right|200x200px|Logo ICDL

International Certification of Digital Literacy (ICDL), formerly known as European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL), is a digital literacy certification program provided by ICDL Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation.

The ICDL / ECDL certification is a globally recognised information and communication technology (ICT) and digital literacy qualification.

In 1995 the ECDL certification programme was developed through a task force of the Council of European Professional Informatics Societies (CEPIS) and was recommended by the European Commission High Level Group, ESDIS, to be a Europe-wide certification scheme. The task force compared several national certification schemes and chose the CDL from Finland as the basis for piloting and later adoption into the ECDL.

Contents

Though the ICDL does not refer to Microsoft or its Office software suite by name in the official course syllabus, training occurs almost exclusively with Microsoft's products as they are ubiquitous in the business world. Users can also be introduced to Google Applications.

For the Base certificate, there are no pre-requisites regarding computer use.

Levels

The ICDL Base certificate comprises all four of these modules:

  • basic operation of a computer (with Microsoft Windows or Ubuntu in some editions)
  • basic operation of the internet
  • basic use of Microsoft Word or LibreOffice Writer Testing is done using software which simulates the Windows/Microsoft Office environment. The candidate's mouse movements and keystrokes are monitored and the result of the test is reported immediately after the test is completed.

References

  • ECDL Foundation
  • ICDL Asia
  • ICDL Arabia
  • ICDL Africa
  • ICDL USA