How Open Education Can Facilitate Digital Competence Development

In today's digitalized world, proficiency in digital skills is crucial for employability and academic success in higher education.However, there is a gap between students' perceived and actual digital competence , which is rather limited.This paper explores how open education can foster the development of digital competence in higher education, employing theoretical frameworks alongside a practical example.The article examines theoretical approaches that combine open education concepts, specifically Open Educational Practices (OEP), with the principle of constructive alignment.Open education aims to democratize knowledge access and promote collaboration, making it conducive to digital competence development through OEPs.The principle of constructive alignment emphasizes aligning learning goals, assessments, and activities to foster competence development.One example illustrates the effectiveness of this approach, showing a significant improvement in students' digital competence through participatory Open Educational Resource (OER) production.In conclusion, the paper emphasizes the significance of integrating OEPs into higher education pedagogy to assist students in acquiring essential digital competencies.