=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2843/shortpaper44
|storemode=property
|title=Assessing digital skills in tertiary students (short paper)
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2843/shortpaper044.pdf
|volume=Vol-2843
|authors=Arthur Gibadullin
}}
==Assessing digital skills in tertiary students (short paper)==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2843/shortpaper044.pdf
Assessing digital skills in tertiary students*
Arthur Gibadullin
State University of Management, 99, Ryazan Avenue, Moscow, 109542, Russian Federation
11117899@mail.ru
Abstract. The article is devoted to the assessment of digital skills of students of
higher education institutions. As part of the study, it was revealed that during
the period of digital transformation, the availability of digital skills among stu-
dents of higher educational institutions is an urgent task for the state. The work
analyzed digital competencies in working with applied programs, equipment
and communication in a digital environment and working with digital informa-
tion, as a result of which, it was revealed that some students lack even minimal
digital skills, while there is a digital inequality between students. living in urban
and rural areas. At the end of the study, recommendations were made to im-
prove digital skills in higher education students through the development of ap-
propriate programs and activities.
Keywords: Digital Competencies, Students, Digital Skills, Digital Competen-
cies.
1 Introduction
Knowledge, abilities and skills among students of higher educational institutions be-
gin to form long before entering a higher educational institution, the only thing they
can be fragmented and be associated with all spheres of human life. In higher educa-
tional institutions, knowledge, skills and abilities are focused on a specific field of
activity, namely, the direction in which the student is studying at the university. Of
course, a student during this period can expand his competencies in other areas of
activity that will allow him to most successfully master the profession or, on the con-
trary, acquire professional competencies during his studies. However, in recent years,
more and more attention has been paid to the digital skills of students of higher educa-
tional institutions, since the transition to digital technologies requires from future
specialists’ full knowledge of not only their professional field, but also additional
digital competencies that will allow them to integrate individual technological proc-
esses into digital realm. In this regard, it seems relevant to conduct a study in the field
of assessing the digital skills of students of higher educational institutions [1-2].
We need to understand that a student entering a higher education institution, there-
fore, has minimal digital skills, but there are still open questions related to whether
*
Copyright © 2021 for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribu-
tion 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
university students have specific digital skills or not. Of course, the presence of spe-
cific digital skills may be relevant for students of educational programs related to
information and communication technologies, however, the study will present the
data of all students, regardless of educational programs and the presence or absence of
digital skills. It should be noted that such a study is being updated during a global
pandemic, when students were transferred to e-learning and distance learning, and the
presence or absence of appropriate digital skills allows them to independently master
the necessary educational material. It is also interesting to consider students in urban
and rural areas, in order to assess the inequality between students living in different
territories of the Russian Federation.
2 Materials and methods
The aim of this study is to assess the digital skills of university students. In the work,
the following tasks were formed:
─ Assess digital skills among university students;
─ Suggest activities to improve digital competencies among students of higher educa-
tion institutions.
The study used general scientific methods and approaches, and the information
base was based on analytical reports on digital education in Russia.
3 Results
For the analysis, it is advisable to consider the simplest digital skills of students of
higher educational institutions, which they need almost every day for the successful
mastering of educational programs and obtaining the necessary professional knowl-
edge, abilities and skills.
Consider the digital skills of working with applied programs among university stu-
dents (Figure 1) [3].
It can be seen from the presented figure that not all students have digital skills for
working with a text editor, while a quarter of students living in rural areas do not have
this competence. If we consider working with spreadsheets and the creation of elec-
tronic presentations, then on average 62% and 40% of students possess these digital
competencies, respectively, while in rural areas these indicators are 15% lower than in
urban areas. Only half of the students can use photo, video and audio editing pro-
grams, but the digital divide between urban and rural areas persists. Only 4% of stu-
dents can write software in a programming language, about 5% in urban areas and 3%
in rural areas.
Thus, this situation indicates that some of the students of higher educational insti-
tutions do not have even the simplest digital skills that they need to use in their daily
learning activities.
Further, it seems relevant to consider digital skills in the field of working with
equipment (Figure 2) [3].
