ABSTRACT
Given the importance of the digitalization of education, especially in the context of the worldwide outbreak of Covid-19, this paper focuses on the main directions for action necessary in developing and implementing a digital strategy in education. To achieve this goal, we collected data from March to August 2021 and gathered a total of N=282 participants enrolled at four faculties from the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Romania, in the fields of social sciences and humanities. Our results support the importance of digital skills, digital training assessment, digital infrastructure, education institutions incentives, digital education instruments design, open access resources, public-private partnerships, best-practices exchanges, security and protection and strategic forecasting, in assessing a digital strategy in education from the perspective of both social sciences and humanities students. © Vilnius University, 2002-2022.
ABSTRACT
Digital literacy is among the mandatory abilities to any higher education level and represents a fundamental ingredient in successful professionalization. Considering the deep penetration of digital technologies in everyday life, digital literacy offers a set of transversal skills that could improve a whole area of activities, from banking operations to civic participation. However, these skills are diverse and vary according to the development of technologies and society. This study fills an important academic gap on digital literacy by placing it in a specific and well-defined context, analyzing different perspectives that involve such learning, such as predictors of digital literacy in different types of students. In addition, research increases its importance as it is being developed during the pandemic, a period characterized by accelerated technological use and sudden changes. This research used a quantitative design based on the answers to a questionnaire conducted from March 2021 to May 2021. From a methodological perspective, we tested several hypotheses using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) within the structural equation model (SEM). The results show that communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, and technical digital skills are more present in the case of students enrolled in economics and social sciences, while other digital skills (i.e., creativity and information) are more prevalent in the case of humanities students. Moreover, the results showed that, except for creativity and problem-solving-related digital skills, all of the digital skills were significantly influenced by students’ different levels of education. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.