Digital competence in K-12. Theoretical models, assessment tools and empirical research

Over the last years the theme of the digital competence in its different aspects has been object of a growing interest. In a number of official documents and communications, international bodies underlined the significance of this competence for lifelong learning and to participate in the so-called ‘information society’. Within this context, education research has the duty to provide realistic conceptual models coherent with the school’s objectives and which can be put into practice within the school curriculum. In the present paper, we shall introduce a theoretical model, education oriented, to represent this competence and a set of tools to assess it in the school context, i.e., the Instant DCA (iDCA) and the Situated DCA. Then we shall focus on iDCA and on the results of the testing carried out over the last two years in the Italian secondary school.