Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the digital competency in the use of Internet applications in first grade of the Teacher Degree

Abstract

The aim of this research is to identify the digital competence in the use of internet tools in firstyear students of Preschool and Primary Education Teacher Training Degree at the University of Zaragoza in the academic year 2014-2015. The sample included a total of 960 students, from which 240 were enrolled in the Faculty of Human Sciences and Education of Huesca, 240 in the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of Teruel and 480 in the Faculty of Education of Zaragoza). They were given a questionnaire, specifically designed by teachers of the Departments of Educational Sciences, Computer Science and Systems Engineering of the University of Zaragoza and by teachers of Technology and of Mathematics of two Secondary Education Schools of the Autonomous Community of Aragon. The results indicate that students arriving at University for the first time, despite belonging to the digital era, have serious weakness in digital skills, in the use of the internet tools analyzed in this study. The qualitative analysis of the results shows that the majority of students knows and uses frequently only four of twenty tools considered in this research.