Search

In contemporary society of digital economy, the ability of individuals to face and adapt to emerging environments largely depends on their attitudes, habits and knowledge related to the use of digital skills. The process and the outcome of acquiring such competencies, determined through application of information and communication technology, is known as digital literacy. The concept is close to comprehensive and general media literacy, an umbrella term for abilities to live in a new media environment, almost entirely characterized by digital media, where citizens should be empowered with critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills to become sensible consumers and producers of information. Media education is a part of the basic right of every citizen to freedom of expression and the right to information, and is crucial in building and maintaining democracy, as one of the key prerequisites for active and full citizenship. In 2018, Croatia launched an experimental program of curricular reform of primary and secondary education called "School for Life", which was carried out by the Ministry of Science and Education. The program is focusing on meeting the requirements of modern society in line with European educational trends. By analysing the learning outcomes in informatics syllabi in domains of Digital Literacy and Communication and e-Society by the Bloom taxonomy levels, the paper aims to determine the acquisition of key digital literacy competencies of Croatian students in the creation of e-portfolios and positive digital traces, as well as the use of various communication and collaboration programs, while adopting skills related to the protection of privacy and personal data in the creation of a digital identity. The results of competence evaluations can be perceived in a broader context in further research, aligned with evaluations from research on an international scale and/or reassessed on the population within institutions of higher education institutions.

In a wider context of digital competence, digital literacy means the attitudes and abilities of individuals to appropriately use digital tools and resources to locate, access, manage, evaluate, analyze, create content, expression in the media and to communicate. According to Eshet- Alkalai, digital literacy is a survival skill in the digital age that significantly depends on the level of certain types of digital skills: photo- visual literacy, reproduction literacy, branching literacy, information literacy, socio-emotional literacy and real-time thinking skills. Whether, and how, does the level of digital literacy of school principals affects the management of digital transformation of the school is a research question addressed by the authors of this paper, the aim of which was to determine the strength of the correlation between variables determining management experience and their digital literacy using the Eshet-Alkalai model. The research was conducted in two phases on a sample of primary school principals from three geographically and economically related regions of the Republic of Croatia, which have similar educational policies, in order to examine management practices in the digital transformation of schools. The first phase of the research was conducted using a questionnaire method that contains original metrics of influencing factors of information and data literacy. The results show the need for incremental steps in the context of informatic literacy, which were used to design the reference framework and were the starting point for the second phase. The second phase of the research was conducted with the method of a focus group, created from the same sample, using the semi- structured interview method to examine the attitudes and opinion of principals on the importance of applying certain digital skills in the process of managing digital transformation of schools, by interpreting the latter a conclusion arises that information and photo-visual literacy, due to the specifics in which the educational system functions, are the most important predictors of the successfulness of the process of digital transformation of schools. The combined comparative analysis of the results of both phases of the research set the foundation for the conceptual model of systematic education of leaders in educational establishments in the field of digital literacy by using constructs contained in the Eshet-Alkalai model, since the level of digital literacy significantly affects the management of digital transformation of schools which represents a starting point for further similar research.

The Digital Maturity Framework for Schools in Croatia has been designed as a part of the e- Schools pilot project that is part of the “e- Schools: a comprehensive informatisation of school operation processes and teaching processes aimed at the creation of digitally mature schools for the 21st century”. It is based on the European Framework for Digitally Competent Educational Organisations. The School Digital Maturity Framework is structured in 5 characteristic areas of the Croatian education system: Planning, Management and Leadership, ICT (Information and Communications Technology) in Learning and Teaching, Development of Digital Competencies, ICT Culture and ICT Infrastructure. According to the 2016-2018 Digital Maturity Evaluation, schools have the lowest level of digital maturity in the areas of Planning, Management and Leadership. Therefore, it can be assumed that majority of schools are not ready for the upcoming digital transformation challenges. The purpose of this paper is to determine which core individual competencies defined by the information constructs, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities, significantly set the degree of school management digital maturity. Thereby, the primary objective was to create a new information construct Experience and to explore the correlation between relationships of two constructs. Principals of primary schools in the Republic of Croatia were selected as the research sample (860). The survey was conducted using a questionnaire method that contains original metrics of the influencing factors Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Experience on the basis of which the information model was designed. By descripting the information model, it is possible to determine the impact of a particular construct on the school digital maturity in the area of planning, management and leadership. Therefore, this paper represents a contribution to the information and communication sciences field and opens initiatives for further interdisciplinary research related to the development of an original methodology for conceptualizing the management of school’s digital transformation.