University graduate students and digital competence: are future secondary school teachers digitally competent?

Abstract

Information and communication technology is very important both for teacher training and for delivering quality education. Therefore, university graduates must have a level of qualification in digital competencies suitable for their entry into the world of work. The research analyzes various aspects related to the use of technological resources by graduate students who were currently studying for a university master’s degree in compulsory secondary education, and the relationship between their use based on gender and/or age. A descriptive cross-sectional survey is carried out. We use an ad hoc questionnaire that shows acceptable reliability. The results show that graduate students make traditional use of ICT—both for searching for information and using digital resources for teaching. Moreover, differences were found based on gender and age regarding participants’ perception of their digital competence.