How Do Learners Perceive and Evaluate Their Digital Skills?

Computers & Education, 2011

Calvani A., Fini A., Ranieri M., Picci P. (2012). Are young generations in secondary school digitally competent? A study on Italian teenagers. Computers & Education 58, pp. 797-807 DOI information: 10.1016/j.compedu.2011.10.004 Abstract Digital competences amongst the younger generations and the role of schools faced with the spread of new youth practices are topics of increasing interest. Some commentators state that, thanks to the intensive use of digital media, young people are developing significant competences that also correspond to important cognitive processes and new learning styles. However, other authors emphasize that there is no evidence about the positive impact of new technological practices on the development of significant cognitive abilities. In this paper we present a research study carried out in Italian schools on adolescents’ (aged 14-16) digital competence. On the basis of a preliminary theoretical model, a digital competence questionnaire was formulated and subsequently administered to a sample of secondary school students. The aim was to verify whether adolescents’ digital skills are limited to simple technical aspects or expand beyond them including a range of more significant knowledge and skills related to a conceptual understanding of technology, socio-relational knowledge and high-order cognitive skills. Like other studies, this research shows that when attention is shifted from strictly technical aspects to critical cognitive and socio-ethical dimensions involved in the use of technologies, students’ knowledge and competences result inadequate. The authors conclude that the optimistic portrayal of younger generations’ digital competences is poorly founded. Furthermore, it is pointed out that understanding students’ digital competence levels through fast assessment tools is a fundamental opportunity for schools to analyse deficiencies and prepare adequate intervention strategies.

Education and New Developments, 2019

With the rise of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) today, digital competencies, for high school students, are necessary skills that must be systematically develop with the awareness of efficient use of ICT. Under this premise, qualitative research was carried out under the interpretative framework of the theory based on the social representations of the students, with the objective of knowing what it represents them to develop these skills in benefit of their formative process. In this sense, an in-depth interview validated by experts, was conduct to eighteen high school students. With this technique, we sought to identify how students recognize their skills in the use of technologies, how they apply them in their learning process, and what they represent for them. Researchers used ISTE Standards as dimensions for the categorization of data about creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, research and information management, critical thinking, problem solving and decision-making, digital citizenship, and operations and ICT concepts. The results indicate that students recognize having skills for the management of technologies, however, these are not channeled in the sense of benefiting their training process since there is little participation in the creation of materials for the construction of knowledge. Likewise, they recognize the applicability of technologies for collaboration and communication, but they do not apply them as such, the use of ICT is direct to social and recreational issues than for the purposes of academic interaction and collaborative learning. They refer to the little formality which they carry out their investigations and manage the information, they do not apply processes of critical analysis, selection and evaluation of the information they consult. The development of critical thinking is limited, and they do not reach the solution of problems and decision-making based on accurate information. About digital citizenship, students are aware of the importance of using ICT in a responsible, ethical and safe way, however, they have fallen into plagiarism, cyberbullying and among other. Students recognize that technologies can support them according to their needs for knowledge acquisition and transfer, although they know that it is essential to use habits that lead them to the productive use of the tools and content provided by ICT. It is necessary to continue carrying out this type of research that provides empirical information about this subject.

Journal of Education and E-Learning Research, 2025

University students must be equipped with key digital competencies in Education 4.0, where connectivity, technological fluency, and digital literacy are essential for academic and professional development. This study analyzes the self-perceived digital competencies of university students enrolled in education degrees across seven universities in Spain and Latin America. Data were collected through an online survey comprising Likert-scale items assessing five core areas of digital competence aligned with the DigComp framework: information management, communication, content creation, digital safety, and problem-solving using a quantitative and descriptive methodology. The results show that students feel most competent using digital technologies to communicate, share information and search for and manage data. However, significant weaknesses were identified in areas, such as digital content creation, pro-gaming, and solving technical problems as well as managing digital safety and copyright issues. Gender and age differences were statistically significant although with small effect sizes. These findings highlight the need to enhance training programs in higher education, especially in underdeveloped areas of digital competence to better prepare future teachers. This research contributes to the growing knowledge on digital self-assessment and underscores the importance of integrating comprehensive digital literacy into teacher education curricula.

This special issue of the journal collects the proposals of the call for papers focusing on "Digital Literacy and Digital Competence: Facts, Problems, Needs & Trends", an issue solicited by many sides and especially by the members of the editorial board, to draw the panorama emerging from most recent studies on these topics and to define new strategies for the future. According to the need of a balance for the activity of the journal and to answer to the will of those who think that numbers underline more subtle and complex reasons for the events under observation, it must be noted that this issue of the journal has two special features: it comes ten years after a paper presented in 2004, at the yearly conference of the Italian Association for Didactics Research (SIRD), where the need for new educational methods and practices was presented and discussed as a pedagogical emergency, due to the problem of the digital divide in Western countries and its connection with digital...

