Analysis of Digital Competencies from the Perspective of Higher Education Students in Peru

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed weaknesses in digital competencies in key actors of educational communities, which affects the quality of education and the preparation of future professionals. In this context, the research focused on analyzing the development of digital competencies from the perspective of higher education students in Peru. A mixed approach was used under a sequential design, combining first quantitative and then qualitative data, to collect information were chosen (n=142) students under the simple random probability strategy; also, were chosen (n=9) non-probabilistically by convenience, to which, they were applied a questionnaire consisting of 5 dimensions and 42 items on an ordinal scale and an interview guide, which was useful to apply a focus group and in-depth interviews to reach the point of saturation. The results showed that most students (64.1%) have a moderate level of digital competencies, followed by a high level (29.6%) and a low level (6.3%). The emerging categories identified were curiosity, the development of digital skills and the establishment of their own information search strategies. Students demonstrated a combination of knowledge, skills, attitudes, methods and procedures to articulate communication, collaboration and data and information management consciously and safely in digital environments. The research concludes that self-training, resilience and personal development are key to the development of digital competencies in higher education students.