Digital skills in higher education: preparing students for a digitized world

Abstract

One of the challenges that university students face in this century is adapting to current circumstances in order to be ahead of its time and transform society considering the technological progress that prevails today. In this context, one of the main challenges is the training of digital competences in professionals; a global demand that is closely related to the online and blended learning teaching-learning processes or modalities that require these competences with urgency and good quality. It is in this direction that the present research is being carried out with the aim of assessing the role of digital competences in higher education and their relevance for the preparation of education professionals in an increasingly digitalized world. The research follows a descriptive and quantitative approach, based on the application of the competences perception questionnaire. The population is 177 students from the fifth year of the UNSA's undergraduate course in Educational Sciences, and the sample consists of 100 students and corresponds to the cluster sampling type. The results show that these students have a high perception of digital competences for the continuous improvement of their professional training process. The results demonstrate the need for the hybrid modality and ubiquitous learning, based on the competences and motivations derived from them for collaborative learning, as well as the value of this type of research for the improvement of higher education.