The need to travel the digital skills divide
Digital skills are essential for navigating modern life, but the path can feel uncertain and uneven. For some, it’s a familiar and comfortable road; for others, it can be full of obstacles and fear. That’s why we’ve created a new Essential digital skills question set within Jisc’s Discovery tool, a practical guide to help people map where they are today and find the best route to greater confidence and capability.
The Challenge
Many of our members told us that the existing question sets offered powerful pathways to digital development. However, some commented that a simpler version focusing on core digital skills would be useful for them when dealing with those most lacking in confidence and, importantly, a more accessible version for students who require more support.
That need for support is echoed in the most recent Jisc FE learner national digital experience insights surveys report, where there was a decline from the previous year in learners stating they received basic IT skills support; only 46% said they receive that kind of support: Learner digital experience insights survey 2024/25.
Therefore, it was imperative that we responded to the challenge of a digital skills and digital confidence divide.
Our response
We always start by working closely with the sectors we support, and this project was no different. Our consultant, Louisa, spoke with a diverse range of members to determine what the sector truly needed. From these conversations came the idea of an essential digital skills question set that assessed confidence around core foundational digital skills.
The sector made it clear that gathering data on core skills was a priority, a way to support development and meet strategic goals. Working together with key colleagues, we drew up a list of core digital skills designed to build staff and student confidence and capability.
At the same time, our content curation manager, Louise, responded to requests for greater accessibility and interactivity by paring down the text, simplifying the language, and creating short, snappy explainer videos to make the tool easier to use. And to add even more value, we’re collaborating with Matt Beck from Heart of Worcestershire College to bring in a range of excellent Blended Learning Consortium resources. These will give staff and students even more opportunities to develop their digital skills.
How it can help you
The new essential digital skills question set will give you additional tools to support students and staff with greater skills and confidence needs. The simpler, easy-to-use, and visual nature of this question set will engage people of all levels. It’ll provide granular data on who needs what help with tasks such as using word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software, allowing you to focus on the key areas of need with a laser focus, making the whole process of digital skills development more efficient and effective.
What to do next
The digital landscape will continue to change, but with the right guide, it can become a journey of growth rather than a source of anxiety. The Essential digital skills question set in the Discovery tool helps chart that course, pointing the way towards inclusion, confidence, and resilience. Wherever you start, the important thing is knowing you don’t have to navigate it alone. If you already use the Discovery tool, then take a look now, but if you don’t, this might be the perfect time to speak to your relationship manager and sign up for a tool that can fit into your system of staff and student digital skills development.
Thank you
We would like to give a huge thank you to all of our sector colleagues who helped us build the question set. In particular, thank you to Lynn Dolan and Paula Kilburn from the Education Training Collective and Garry Whittall of DN College Group.