Anàlisi: quaderns de comunicació i cultura, 2010

over the last years the theme of the digital competence in its different aspects has been object of a growing interest. in a number of official documents and communications, international bodies underlined the significance of this competence for lifelong learning and to participate in the so-called 'information society'.

Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research (NAER), 2016

This paper presents the findings of a study carried out in the academic year 2014-2015 at the faculty of Education of the University of Murcia with first year degree students in Primary Education studying Research and ICT. The study started with the application of the DIGCOM questionnaire to analyze the digital competences of 134 students. The questionnaire served as an initial task to help students reflect on their digital competences. The subject was developed around tasks which adopted a transversal approach and used the nature of the contents itself to direct and improve students' digital competencies. Finally, the initial questionnaire was reformulated and run in order to ascertain the students' self-perception of their improvement in these competencies through the tasks they had performed. Below we present the tasks carried out, the organization of each subject and the most relevant data regarding the self-perception of digital competencies of the future primary school teachers enrolled at the University of Murcia. The data reveal, on the one hand, that the students participating consider themselves to be competent in the most basic aspects of digital competencies and, on the other, their perception that the work done in the subject has helped them quite a lot in improving their competencies.

Ecorfan journal republic of Colombia, 2023

The present study had two research objectives: (a) Analyze the self-perception that higher-level teachers have about the mastery of digital skills in relation to the areas of information, communication, content creation, security and problem solving; and (b) Identify the level of mastery of digital skills presented by higher level teachers in relation to the areas of information, communication, content creation, security and problem solving. The methodological design had a quantitative approach, which allowed the collection of information required to achieve the objectives set. With this study, we contribute to the frontier of knowledge regarding the gaps between the use and application of digital skills, by the teaching staff of public institutions of higher level.

2020

The ySKILLS project seeks to better understand which skills 12-17-year-olds must obtain to knowingly, and critically use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for their wellbeing, education and social life, and to improve existing knowledge as regards how children and youth can build resilience against negative impacts. As part of <em>Work Package 3 Digital Skills: Actors and Factors </em>of the ySKILLS project<em>, </em>this report aims to contribute a deeper knowledge on (1) the (digital) skills that youth need in the 21st century and (2) the role of digital skills education in formal (e.g., the school), informal (e.g., an extracurricular coding course) and non-formal (e.g., home) learning settings. Against this background, 34 interviews with experts from the educational sector and the labour market were carried out in six European countries: Estonia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Poland and Portugal. As a result of their professional and personal exper...

UA Journals, 2019

Currently, citizens find themselves in a technological environment that demands a series of digital skills that must be developed to perform adequately, either in society or in any type of profession. It is of our interest that these competences allow students to perform satisfactorily in the academic field. Thus, the need to establish the level of digital skills that students require in order to carry out scientific research in a satisfactory manner. For this reason, an instrument of self-perception was adapted that gives a diagnosis of digital competences for research conducted by new university students. In order to carry out the analysis of reliability and validity of the instrument, a pilot test was implemented with a representative sample of 71 new students, belonging to a military engineering university in Veracruz, Mexico. As a result of the analysis, the instrument obtained a remarkable reliability, yielding a Cronbach's Alpha of 0.890 and its construct validity was average, obtaining a global Kaiser Meyer Olkin index of 0.718. Regarding the level of competence detected, a better perception of development was obtained in the students coming from private schools and technological baccalaureates, while the lowest levels were found in those coming from CONALEP, COBAEV and tele-baccalaureates. In light of the results, it is important to visualize the factors that can affect the academic development of students in order to allow them to enter universities with a better expectation of success.

transcript Verlag eBooks, 2024

Digital skills are one of the most contested key competences in the educational sphere. On the one hand, they have become essential to guarantee standards of educational quality and progress, on the other hand they tend to further hamper educational inequalities among the contemporary highly-diversified student population. This paper ties into these premises with a case study located in Turin, Italy based on 19 teachers and educators from all school levels (primary, lower-secondary and upper-secondary education) to highlight the transformation of needs and challenges related to the different phases of the life cycle of students. Three main issues were investigated from a comparative perspective among the study participants: (1) the coherence of their knowledge regarding opportunities and the challenges of digitalization; (2) their skills to implement digital instruments in their working context; and (3) their attitude towards the transfer of potential benefits that enhance learning outcomes through digital instruments. Findings suggest that high-quality and effective staff formation represents one of the most critical issues when talking about digitality in the educational sphere. A chronic lack of time for training, the ongoing work in emergency conditions, the heterogenous institutional endowment with technical devices (PCs, digital infrastructure, etc.), and the suspicion towards the benefits of digitality in the classroom are some of the major barriers to the forwarding of digital competences as a set of skills, knowledge and attitudes within the educational context.