comment Addressing the digital skills gap for future education The COVID-19 pandemic has caused rushed digitalization of primary and secondary (K12) student education, and cyber-risks such as bullying, technology addiction, and misinformation must be addressed. There is an urgent need to coordinate global eforts for digital skills education and training, which can help students succeed in the digital age while curbing risks and inequality. Joshua A. Jackman, Douglas A. Gentile, Nam-Joon Cho and Yuhyun Park he digital world is an indelible part of a survey of over 145,000 children and As a stopgap measure, many schools modern life. For many people, it is the adolescents across 30 countries1. The started using digital education tools to Tworld where we communicate, learn, participants were asked questions about offer online teaching while students stay at shop, and entertain ourselves. The digital their personal experiences with different home. These efforts have helped students world has transformative power to connect types of cyber-risks and evaluation metrics and teachers interact in a physically safe people across the world. were developed based on the frequency manner and also spurred renewed interest Nonetheless, the digital world has many of exposure. in educational technology innovation. challenges. It is associated with a wide range Among the survey results, it was found However, there have been concerns about of cyber-threats such as hacking, bullying, that 60% of 8- to 12-year-old children introducing new forms of digital education identity theft, human trafficking, technology were exposed to cyber-risks such as so abruptly, especially in terms of learning addiction, and privacy invasion, while cyberbullying, gaming disorder, sexual effectiveness and cybersecurity3. Such gaming disorder has been recognized as grooming, and violence (Fig. 1a). Notably, challenges will likely be addressed over time a medical condition by the World Health 45% of children online were affected by as school systems, teachers, and students Organization (WHO). cyberbullying, 39% experienced reputational become more familiar with the digital The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has risks, 29% were exposed to violent and learning environment and online teaching accelerated the widespread digitalization sexual content, 28% experienced cyber approaches are refined. of numerous sectors that were unprepared. threats, 17% had risky contacts such as an Of more immediate concern, the switch One of the most affected groups has been offline meeting with strangers or sexual to online learning has also deepened the K12 students, many of whom have been contact, 13% were at risk of a gaming exposure of students to cyber-risks and forced to switch to online schooling. The disorder, and 7% were at risk of a social affected socialization4. Online classes are rapid transition has been challenging and media disorder. leading students to grow accustomed to compounded by issues such as limited The results also showed that countries spending more time online, blurring the digital skills, technology access, inequality, varied greatly in critical aspects of digital distinction between physical and digital and systemic racism. safety and infrastructure (Fig. 1b). East Asian spaces. For example, it has been estimated We urgently need a globally coordinated and Western countries tended to rank higher that children are spending around twice response to help students acquire digital for child online safety. East Asian countries as much time on social media sites and skills, which are needed to keep pace with also tended to score high on cyber-risk video-sharing platforms as compared to the this fast-changing landscape. It is especially prevention, disciplined digital use, digital previous year, and increased screen time important to cultivate digital citizenship citizenship, and digital connectivity. On the is associated with technology addiction along with a broader set of digital skills other hand, Western countries tended to and mental health effects5–7. In addition to that can facilitate participation and support have strong social infrastructure, guidance, technology addiction, there has also been students in maximizing opportunities and and education. These data highlight that a rise in cyberbullying that coincides with minimizing risks in the digital world. nations in all regions of the world have room school closures and the switch to online for improvement and could learn from learning8,9. Cyber-risk impacts each other’s best practices—an issue which It is imperative to address these growing The impact of the digital world on students has gained heightened attention due to cyber-risk issues. Even before COVID-19, began long before the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19. most students were already suffering from The digital world has brought tremendous inadequate online safety support and were benefits, but the rate of digital technology An educational crisis unprepared to study primarily in the digital advances is far greater than the speed Over the past year, the global K12 education world. COVID-19 is a trigger to enact at which we have adapted in terms of system has largely moved online, which has change and help students acquire critically education, policies, and culture. influenced student learning performance needed digital skills. This mismatch has allowed cyber-risks and wellbeing. Indeed, school closures to proliferate among children who are left caused by COVID-19 are estimated to Digital skills education exposed without adequate preparation or have affected up to over 84% of the world’s To date, there have been extensive efforts to safeguards. To understand the prevalence of student population and continue in many create digital skills education programs. The cyber-risks worldwide, our team conducted locations worldwide2. Organisation for Economic Cooperation 542 NATURE HUMAN BEHAVIOUR | VOL 5 | MAY 2021 | 542–545 | www.nature.com/nathumbehav comment 2020 Child Online Safety Index a b Global monitoring of children’s cyber-risk exposure levels National-level measures to guide digital citizenship and child online safety improvement 60% of 8–12 year-old children online Cyber-risk Disciplined Digital Guidance Social Digital are exposed to cyber prevention digital use competency and education infrastructure connectivity risks today 17% experienced risky 29% contact (offline exposed to meeting with risky content strangers or (violent or sexual) sexual contact) 45% 13% affected by at risk for cyber-bullying gaming disorder 39% 7% experienced 28% at risk for social reputational risks experienced N/A media disorder cyber threats 0 50 100 0 50 100 0 50 100 0 50 100 0 50 100 0 50 100 Above average (60–100) Average (30–59.9) Below average (0–29.9) Fig. 1 | Results summary of the Child Online Safety Index. a, Percentages of 8- to 12-year-old children in the survey who reported encountering different types of cyber-risks. b, National comparisons in six different assessment categories: cyber-risk prevention, disciplined digital use, digital citizenship, guidance and education, social infrastructure, and digital connectivity. The scores were standardized across the 30 countries included in the Child Online Safety Index, with higher scores indicating better performance. Adapted with permission from ref. 1, DQ Institute. and Development (OECD) Learning focuses on digital skills education across objectives. The newly launched 1 Billion Framework 2030 cites digital literacy as a eight competencies, including identity, Digital Skills Project, led by the Coalition for core fundamental competency for future use, safety, security, emotional intelligence, Digital Intelligence, embodies this vision and education10. However, until recently, there literacy, communication, and rights, and is a call to action for committed stakeholders was weak coordination between programs across three levels of citizenship, creativity, to work together to empower 1 billion people, and no globally accepted meaning of and competitiveness13. It was first described especially K12 students, teachers, and parents, concepts such as digital literacy. Hence, the in a World Economic Forum article14 with digital skills within 10 years. The project impact of digital skills education programs followed by a DQ Institute white paper in is built on the belief that digital intelligence is was limited even while the digitalization of 2017 (ref. 15). a universal human right and can enable the K12 student education accelerates. The DQ framework has been used within sustainable development of nations with more To address this issue, the Coalition the #DQEveryChild digital citizenship inclusive growth, wellbeing, and prosperity. for Digital Intelligence—comprising the educational program to strengthen To achieve this goal, the project seeks to bring OECD, IEEE Standards Association, and fundamental digital skills (the first level together various stakeholders such as content DQ Institute, in association with the of the DQ framework) in over 1 million developers, initiative leaders, academic World Economic Forum—spearheaded children in more than 80 countries1 (Fig. 2). researchers, and educators to achieve the development of the recently approved The program was centred on the DQ World following objectives: IEEE Standard for Digital Intelligence online learning platform, and evaluation of (DQ) Framework for Digital Literacy, student learning outcomes demonstrated 1. Build a global network of partners Skills, and Readiness