SELFIE is a free, customisable tool to help schools reflect on how they use digital technologies to support teaching and learning. The SELFIE tool is one of the 11 initiatives set out in the Digital Education Action Plan of the European Commission to promote the effective use of digital technologies in schools by supporting innovation in teaching and learning practices. SELFIE stands for Self-reflection on Effective Learning by Fostering Innovation through Educational Technology, and it addresses digitally-based innovation right across the school organisation. The tool is based on the European Framework for Digitally-Competent Educational Organisations (DigCompOrg) and has been developed in a participatory manner, involving schools, policy makers, and researchers from across Europe.

SELFIE focuses on learning rather than technology. As such, it considers all school dimensions: school strategies; teaching, learning and assessment practices; technological and physical infrastructure; curricula; and student experience. It is by no means directed towards technologically advanced schools. In fact, SELFIE is especially helpful for schools whose infrastructure is still fairly rudimentary and where the use of digital technology is quite limited. As a tool and associated reflection process, SELFIE is designed to support systematic and transparent development of ongoing practice through reflection, thereby improving student, professional and organisational learning. SELFIE can enable school communities to periodically self-reflect on their progress and help them plan future steps in realising effective digital-age learning.

SELFIE comprises distinct self-assessment surveys respectively addressing school leaders, teachers, and students at different levels of compulsory education. These respondents are requested to reflect on their experience of how digital technologies are used for teaching and learning within their school’s learning community. Each survey comprises a set of core items (most of such indicators are common to all education levels); it can also include some optional items (selected from a pre-defined set of optional indicators that the school can opt to add to its questionnaire according to specific needs) and the possibility to create its own self-defined items for its own particular needs, using a standard template form. Participation in SELFIE is on a voluntarily basis, and all data collected is anonymous and safely stored on European Commission servers.

When participating school leaders, teachers and students have provided their questionnaire responses, the school automatically receives a detailed, tailor-made report, called the SELFIE School Report (SSR). This captures participants’ view of their school’s use of digital technologies for learning, highlighting perceived strengths in technology use and areas for improvement. Like the pixels in a photographic selfie, the more school leaders, teachers, and students participate in SELFIE, the clearer and more accurate the SSR of their school will be.

Only the participating school itself has access to its SSR, which provides the overall results (and associated breakdown) of the information that the school’s leaders, teachers, and students have provided. The school’s report is automatically generated on the SELFIE platform, once the participating students, teachers and school leaders staff the have replied to their questionnaires.