affected by teachers' age, gender, level of confidence in using these tools, or any previous training they attended. The most popular technological tools employed in FL teaching are also presented, while the attitude of teachers towards the utilization of learning technologies is thoroughly investigated. A quantitative research method has been adopted with the usage of a web-based questionnaire. Based on the findings retrieved from the responses of a hundred FL teachers, they tend to integrate educational technologies extensively in their teaching practices, mainly to enhance learners' speaking and listening skills. Out of the variables examined, only teachers' confidence in using educational technologies seems to impact the integration of technology in their FL teaching.

The Importance of Digital Fluency in Terms of Disruptive and Emerging Technologies

This chapter primarily provides information about digital literacy, which enables us to make basic use of today's technologies. In parallel with today's technological developments, high-level digital literacy skills expected from individuals are addressed. Definitions of digital fluency and studies on this subject are examined. The concept of digital fluency is redefined by the authors. It is based on theoretical foundations that are needed by authors on why digital fluency is needed in educational life. The authors point to the lack of a workforce with high-level digital literacy capabilities around the world.

Investigating the Educational Needs of Elderly People Within the Scope of an Educational Program on the Use of Social Media Networks by Smartphones

Social media networks are becoming increasingly popular as a means for social interaction. A number of studies have found that elderly people have a difficulty in using social media platforms while exist a number of barriers that discourage them from using technology. This chapter investigates the educational needs of older people, who are members of two elderly care centers in Northern Greece, intending to attend an educational program on using smartphones as a communication tool to join social media networks. Research findings indicate that elderly women are more willing to attend an educational program than men and key areas of their interest include access to the internet (e.g., online payments), how to create and use an e-mail account, and how to join social media networks in order to feel less isolated by communicating with other individuals or groups with the same interests.

Digital Learning Challenge in Indonesia

Industry Education Reform 4.0 was launched by the Indonesian government as one of nine priority agendas called Nawa Cita. The reform consists of two main programs: first, to improve the quality of life of Indonesian people through improving the quality of education and training and, second, to revolutionize the nation's character through the policy of restructuring the national education curriculum. There are challenges though to implement those programs including Indonesian geographic, gap to access different level of education, and the gap to achieve the Industrial Revolution 4.0 skills. The aims of this chapter are to explore alternatives and solutions for access to education in Indonesia by utilizing technological advancements including the skills needed to face the current digital era. Education 4.0 is a good approach to answer those challenges. The use of internet technology for digital learning can provide access to students spread across the country. This approach requires skills set that are appropriate to Industry 4.0 by providing a flexible curriculum and online certification.