Appraisement of digital competence in students with high performance in Peru

Abstract

The development of digital competence is a critical and unpostponable challenge for actual society and an emerging area of educational research. In order to give empirical support to the design of educational policies, this work to know what are the expectations of a group of higher education students with high performance and limited economic conditions, the scholarship program "Beca 18" of the Peruvian government, on the different factors that characterize digital competence, as well as knowing the socio-educational differences associated with this perception. For this purpose, the Digital Competencies in Higher Education Questionnaire (CDES) was used to a highly representative sample at the national level, 9,469 students. Among the main results we can highlight that there are significant differences on the appraisement of digital competence according to gender, place of origin and type of study institution. These variables are especially sensitive in public debate, promotion and research on digital competence as the educational component in the basic and professional training of citizens in the technologically mediated society. In conclusion, this high performance group has a vision of digital competence that is not limited to technical aspects, but is clearly associated with factors such as creativity and innovation.