How do the digital competences of students in vocational schools differ from those of students in cooperative higher education institutions in Germany?

Abstract

Digital skills are thought to be a key competence of the twenty-first century. With the rapid growth of internet and communication tool (ICT) usage among both students and teachers, cooperative (co-op) education programmes, like other educational institutions, face the challenge of integrating and supporting digital skill development. However, little is known about how these skills are developed prior to entering cooperative education programmes. Against this background, a sample of 893 freshers, ranging from vocational students to co-op students, were tested according to their digital skills. The analysis shows that co-op students have a higher level of competence than vocational students. In addition, we found that in our sample social background has no impact on digital competences. The results are discussed and classified in the context of the current state of research.

Attitudes of Czech College Students Toward Digital Literacy and Their Technical Aids in Times of COVID-19

“…The results above can be considered as consistent with the research [16], which has shown that digital literacy is influenced by education. In our case, it is also influenced by education, but from the point of view of the certain specialization of the study programme, the level and form of study.…”

“…The element that would be separated from the group last if the set number of clusters was enlarged was always chosen. The competences were grouped into the following six clusters: Basic (1,2,4,7,8,9,13,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,27); Advanced (10,11,12); Personal information management ( 14); E-forms (26); Operating system administration (3,6,15,16); Operating system control (5).…”

“…• MS Office (7,8,9,27) • Communication (4,18,20,21,22,23) • Shop&Bank (13,17,19,24,25) • PC&Mobil (1, 2) • Advanced (10,11,12) • Personal info ( 14) • E-form (26) • Operating system (3,5,6,15,16) Eight competence families were put together based on similar characteristics, which were identified by the mathematical statistical method, and at the same time they essentially correspond to the perception of the professional users who employ these tools in their everyday work. It was necessary to choose one representative from each family and subsequently it was further subjected to a dependence analysis according to the set hypotheses.…”

“…On the contrary, some research [29] has not shown significant gender differences in digital literacy rates. In Slovakia, the creation of the digital divide is influenced by anticipated factors, which are mainly age and education [10], [16]. As regards the digital divide caused by access to means (the internet), it is important for state policy to become actively involved in this aspect.…”

How Student Characteristics Affect Economy Students’ Digital Competences: A latent profile study

“…Research also points out that the patterns of digital divide transgress into VET and higher education (Murray & Pérez, 2014;Wild & Schulze Heuling, 2020b). Therefore, we will also pay attention towards the question if the skills gap among students related to SES and gender reproduces in this study.…”