Abstract:

The positive experience of students in relation to the use of technology during the pandemic, in the university classroom, led us to wonder about the self-perception of education students in relation to digital competence during their initial university education. Especially of the group that entered the Faculty in the face-to-face modality in March 2020 and had to start university studies remotely to avoid contagion.

The main objective of this work is focused on knowing the self-perception of the fourth cycle students of the Faculty of Education about their own digital competence. For this purpose, a qualitative design was followed and a questionnaire, observation and focus groups were used as instruments. The Touron online questionnaire consisting of 54 items, the observation of the students' work using digital devices chosen by them for their participation in the classroom and focus groups for the analysis of the experiences were applied. The sample consisted of 46 students, who are in their fourth semester of training during the year 2021-2.

The results show that there are no differences in relation to gender, that the level of preparation in digital competence is intermediate. Likewise, their self-perception corresponds to the results of the questionnaire and they show greater mastery in the use of devices, but not in the creation of content and problem solving. Those who began their studies in 2020 without any knowledge of digital competence, developed group support strategies that allowed them to continue their studies in the distance mode.

Keywords:

Self-perception-digital competence-university students-times of pandemic.