100 89 91
90 83 84 86
80 74
70 62 65
60
48 51 53
50 40 43 42
40 29
30
20
10 4 5 3
0
Application Working with a Working with Creation of Using programs Self-writing
skills (total) text editor spreadsheets electronic for editing software
presentations photo, video,
using special audio files
programs
Average Urban settlements Countryside
Fig. 1. Digital skills of working with applied programs among students of higher education
institutions by place of residence in 2017, as a percentage.
66
Digital Skills (total) 69
53
56
Transferring files between computer and peripheral devices 58
43
26
Connecting and installing new devices 27
17
9
Changing parameters or software configuration settings 10
5
Installing a new or reinstalling an operating system, 8
downloading software 9
7
20
Downloading software 21
14
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Average Urban settlements Countryside
Fig. 2. Digital skills of working with equipment among students of higher educational
institutions by place of residence in 2017, as a percentage.
The figure shows that slightly more than half of the students have the skills to
transfer files between computers and a peripheral device, while in rural areas 15%
fewer students have this competence. Connecting and installing new devices, and
downloading software are only 25% and 20%, respectively, there is also a digital
divide between students living in urban and rural areas. About 10% of students have
skills in changing parameters or adjusting the software configuration and installing a
new or reinstalling an operating system, while in rural areas their number is almost
two times less than in urban areas.
Consider digital communication skills in a digital environment and working with
digital information (Figure 3) [3].
61
Sending or receiving email 63
47
65
Phone calls or video calls over the Internet 66
55
Uploading personal files to websites, social networks, 49
51
cloud storage for public access 36
52
Search for information about products and services 54
42
19
Find information related to health or health services 19
16
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Average Urban settlements Countryside
Fig. 3. Digital communication skills in a digital environment and working with digital
information among students of higher education institutions at the place of residence in
2017, as a percentage.
The figure shows that only 64% and 61% can make phone calls and video conver-
sations via the Internet and send or receive e-mail, respectively, while in rural areas
this percentage is about 55% and 47%, respectively. Only 49% and 52% can upload
files to websites and social pages, as well as search for information about goods and
services, while in rural areas this figure is 37% and 42%, respectively. Only 19% can
search for information related to health or health services in urban areas, and about
16% in rural areas.
Thus, the analysis showed that students do not have even the minimum digital
competencies that are required to ensure high-quality educational activities, moreover,
in rural areas these indicators are significantly lower than in urban areas. Of course, in
order to solve these problems and increase the level of digital competence, it is neces-
sary to propose activities that will allow students of higher educational institutions to
acquire digital competencies for their further use in professional activities.
4 Discussion
In the opinion of the researchers, in order to improve the digital competencies of stu-
dents of higher educational institutions, it is necessary to adopt the state program
"Digital Education", within the framework of which the following activities should be
implemented [4-9]:
─ Creation of electronic educational sites;
─ Technical and technological equipping of universities with digital equipment, at
the same time, not only personal computers, but also various equipment creating
digital devices, digital programs and platforms;
─ Introduction into the educational process of additional disciplines related to teach-
ing work on the simplest programs, the use of digital equipment in educational and
professional activities, the development of skills for working on the Internet, the
use of various electronic educational sites, etc.;
─ Development of corporate state universities to train schoolchildren, students and
working youth in the basics of digital literacy, work on various devices and plat-
forms, etc.;
─ Creation of electronic platforms for the exchange of experience in the field of digi-
tal transformation of the spheres of human activity and life;
─ Creation of platforms for exchange of experience between professional communi-
ties and students of higher educational institutions.
In the opinion of the researchers, in order to effectively integrate digital technolo-
gies into the spheres of activity and industry, the state should create conditions for
students of higher educational institutions to acquire additional digital competencies
in all areas. Of course, such activities should be developed by higher educational in-
stitutions and large companies that are interested in creating new products and tech-
nologies in their field of activity.
5 Conclusion
Thus, the analysis showed that some of the students of higher educational institutions
do not have digital competencies in the field of working with applied programs,
equipment, communication in a digital environment and working with digital infor-
mation. In the work, it was revealed that such a situation will negatively affect the
digital development of spheres of activity and industries. In this regard, at the end of
the study, activities were proposed aimed at increasing digital skills among university
students.
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