Design and validation of an instrument to measure digital competence in elementary school students

Abstract

Introduction: Recent technological advances have transformed the ways of interaction and participation in society. Therefore, digital skills are necessary for citizens of the digital age. This paper describes the design and validation of an instrument to analyze and describe the digital competence of elementary school students; because the subject has not been sufficiently studied in such population. Method: An instrument comprised of 5 sections was designed and it was applied in a pilot test to 143 students of 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. The validity of content was analyzed by expert judgment and different statistical tests were performed with the data. The construct validity was analyzed through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Reliability was analyzed with measures of internal consistency through Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega. Results: The reliability of the instrument is evidenced by an internal consistency of .946. Appropriate adjustments were made analysis thanks to the answers given by the judges both to the structure and items of the instrument, and the results of the EFA and CFA identified a structure that was consistent with the proposal for this instrument. Conclusions: Evidence showed that the instrument has high levels of reliability and validity to analyze the digital skills of this population.