Design and validation of an instrument for the evaluation of digital competence in Higher Education

Abstract

The objective is to present the results of the design and validation of the “Digital Campus” instrument, which assesses the level of development of digital competence in higher education students. It is based on the conceptual framework of digital competence and the revision of instruments to diagnose the level of development in this population. A questionnaire of 25 questions was designed and applied to 1,022 undergraduate students in 2017. With the method of Minimum Squares the validity of the instrument was demonstrated and with Pearson’s correlation coefficient it is shown that the dimensions of digital competence are independent. In the analysis of the items, an adequate performance of the instrument was evidenced, given that 66.7% of the items reached an average greater than half of the weight assigned for each item, with the highest performance in the Digital Citizenship dimension (88.9%) and the lowest performance in the Technological dimension. In the latter, it can be attributed that the analysis of the questions showed limitations in the index of difficulty and discrimination.

Digital competence; Digital literacy; Higher education; Instrument design; Validation of instruments