Technological Skills in Higher Education—Different Needs and Different Uses

• Published in: Education sciences Vol. 11; no. 7; pp. 326 - 337
• Main Authors: Rodrigues, Ana Luísa, Cerdeira, Luísa, Machado-Taylor, Maria de Lourdes, Alves, Helena
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.07.2021
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Collaboration; College Students; Communication; Communication (Thought Transfer); Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Digital economy; Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI); Digital technology; Distance Education; Distance learning; Economic growth; Economic Progress; Educational Needs; Electronic Learning; Employment Potential; Foreign Countries; Higher Education; Human capital; Information literacy; Information society; Internet; Job Application; Knowledge; Learning Processes; Life Satisfaction; Literacy; Pandemics; Personality Development; Problem solving; Public services; Quality of Life; Secondary Education; Skill Development; Soft Skills; Sustainable development; Teaching; Technological Literacy; technological skills; Technology Integration; Thinking Skills; University students; Portugal; Europe
• ISSN: 2227-7102; 2227-7102
• DOI: 10.3390/educsci11070326

Technological skills development is a central issue for a country’s educational and social policies. Throughout their school career, from primary to secondary education and later in higher education, students have the opportunity to build and develop various skills, including technological. Considering the different needs and different uses that these skills encompass, these will certainly be necessary and useful in students’ academic and professional life. This study reports on an investigation of technological skills development in higher education. It aims to analyze the relevance of technologies integration, which technological skills are built and developed by higher education students, and what their perception about the importance of technological skills is. Based on a literature review, an online questionnaire was designed and applied to 217 students from three public higher education institutions located in the North, Center, and South of Portugal. This intended to verify which areas of technological skills (from the European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens) are most developed and to understand respective repercussions. It is concluded that the balanced development of students’ technological skills in higher education is crucial for their personal, social, and professional future and consequently, for their quality of life, with the integration of digital technologies being relevant in the change of the academic work organization, in the relations between learners, teachers, and institutions, and in the new ways of teaching and learning.