Digital Competence Evaluation of Communication Students. A Mexican University Case.

Abstract

The acquisition of digital knowledge, as well as critical thinking dissemination for media diet management, are urgent in current media societies. In that sense, communicators play an important role in the configuration of such mechanisms, as they are mediators and generators of complex communicative structures in current hyper-communicated ecologies. Thus, this research analyses digital competence levels of communication students from a University of Mexico. To proceed with this proposal, the Common Framework for Digital Competence of Teachers 2017 was used as theoretical support. Findings for two out of five areas that integrate this framework are reported: 1) information and information literacy and, 2) digital content creation. For analysis, subjects are grouped in university low and university high categories, according to how advanced they are in the completion of their degree, to look for possible relationships between the years of schooling and their digital competence. For that purpose, non-parametric tests were used (Chi-square and Fisher’s exact test). The results show that advancing in the completion of a university degree does not necessarily guarantee the acquisition of digital competence.