Research Article

Demographic and school factors associated with digital competences in higher education students

Leonardo David Glasserman-Morales 1 , Carolina Alcantar-Nieblas 1 * , Marcela Inés Sisto 2
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1 Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, MEXICO2 Facultad de Psicología y Psicopedagogía, Universidad Católica de Argentina, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA* Corresponding Author
Contemporary Educational Technology, 16(2), April 2024, ep498, https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/14288
Published Online: 26 February 2024, Published: 01 April 2024
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ABSTRACT

Nowadays, digital competencies encompass skills and attitudes with technical, informational, content, media, and communication aspects that are crucial for students and future professionals. Hence, there is a need to investigate the possible correlations between demographic and contextual variables and the development of digital competencies in higher education. This paper reports on several university-student demographic factors associated with digital competencies. The work used a quantitative approach with descriptive statistical techniques such as a means test and Pearson correlation analysis. The findings identified that (a) there are statistically significant differences between the mean obtained in the previous semester in digital competencies and the gender of the students, (b) there are no statistically significant differences in the final mean for digital competencies and the students’ institution of origin, and (c) the variables included in the study are statistically significant. They also found that the mean attained by the university students in the previous semester had a strong predictive power of student performance; in contrast, the student’s high school institution of origin variable was a weak predictor of their digital competency. This paper presents the findings and implications for practice and research.
Keywords: digital competencies, higher education, educational innovation, demographic factors, school factors, educational technology

CITATION (APA)

Glasserman-Morales, L. D., Alcantar-Nieblas, C., & Sisto, M. I. (2024). Demographic and school factors associated with digital competences in higher education students. Contemporary Educational Technology, 16(2), ep498. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/14288

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