As you begin to add another level of competence to everything you can already do, it behooves us to first define what digital competence means and entails.

Now, digital competence does not simply mean using technology, although that is part of it. It means:

• The ability to integrate digital skills in your daily life, whether it be shopping online or teaching online;
• Having an approach to what you do - teaching - that is balanced, i.e. knowing when to use technology and when not to;
• Being focused on what the tools do for you and not on the tools themselves;
• Being open to trying new tools, and being able to find them;
• Communicating digitally, whether it be via email or social networks;
• Being able to assess the value of tools, apps, and information;
• Being able to create digital content, whether it be a document, audio, video, presentations, etc;
• Understanding of and respect for privacy;
• Understanding of appropriate and legal online behavior;
• Understanding how to keep up with your peer group in learning about new tools and resources;
• Being able to find and learn how to use tools on your own;
• Being able to pass on all of these competencies to your students.

This set of competencies cannot be achieved in one step; it will take time to learn and incorporate the ideas and tools offered in this course into what you do, and the extent to which each person does so will be different, and unique to your situation.

At the end of the course, we will look back at this list as a way of assessing your growth.

The following graphic attempts to summarize what tools an educator might use. It is based on http://c4lpt.co.uk/top100tools/rankings/ and is from Modern Workplace Learning Magazine.