In 2018, Deloitte Centre for the Edge & Geelong Grammar School published "From coding to competence", developing the idea of digital competence that was first outlined in "To code or not to code, is that the question?" While it's important to know how to use the technology, digital literacy, it's more important to understand when and why to use the technology, digital competence. The essay proposed a framework for understanding and teaching digital competence. The framework remains incomplete though, and needs to be populated with examples of digital competence before it is useful. This project, "Mapping digital competence", attempts to populate the framework by asking the following question: How might teaching digital competence manifest across the educational strata (K-12, post-secondary, vocational, industry…)? or, put another way: What are the attributes of a graduate (from each of the educational strata) that represent digital competence, and how might they be taught?

1. Mapping digital competence
To code or not to code?
Peter Evans-Greenwood, Deloitte Consulting Pty Ltd, 2018-10-01

2. 2
In 2018, Deloitte Centre for the Edge & Geelong Grammar
School published From coding to competence, developing
the idea of digital competence that was first outlined in To
code or not to code, is that the question?*
The essay proposed a framework for understanding and
teaching digital competence. The framework remains
incomplete though, and needs to be populated with
examples of digital competence before it is useful.
* Evans-Greenwood, P & Patstson, T 2018,
To code or not to code: From coding to competence,
Deloitte Australia.

3. 3
This project, Mapping digital competence, attempts to
populate the framework by asking the following question:
How might teaching digital competence manifest across
the educational strata (K-12, post-secondary, vocational,
industry…)?
or, put another way:
What are the attributes of a graduate (from each of the
educational strata) that represent digital competence, and
how might they be taught?

4. 4
• digital literacy*: possessing the language to interact with
digital platforms (understanding the symbols, metaphors
and affordances of digital devices and interfaces)
• digital capability*: knowing how to use particular digital
tools (the ability to apply a digital tool to a task)
• digital competency*: knowing when and why to use /
interact with digital tools (the attitudes and behaviours
required to have an effective relationship with particular
tool)
The attributes of digital competence
* one aim of this project is refining the terminology

5. 5
… where competency is multidimensional
… works for … … works with … … works on …
Direction
A human is under the
direction of a machine, the
machine assigning work &
assessing quality.
Ride-sharing driver, pick-n-
pack in a distribution centre,
welfare recipient.
Machine augmentation
A human monitors a
machine’s work, stepping in
when the machine is out of
its depth. A safety driver
monitoring an autonomous
vehicle.
Instruction
A human teaches an old
dog new tricks. A ‘truck
driver’ teaches autonomous
trucks to park in the loading
bays at a new distribution
centre.
Shared agency
Human & machine with
inter-dependant work. A
district nurse managing
their time with a work
management system
assigning new work.
Synthesis
Human & machine
collaborate to identify,
delineate, define, explore
and solve a problem.
Freestyle chess is the
exemplar.
Bricolage
Human & machine
behaviours are integrated to
create a new solution.
Overcoming ‘learned
helplessness’ to combine
existing tools and create
new solutions.
Shepherding
A team of machines work
for a human, where the
human assigns the work,
monitors progress, and
assesses the result. A
ForEx trader managing a
team of trading ‘bots.
Human augmentation
A machine supports a
humans work, identifying
options, highlighting bias,
etc. An oncologist using a
machine to identify potential
tumours. A judge and a
sentence recommendation
tool.
Guidance
A machine helps an old dog
learn new tricks. A self-
paced learning solution
manages a student’s
progression through a
MOOC.
Human…machineHuman&machineMachine…human

