How Necessary Is Digital Literacy in the Workforce Peer Review
In the modernistic workplace, digital skills are highly valued; in the future, digital skills volition exist vital.
The digital age is expanding into all areas of our lives, and it is non just those who work in It that will need to be alert of this change. The Business firm of Lords have stated that digital skills should be taught as a third cadre field of study, and treated with aforementioned importance equally numeracy and literacy.1
They went on to claim that access to the net, in the United kingdom, should considered equally important as admission to water or electricity. Added to this there is the claim that digital skills are entering all areas of work 2; medicine, entertainment, communication and retail are all turning into fields where digital skills are a must.
Even so, it is not but the development of former jobs that make digital skills so important in the modern workplace, but the creation of entirely new jobs. There is a genuine fear of a digital skills gap3 created by the boom in the digital economy versus the amount of people who are trained to work in it. Specifically, the UK needs 750,000 more people with digital skills to capitalise on jobs that could heave the UK economic system by 12 billion pounds.
The digital skills gap should non be something to be afraid of. Rather, it is an opportunity for people of all ages – not just young people – to jump into a new sector or to get a improve chore in their current one. One-half of all British It teachers don't accept a mail service-A-level qualification that is relevant to It, and so schools are eager for teachers who accept any kind of degree related to calculating4. Beingness a person with digital skills, in the electric current economic climate, has never been more lucrative.
Moreover, attaining these digital skills has never been easier. School coding clubs and professional training companiesv are happy to fill the gap left past the public sector in terms of digital skills, but at that place are as well ways in which a person can develop their digital skills individually. There are programs and services y'all tin use to brand sure that you make the well-nigh out of your computer. Having a computer desktop that you can navigate quickly and efficiently is fast becoming more of import than having a tidy desk.
What Exactly are Digital Skills?
When considering the digital skills gap, this question is non asked oft enough.
Cornell University defines digital literacy as 'the ability to discover, evaluate, utilize, share, and create content using data technologies and the Net'6.
Past this definition, digital skills are any skills related to being digitally literate. Anything from the ability to find out your high-score on Minesweeper to coding a website counts as a digital skill.
What Digital Skills do I Need for the Modern Workplace?
Knowing how to respond your emails, to admission a company's files on Google Drive, or to tweak a website's code are all digital skills that are increasingly sought after in today's job market.
Nonetheless, in the modernistic workplace, it is increasingly impossible to point out which digital skills you lot may or may not need. There is no hard and fast dominion virtually which jobs y'all volition need to Excel for and which jobs you will not. Digital literacy is a language; the more digital skills you accept, the meliorate y'all can speak it. This metaphor struck a chord with noted digital author Marc Prensky who coined the terms 'digital immigrant' and 'digital native'.
To the uninitiated, learning digital skills tin can make a person feel similar they are entering a new country total of new customs. Digital skills come with their own set of sub-skills subsequently all.
Which Jobs Require Digital Skills?
The job search website Indeed has listed HTML5, MongoDB, iOS, Android and Mobile App as the fastest growing keywords plant in online posts for jobs.
Coding is a task related to all of these keywords, and it is evidently an manufacture that is booming, but it is not the simply job that requires digital skills. Marketing, client service, retail, managing, writing and selling are all jobs associated with these keywords and all of those jobs could well require digital skills.
In brusk, it is rubber to assume that nigh all jobs will require some level digital skills. Fifty-fifty if they practice not, it is wise for jobseekers to insure themselves against the rising need for digital skills in the workplace.
What about Automation?
Automation is the fear that, due to the digital skills gap, employers will utilize automated technology in order to fill this gap.
This fear is not unfounded7, and in that location are many examples throughout history where technology has replaced jobs that were once done by people. But automation should not be seen as something to exist agape of. Rather, our worry about automation should be the reasoning backside embracing digital skills in whatever mode we tin.
Equally a result, in that location are three things that we should be doing.
Firstly, we should exist encouraging governments towards legislation that encourages the teaching of digital literacy.
Secondly, we should be supporting companies that are attempting to fill the digital educational activity gap that the government has left.
Finally, as individuals we need to brand sure that our digital skillset is as wide every bit possible for time to come needs.
Further Reading from Skills You lot Need
The Skills You Need Guide to Getting a Job
Develop the skills you demand to get that job.
This eBook is essential reading for potential chore-seekers. Non but does it cover identifying your skills but also the mechanics of applying for a task, writing a CV or resume and attending interviews.
How will Digital Skills Change the Workplace?
It is not uncommon for journalists to research, plan, write, proofread and send an article to a publisher all using their mobile phone or tablet.viii
In some senses, digital skills make the workplace a freer and simpler place to navigate. A lot of work can now exist done from home, or on the movement, simply this besides brings its own set of challenges.
A consumer expects more from a company knowing that technology has fabricated everything and so much faster.
Almost the Writer
Phillip Burton is the founder of Filecats, an online company that provides a file cataloguing and metadata extracting services for computers. He is also a computing consultant providing expert services in the development of computer systems and data analysis.
References:
- UK Parliament, Select Committee on Digital Skills Study, Make or Break: The UK'south Digital Future, 2015.
- Young people need to hone their digital skills for future proof careers. The Guardian, 12 August 2014.
- Digital economy needs 750,000 workers. The Telegraph, 3 September 2013.
- Digital skills teaching in schools needs radical rethink, says report. The Guardian, 17 February 2015.
- A UK digital skills gap looms. The Guardian, 18 August 2014.
- Cornell Academy Digital Literacy Resources.
- Humans Need Non Apply. YouTube.
- Mobile reporting: 15 Android apps for journalists. journalists.co.uk, 17 August 2012.
Source: https://www.skillsyouneed.com/rhubarb/digital-skills-modern-workplace.html