Experts' views on digital competence: Commonalities and differences

• Input of 95 experts results in identification of twelve areas of digital competence.
• Feedback on the collective result revealed three issues of debate.
• Various restrictions regarding conceptualization of digital competence are advocated.
• Digital competence does not equal actual/frequent use of digital technologies.
• Levels of digital competence can refer to proficiency level or cognitive level.

Following earlier studies aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of digital competence through a review of literature and current digital competence frameworks, this paper focuses on experts' views on digital competence. It describes the results of a Delphi study investigating experts' ideas on what it means to be digitally competent today. The study involved two online consultations, one directed at gathering individual ideas and one directed at validating the aggregated mapping of digital competence, established through various qualitative and quantitative data analysis steps. The paper describes and discusses the final results from the Delphi study involving 95 experts from across Europe and beyond. Results indicate that digital competence is built up of knowledge, skills, and attitudes pertaining to twelve different areas. Besides, results show that several issues of debate can be identified when it comes to establishing the boundaries of digital competence.