Las competencias digitales y la autonomía del estudiantado de educación superior. Validación y diagnóstico

Aim. This study aims to analyze the levels of digital competencies (DC) and autonomy among higher education students and to characterize the possible correlation between these variables. Method. A non-probabilistic convenience sample of 294 Mexican undergraduate Social Sciences and Humanities students was used. The research was quantitative-correlational, descriptive-cross-sectional, and non-experimental. Self-administered online questionnaires were used to measure the DC and autonomy variables: an adaptation to Mexican Spanish of the instrument “Basic Digital Competencies 2.0 of University Students” (COBADI®) (Zapata-Ross, 2013) and the “Autonomy” by Bei et al. (2019), respectively. Results. Diverse levels of DC and autonomy were found among students from the different universities. Higher levels of DC and autonomy were associated with being female, using ICT for academic activities, having computer equipment and the Internet, and using the computer for more hours. Non-parametric tests confirmed direct and moderate associations between the variables, particularly when considering some of their dimensions. Conclusions. Adequate levels of DC are associated with higher student autonomy in ICT-mediated education.