Session Information
16 SES 03 A, Digital Literacy and Problem Solving Competences
Paper Session
Contribution
Since some time now, it has been feasible to perceive that the relationship between young people and digital technologies is extremely close in terms of frequency and variety of use. Nowadays, young people, especially university students, use digital technologies with high frequency, which can have different types of impacts (Álvarez-Ferrandiz et al., 2023). In some cases, it may lead to academic, entertainment and social uses (Cerda et al., 2018), while in others, it may result in worrying practices, especially those related to problematic use of social networks (Romero-Rodriguez et al., 2020) and smartphone use (Roig-Vila et al., 2020). Therefore, analyzing the relationship between young people and digital technologies should be a matter of interest in the academic world.
While this is relevant for university students, it becomes even more critical for student teachers because of their role modeling (Urra et al., 2020). It means that a teacher must not only generate teaching practices based on the curricular content defined by the school system but also develop personal practices considered exemplary by society, which is consciously or unconsciously observed in a vicarial way by their students (Cheung, 2020). Among all types of subjects, physical education is one that has greater relevance due to its practical character.
It would be expected that physical education teachers can be a good example of the value of practices they promote. Therefore, these teachers should stimulate and experience real entertainment practices, prioritizing them over the virtual ones available nowadays in the pocket of their students (smartphone). Despite this, Menescardi et al. (2021) conclude that the use of digital technologies in physical education is still basic. While this makes sense, due to the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, these habits were modified, even for university students in physical education (Etchevers et al., 2022). Consequently, digital entertainment practices have gained greater acceptance among young people, sometimes being preferred over real practices (Flores et al., 2020). Despite the relevance of the research topic and its implications, there is limited literature regarding the specific understanding of this phenomenon.
On the other hand, autonomous use with entertainment purposes of technologies allows the development of various digital competences. The European Framework for Digital Competences (DIGCOMP) provides a detailed description of the essential areas that citizens should have (Carretero et al., 2017; Ferrari, 2013). In these terms, educational institutions must provide citizens with the necessary competences to face new professional challenges. Although it could be thought that the acquisition of these skills is due to formal training processes, many of them can be acquired autonomously through the interaction with various digital devices, considering needs and interests of the users and variables associated with them (Cerda et al., 2022b). According to this context, it is relevant to deep in the understanding of this phenomenon.
Considering this background, this research had two objectives. First, describe the access and use to devices and applications that are most commonly used for entertainment by Chilean student teachers in physical education and Spanish students in sports science. Second, according to the country of origin, compare the level of digital competences used for entertainment purposes by these participants. Addressing these objectives provides an initial approach to the role that the entertainment use of digital technologies plays, in comparison to other uses, in the development of digital citizenship competences in university students related to physical activity and sports.
Method
This research involved a total of 324 university students from one university in Temuco, Chile (n = 170, 52.5%), and students from one university in Alicante, Spain (n = 154, 47.5%). Considering the total, 68.2% were male and 31.8% were female, with an average age of 21.12 years (SD = 3). The Chilean participants were student teachers in physical education, while Spanish students were part of the Sports Science and Physical Activity program. The information was obtained through two instruments. The first one was a questionnaire developed for a previous research (Cerda et al., 2018), in which access, time and purposes of use of digital technologies (academic, entertainment, social and economic) in devices (desktop computer, laptop computer, smartphone and tablet) and applications (Facebook, Internet search, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram and TikTok) were measured. The second one was the entertainment use subscale of the Scale of Purposes of Use and Digital Competences, which measures frequency of use of digital technologies with entertainment purposes (Cerda et al., 2022a). The items were based in the following five digital competences defined by DIGCOMP (Carretero et al., 2017; Ferrari, 2013) A = Browsing, searching and filtering data, information and digital content; B = Managing data, information and digital content; C = Interacting through digital technologies; D = Sharing through digital technologies; E = Developing digital content. Data was collected at the end of 2023. The application of the instruments at each university included a previous explanation of the research objectives, its relevance and the intention to participate. Data analysis was conducted in stages. First, quality controls were performed to analyse the data and identify any potential and incorrect information registered. Second, descriptive analyses of access to devices and applications, number of hours they were used and percentage of time spent on these tasks were conducted. Third, five variables, considering the five digital competences of the Scale of Purposes of Use and Digital Competences were created. Fourth, the normality of the variables was analysed by reviewing their levels of skewness and kurtosis. Fifth, mean comparison tests (t-test for independent samples) were carried out to evaluate the difference in the variables according to the country of origin of the students.