6. Small-DC
6
A developmental trajectory
Little-DC
The accidental competence of
‘digital natives’
The collaborative digital
competence required to
navigate a community
The deliberative digital
competence of the professional
The considered digital
competence of the exceptional
individual
An informal understanding of
popular digital tools
Able to negotiate the use of
common digital tools with
acquaintances
Capable of applying known
digital tools to new tasks in the
pursuit of their work
Mastery, combining tools from
different domains to discover
new ways of working
Limited knowledge of particular
digital platforms
Some knowledge of common
platforms
Knowledge of relevant platforms Extensive knowledge of a broad
range of platforms
Applying particular tools to
particular tasks (‘learned
helplessness’)
Apply similar tools to similar
tasks and an understanding of
their implications (privacy etc.)
Applying known tools to new
tasks, discovering new tools and
the ability to discern their
intentions (algorithms)
Combining existing tools to
create new solutions to new
problems, moving tools
between domains
Only uses digital tools when
and as directed
Recognises when tools could be
used, using tools in their
proscribed manner
Recognises when a tool should
be used, and has purposeful
interactions with the tool
Realises when new tools are
required, and shaped works
habits / practices to suit
Pro-DC Big-DC
LiteracyCapabilityCompetency

7. 7
digital native | ˈdɪdʒɪt(ə)l ˈneɪtɪv |
noun
a person with accidental knowledge of digital platforms,
who can apply particular tools to known tasks, only using
digital tools when, as and how they are directed: the digital
native suffers from learned helplessness as they can only
apply digital tools that they already know to tasks they
already understand

8. Educational
Intervention
Common digital
competence
attributes
Educational
Intervention
Common digital
competence
attributes
Educational
Intervention
Common digital
competence
attributes
8
Our approach
Map what digital competence might look like at key points in a selection of careers,
identify commonalities in digital competence at each career stage, and sketch how
digital competence might be taught at each level of existing curricula
Name
Description
Digital literacies
Digital capabilities
Digital competencies
Name
Description
Digital literacies
Digital capabilities
Digital competencies
Name
Description
Digital literacies
Digital capabilities
Digital competencies
Name
Description
Digital literacies
Digital capabilities
Digital competencies
Name
Description
Digital literacies
Digital capabilities
Digital competencies
Name
Description
Digital literacies
Digital capabilities
Digital competencies
Name
Description
Digital literacies
Digital capabilities
Digital competencies
Name
Description
Digital literacies
Digital capabilities
Digital competencies
Name
Description
Digital literacies
Digital capabilities
Digital competencies
Name
Description
Digital literacies
Digital capabilities
Digital competencies
Name
Description
Digital literacies
Digital capabilities
Digital competencies
Name
Description
Digital literacies
Digital capabilities
Digital competencies

9. 9
A workshop
Groups take one persona and enumerate it, creating a new persona
at each waypoint in the individual’s career, such as completion of a
period of formal education, industry certification, or even a change in
career.
Groups develop personas for the individuals in a scenario. A persona
describes the individual’s goals and the work context, along with their
digital literacies, capabilities and competencies.
Activity
Scenarios
→ Personas
Persona
→ Career path
Groups take one period of formal education, collect the enumerated
persona corresponding to that period, and create a consolidated view
of what attributes an individual might be expected to acquire in that
layer.
Career stage
→ Digital competence
Group take the set of attributes and draft a lesson plan, showing
existing subjects might be ‘reframed’* to instil digital competence in
the students.
Digital competence
→ Intervention
* Refer to page 23 of Evans-Greenwood, P & Patstson, T 2018,
To code or not to code: From coding to competence, Deloitte Australia.

10. Prior to workshops
10
The project
During workshops After the workshops
A suitably diverse set of scenarios are
developed, where each scenario
describes the roles, relationships,
responsibilities and activities – an
ethnographic drama – of a work
situation in the near future.
A national series of workshops,
each with 24-36 participants.
Each workshop is provided with
four scenarios to investigate. The
scenarios may or may not be
related to each other.
The domains the scenarios
represent will be used to guide
selection of participants for the
workshop.
Each workshop will generate set of
enumerated persona and lesson
plans.
The persona – master,
journeyman, graduate… –
developed in each workshop
are integrated to create a
single picture of digital
competence across a range of
careers and domains, a
mudmap of digital
competence.

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