DigitALAD Hanbook_All sections_FV

51 5. Evaluation, validation & recognition of outcomes Introduction In an increasingly digital world, information and communication technologies (ICTs) play a key role as development enablers to facilitate countries' capabilities to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Added to that, the COVID-19 global health crisis that emerged in early 2020 dramatically underlined – as perhaps nothing else could have – the vital importance of meaningful connectivity to people's livelihoods, employment, health and wellbeing, education, and social participation. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) statistics, almost half the world population is still not using the Internet. Digital skills are fast becoming essential for people to navigate ordinary day-to-day activities such as using a mobile phone to transfer money to family members via digital financial services, using the Internet for remote education classes, and research, preparing, and delivering coursework and acquiring basic skills for staying safe online. In the workplace, digital skills are required for an ever-growing number of jobs, and even in traditionally manual sectors like agriculture, digital applications are beginning to make inroads, with a corresponding requirement for some level of digital literacy. Developing a digitally skilled population calls for the involvement of different institutions: universities need to undertake research and determine requirements; government institutions need to develop appropriate policies; training institutions need to deliver relevant digital skills training; and the private sector and civil society organisations need to support digital adoption and use (ITU, 2020). Digital Competencies Assessment This handbook draws on, and complements, the DigitALAD Package, which involves developing an attractive training package for adult educators/trainers to advance their digital competences and skills and further improve the quality of the production of innovative Open Educational Resources (OERs). Why skills need to be evaluated, validated, and recognised? Many adults with low skills are anything but low skilled: they may have low literacy and numeracy levels, but at the same time they possess a range of other valuable skills such as the ability to drive different vehicles or care for customers. Equally, adults may have low qualification levels but may have gained skills through years of work experience equivalent to those associated with formal qualifications. Did you know? Many adults work in jobs they are not formally qualified for. We refer to this as qualification mismatch. According to data from the OECD Skills for Jobs database, 18% of adults work in jobs