In the modern online interconnected environment, digital competences have emerged as an umbrella concept that is considered as an important condition for learning, communication, civic participation and engagement, informed citizenship, employability, health and well-being. It incorporates information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, media literacy, the creation of online content, online safety and digital wellbeing as well as problem-solving, critical thinking and innovation (using digital tools and technologies). It is therefore, not only about technology related skills, but also about the attitudes and behaviour that relate to the online information and communication environment (e.g., the responsible, ethical and safe use and sharing of information; the ability to interact with others in the information society). 

In the Higher Education context, the pandemic created an important emphasis within the education agenda to implement a systematic plan for developing HE students’ digital competences in a fast-changing online learning and digital professional environment, and stressed even more the important role that academic librarians play in helping students to develop information and digital literacy skills so that they can be in a position to independently select, access and use accurate, reliable, trustworthy and credible sources of information and effectively use different digital tools and resources for their academic study. Despite this emphasis, some key unanswered questions still remain: Do we know, and do we understand the existing diversity of information and digital skills present in our students?’ and ‘Should we be approaching our students as a heterogeneous group or expect that they all arrive with a baseline set of skills?’.

In this talk, I will draw from research we have conducted over the past few years to diagnose students’ digital competences, and I will critically discuss the importance of understanding the wider context of a learner’s experiences within the digital, media and information landscape, and in the ‘continuum’ of lifelong learning, where everyday life, work and education contexts converge, and as learning takes place in multiple contexts, both formal and informal.  A fundamental question in HE should be how to understand and relate to students’ different levels of digital experiences and competences within diverse online subject contexts, but also how to empower them to develop a proactive engagement with developing their own digital competences for life.