Abstract
The education sector is undergoing significant challenges in the process of transforming learning models in order to face the new requirements of our hyper-connected society. Teaching students how to adequately interact as active and committed citizens in our knowmadic global society is the most challenging task facing educators nowadays. Moreover, the university must consider a student’s knowledge of digital technologies to be able to design new educational models that respond to their current needs. The aim of our research is to assess that knowledge and the use of digital technologies among college students and the relationship this has with their prior academic experience. Data collection included a validated ad-hoc questionnaire divided into 16 categories applied to 757 students of both sexes between 20 and 57 years of age. The results show that, irrespective of gender and age, those students who have used Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in their secondary education have a better knowledge of how to use them to their advantage throughout their university learning process. In conclusion, students need to undergo a training in digital skills before entering university, so as to equip them with a higher level of digital competence.
Highlights
In today’s society, hyperconnectivity is experienced by some people on a daily basis [1] and is seen as the third driving force in human development due to its mediating role in the mutual relations between humans and technology [2] Psychosocial patterns constantly change [3] allowing people and communities to use their oral and visual culture in producing new practices
A series of new tendencies is emerging in our knowmadic society [12] such as: the use of informal and flexible learning methods related to continuing education which change what and how we learn; the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and new literacy studies; and the development of skills in critical thinking to assist learning experiences in contexts which are multiple and changing by means of experimentation, observation, and peer exchange
Various studies link the greater frequency in the use of an internet-connected computer with the development of technological and pedagogical abilities, finding a significant relationship between these variables [45,46,47]. Considering all these questions, we ask: do the experiences of using technology in secondary school have a bearing on the perception and use of technology among university students? And what differences exist between these prior studies and the knowledge of ICT that university students have? Does gender influence the knowledge and use of ICT in so far as the academic experience prior to university is concerned? In this work, we aim to advance on such studies, analysing the knowledge and use of digital technologies among university students and the relationship this has with the academic experience they had prior to university, taking account of the means of access to university and the variable of sex
Summary
In today’s society, hyperconnectivity is experienced by some people on a daily basis [1] and is seen as the third driving force in human development due to its mediating role in the mutual relations between humans and technology [2] Psychosocial patterns constantly change [3] allowing people and communities to use their oral and visual culture in producing new practices. The creation of suitable working conditions in educational institutions is essential to develop education projects capable of combining learning experiences and multi-contextual type skills [8,9] in non-formal, flexible, and self-managed education environments [10,11] where the learning process is constantly changing. This results in a requirement for new skills and competences in a new citizenry who can respond to the demands posed by the twenty-first century. A series of new tendencies is emerging in our knowmadic society [12] such as: the use of informal and flexible learning methods related to continuing education which change what and how we learn; the role of ICT and new literacy studies; and the development of skills in critical thinking to assist learning experiences in contexts which are multiple and changing by means of experimentation, observation, and peer exchange
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