Digital competences are considered one of the key competences of the 21st century and of lifelong learning (Vuorikari et al., 2022). Digital competence is an umbrella term covering a large array of (sub-)dimensions that entail knowledge, skills and attitudes on finding, evaluating and managing data and information (information and data literacy) as well as competences regarding digital communication and collaboration, (creative) problem solving and computational thinking or (digital) content creation, sharing and evaluation (Vuorikari et al., 2022). These competences are particularly important for young learners, as they primarily navigate digital spaces to access and share information, often from biased or unverified sources, and frequently communicate via online platforms (Connolly & McGuiness, 2018). Educational research on digital competences is as numerous as it is heterogeneous (see Stopar & Bartol, 2019; Tahirsylaj & Sundberg, 2020), which can be attributed largely to its international relevance and the broad nature of the construct due to the aforementioned (sub-)dimensions. This research covers varied areas of application related to its embedded (sub-)dimensions and further relevant covariates such as age groups of learners or levels of educational formalisation (i.e. formal, informal and non-formal learning contexts). This complexity necessitates primary studies focussing on specific (sub-)dimensions of digital competences, as the total construct of digital competence is simply too broad and heterogeneous to be addressed in individual empirical studies. Subsequently, most research syntheses on digital competences investigate (sub-)dimensions like computational thinking intersected with other covariates such as specific countries or school types or subjects. This is also for good reason, as these research syntheses are necessary to synthesize research and inform relevant associated systems and stakeholders about the results at the exact investigated intersection, without the results and implications of the syntheses being muddied by papers only peripherally relevant to the research questions of the syntheses. But this focus can be considered a factor limiting generalizability of their results and implications as insights into research on digital competences from an overarching perspective cannot be drawn from syntheses on specific (sub-)dimensions. 

This can be remedied by conducting a so-called overview of reviews (Pollock et al., 2024). Conducting such an overview enables a systematic assessment of the state of research syntheses (and therefore a representation of the state of research in general) on digital competences, as well as the identification of focal points, trends and desiderata of research syntheses. It therefore informs research, practitioners and politics on relevant syntheses regarding specific intersections of (sub-)dimensions of digital competences with the other aforementioned covariates and allows insight into the current state of research syntheses on digital competences. It may also be helpful to integrate findings and implications across the (sub-)dimensions of digital competences as the research syntheses may have used only specific subdimension related terms like “21st century skills” or “computational thinking”.   

The overview answers the following research questions (in addition to the analyses of bibliographic parameters such as trends in publication numbers, relevant journals and authors etc.): 

1. What are the theoretical frameworks addressed in the reviews? 

2. Which focal points, trends and research gaps can be identified for the investigated (sub-)dimensions of digital competences and intersections of the digital competences with covariates such as age groups or educational formalisation? 

3. What desiderata regarding (sub-)dimensions can be identified?  

Overviews synthesizing research syntheses on a specific topic follow similar steps to systematic reviews but need to consider some further specificities, such as the impact of overlap of study results or the impact of varying parameters stemming from the primary studies (e.g. different lengths of time considered by individual reviews; for further information see Lunny et al., 2017; Polanin et al., 2017; Pollock et al. 2024). The initial corpus was built by applying a large search term consisting of English and German terms for the dimensions “research synthesis”, “education, learning and learners” and “digital competences” was utilized in several literature databases to identify potentially relevant journal articles. The raw search results of n = 4917 (after removing duplications) were then subjected to title and abstract screening based on a comprehensive list of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Applying those criteria during the title and abstract screening processes resulted in the inclusion pf n = 780 papers. Subsequently, all included articles were subjected to currently ongoing full-text screening by applying the aforementioned inclusion and exclusion criteria. All included papers were then categorized regarding their (1) theoretical framework, (2) their investigated (sub-)dimension of digital competence as well as (3) various bibliographic parameters (publication year, journal, authors, review type etc.). The results for all categories and all possible combinations between all categories were then visualized with appropriate methods such as scatterplots or heatmaps to map the current state of research syntheses on digital competences of young learners.

At the point of submission, the final results of this overview are not available as it is currently a work in progress. Therefore, it is not possible within this text to present any information on the results regarding the research questions. Nevertheless, the results to be presented in this project may inform current and future research and stakeholders from politics and practice on the state of research syntheses on digital competences of young learners. Furthermore, the results synthesize research from different perspectives, providing a comprehensive overview of the research landscape on one of the key competences of the 21st century. The mapping of the field enables the identification of foci and desiderata of research syntheses on digital competences of young learners, which may reveal further avenues of research or of integrative work regarding specific intersections of variables such as one specific competence and one specific educational formalisation (for example computational thinking and informal learning).

Connolly, N., & McGuinness, C. (2018). Towards digital literacy for the active participation and engagement of young people in a digital world. Young people in a digitalised world, 4, 77. Lunny, C., Brennan, S.E., McDonald, S. et al. (2017). Toward a comprehensive evidence map of overview of systematic review methods: paper 1—purpose, eligibility, search and data extraction. Syst Rev, 6, 231. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-017-0617-1 Polanin, J. R., Maynard, B. R., & Dell, N. A. (2017). Overviews in education research: A systematic review and analysis. Review of Educational Research, 87(1), 172-203. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654316631117 Pollock M, Fernandes RM, Becker LA, Pieper D, Hartling L. Chapter V: Overviews of Reviews (2024). In: Higgins JPT, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page MJ, Welch VA (eds.). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 6.5. Cochrane, 2024. Available from www.training.cochrane.org/handbook. Stopar, K., & Bartol, T. (2019). Digital competences, computer skills and information literacy in secondary education: mapping and visualization of trends and concepts. Scientometrics, 118(2), 479-498. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-018-2990-5 Tahirsylaj, A., & Sundberg, D. (2020). The unfinished business of defining competences for 21st century curricula—a systematic research review. Curriculum Perspectives, 40(2), 131-145. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41297-020-00112-6 Vuorikari, R., Kluzer, S., & Punie, Y. (2022). DigComp 2.2: the Digital Competence Framework for Citizens: With New Examples of Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes, Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2760/115376