Expected Outcomes
The tablet, which shows low access (Chile 13% and Spain 29%), is the device with the highest percentage of entertainment use (Chile 37.5% and Spain 33%, p > 0.05), followed by the smartphone (Chile 31.2% and Spain 33.2%), which is used by 98% of students in both countries. Regarding this device, differences were only showed in time of use, being Chilean students the ones spending more hours (M = 6.91, SD = 3.39) while the Spanish students (M = 4.98, SD = 2.04), t(260) = 6.10, p < .001, Cohen’s d = -0.69. Regarding the applications, TikTok had the highest entertainment use (Chile 66% and Spain 68%). The second most used application is YouTube (Chile 64.7% and Spain 69.3%) with access rates of 89% in Chile and 91% in Spain. In relation to the development of digital competences, Chilean students outperformed their counterpart in Spain in almost all the competences. In specific Browsing (A), Chilean participants got higher scores (M = 3.50, SD = 0.89) than the Spanish (M = 3.10, SD = 0.84), t(322) = 4.16, p < .001, Cohen’s d = -0.46. The same happened with variables: Managing (B), M = 2.49, SD = 1.04 versus M = 2.20, SD = 0.83, t(316)= 2.81, p = .005, Cohen’s d = -0.31; Interacting (C), M = 3.01, SD = 0.99 versus M = 2.61, SD = 0.86, t(321)=3.84, p < .001, Cohen’s d = -0.43; Sharing (D), M = 2.66, SD = 1.03 versus M = 2.40, SD = 0.83), t(317)= 2.55, p = .011, Cohen’s d = -0.28. Only in the case of Develop (E), Spanish got a higher score, (M = 2.09, SD = 1.07) than Chileans (M = 1.96, SD = 0.89), t(319)= 1.18, p = .236, even though the difference was not significative.
References
Álvarez-Ferrándiz, D., Martínez-Sánchez, I., Rodríguez-Sabiote, C., & Álvarez-Rodríguez, J. (2023). The use of technology In higher education. Pedagogical orientations within education. Journal of Positive Psychology & Wellbeing, 7(3), 391-405. https://journalppw.com/index.php/jppw/article/view/17645/11110 Carretero, S., Vuorikari, R., & Punie, Y. (2017). DigComp 2.1: The Digital Competence Framework for Citizens with eight proficiency levels and examples of use (EUR 28558). Cerda, C., León, M., Saiz, J. L., & Villegas, L. (2022a). Propósitos de uso de tecnologías digitales en estudiantes de pedagogía chilenos: Construcción de una escala basada en competencias digitales. Píxel-Bit. Revista de Medios y Educación, 64, 7-25. https://doi.org/10.12795/pixelbit.93212 Cerda, C., León, M., Saiz, J. L., & Villegas, L. (2022b). Relación entre propósitos de uso de competencias digitales y variables asociadas a estudiantes de pedagogía chilenos. Edutec. Revista Electrónica de Tecnología Educativa(82), 183-198. https://doi.org/10.21556/edutec.2022.82.2557 Cerda, C., Saiz, J. L., Villegas, L., & León, M. (2018). Acceso, tiempo y propósito de uso de tecnologías digitales en estudiantes de pedagogía chilenos. Estudios Pedagogicos, 44(3), 7-22. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-07052018000300007 Cheung, P. (2020). Teachers as role models for physical activity: Are preschool children more active when their teachers are active? European Physical Education Review, 26(1), 101-110. https://doi.org/10.1177/1356336X19835240 Etchevers, V., Navarrete, M., Valdés, G., & Merellano, E. (2022). Niveles de actividad física y uso del smartphone en estudiantes de pedagogía en educación física: Estudio comparativo en dos momentos de la pandemia. REAF- Revista Chilena de Rehabilitación y Actividad Física, 1(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.32457/reaf1.1764 Ferrari, A. (2013). DIGCOMP: A framework for developing and understanding digital competence in Europe. Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2788/52966 Flores, G., Correa., M., & Cervantes., M. (2020). Deporte, cultura y uso de tecnologías en el tiempo libre de jovenes universitarios. Espiral-Cuadernos del Profesorado, 13(17), 144-159. https://doi.org/10.25115/ecp.v13i27.3491 Menescardi, C., Suárez-Guerrero, C., & Lizandra, J. (2021). Formación del profesorado de educación física en el uso de aplicaciones tacnológicas. Apunts. Educación Física y Deportes, 144, 33-43. https://doi.org/10.5672/apunts.2014-0983.es.(2021/2).144.05 Roig-Vila, R., Prendes-Espinosa, P., & Urrea-Solano, M. (2020). Problematic smartphone use in spanish and italian university students. Sustainability (Switzerland), 12(24), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410255 Romero-Rodríguez, J. M., Rodríguez-Jiménez, C., Ramos, M., Marín-Marín, J. A., & Gómez-García, G. (2020). Use of instagram by pre-service teacher education: Smartphone habits and dependency factors. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(11), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17114097 Urra, B., Freundt, A., Fehrenberg, M., & Muñoz, M. (2020). Paradigma educativo y habilidades el profesor asociadas a la percepción de rol docente en educación física de estudiantes chilenos. Retos, 37, 362-3619. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v37i37.72781
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