Self-assessing with DigCompSat: how it works

What a validated questionnaire is for

DigComp describes competences; it does not say how to measure them. DigCompSat, published by the Joint Research Centre in 2022, is the self-assessment instrument built on that framework: a scientifically validated questionnaire, not a quiz.

The difference between those two words is substantial. A quiz produces a score; a validated questionnaire produces a score whose reliability is known, tested on large samples across several countries. Only the second lets you compare a result with anything.

The three dimensions

DigCompSat does not only ask what a person can do. It measures each competence area across three distinct dimensions:

• Knowledge -- what the person knows about concepts, tools and risks.
• Skills -- what they report being able to do in practice.
• Attitudes -- how confident they feel doing it, how comfortable they are, how willing to try.

The third dimension is the one almost nobody expects, and often the most informative. You regularly find people with adequate knowledge and skills and low attitudes: they know and could do it, but do not trust themselves. Adding content for these people solves nothing, because knowledge is not the bottleneck.

The three levels

Results sit on three proficiency levels -- foundation, intermediate and advanced -- consistent with DigComp's own level structure. There is no pass threshold: the level describes where you are, not whether you passed.

How to read a DigCompSat profile

Look for gaps between dimensions, not the total. The useful figure is the distance between knowledge, skills and attitudes within the same area. If knowledge and skills are high and attitudes low, what is needed is guided practice and occasions to succeed, not lectures. If knowledge is high and skills low, what is needed is hands-on work. If attitudes are high and the other two low, pay attention: confidence without competence is the profile most exposed to online risk.

Do not confuse it with a certification. DigCompSat is self-declared. It captures what a person thinks about themselves, which is valuable for steering training but is not an external verification of competence. That requires an exam, with different rules and guarantees.

Use it twice. An initial profile and one taken months later tell you whether a pathway moved anything. A single profile only tells you where someone was on the day they filled it in.

Explore the 5 areas and 21 competences DigCompSat is built on, at the DigComp portal on ExplorerHub.