Abstract:

With the advent of new technologies, the development of digital skills is essential for the efficient performance of students in their academic, professional and personal lives. Although, in functional terms, those born in the digital world manage information and Communication Technologies (ICT), it does not mean that such skills prepare them for their working life. In fact, in recent times platforms or applications for communicative interaction have been created, which entails the generation of new codes, signs or expressive forms of communication, therefore it is necessary to provide students with communicative strategies that allow them to interact in an effective way in these media.

As observed and opposite to what it was believed, digital competence does not refer only to the skill in the use of technological instruments, but implies being competent in the search, organization and interpretation of information, managing and processing large amount of data with a critical and thoughtful thinking, generating communicative discourses using different codes (visual, spatial, sound, graphics, etc.) depending on the geopolitical and sociocultural context.

This project is developed within the framework of the Tec21 Educational Model, proposed by the Tecnológico de Monterrey. This model presents innovative forms of development and learning for its students, highlighting as a central unit the Challenge Based Learning model. The main objective of the project is to identify the transversal digital/mediated communicative competencies that must be developed in university students during their studies to provide them with the necessary tools that allow them to perform highly in their specialty areas. In this research we worked with a sample of 147 professionals and 218 students of different careers and semesters, at Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey, campus Querétaro.

The results clearly show some important trends for the development of university-level competencies, which will allow a better use of the platforms, improving communication processes. Finally, there is a deep need to prepare future professionals with the knowledge and skills necessary to access responsibly the information available in various digital spaces.

Keywords:

Digital competence, communicative competence, ICT, Educational Model Tec21, Educational Innovation.