Abstract:

The biggest challenge facing developing countries is the shortage of human talent for digital environments that contribute to the growth of business and applications based on communication, processing and use of data. Ecuador, according to the Global Connectivity Index 2018 report, is located in the early stage of the development of the infrastructure of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), the challenge is the expansion of connectivity coverage so that more people can access the digital economy and from the point of view of the Internet consumer, to promote electronic commerce, social communications, video entertainment, etc.

The recommendation for governments is to rethink education with a focus on Artificial Intelligence, that is, prepare a competitive environment and retain talented professionals and encourage them to use ICT.

In this sense, Ecuadorian universities have the task of proposing study offers that allow the introduction of professionals with redefined abilities and thereby strengthen the digital ecosystem.

The Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja based in Ecuador works on a career project of educational innovation, in a digital context, in which, visual communication and the processing and use of data are the basic characteristics for the promotion of platforms, applications and digital business. In addition, traditional communication and information careers, despite the reforms implemented, have not managed to merge completely to assist in the training of professionals with hybrid knowledge. The job profiles that are demanded with these characteristics are: Visual communication managers for the formulation and projects digital marketing strategies. Junior data scientist for companies and communication media, communications coordinator responsible for the tracking and updating of the communication. Audiovisual producers for networks and entertainment platforms. Creatives for applications. Assistants in data mining (Big data).

In this context, an exploratory-descriptive study is established located in Zone 7 (south of Ecuador), made up of three provinces: Loja, Zamora and El Oro with the object proposing university educational proposal, integrating the areas of communication and applied informatics, knowing the meeting points for the subsequent design of a curriculum that meets the needs of digital communication based on visual elements and data mining.

The methodology used in the study is qualitative through: observation made with primary sources (digital Business, academic offers from both local and international universities, comparison of curricula) and secondary sources (revision of higher education laws, regulations, reports, strategic plans and official documents); semi-structured interviews with academic experts in curricular designs, specialists in digital communication, applied informatics, and professional experts in ICT, digital environments, digital communication, data mining.

As results, a career proposal is obtained for training professionals with specialization in visual communication and data.

Keywords:

Comunication, data mining, digitization, data.