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Influence of active methodologies: projects and cases in the development of digital competences with mobile devices

Martha Vanessa Agila-Palacios (Dirección de Tecnologías para la Educación, Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja, Loja, Ecuador)
Ana García-Valcárcel Muñoz-Repiso (Departamento de Didáctica, Organización y Métodos de Investigación, Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain)
María Soledad Ramírez-Montoya (Escuela de Humanidades y Educación, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico)

Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education

ISSN: 2050-7003

Article publication date: 21 June 2021

Issue publication date: 31 May 2022

207

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of two active methodologies on digital competences development using mobile devices. The first methodology is project-oriented learning (POL); the second one is case-based learning (CBL). The analyzed digital competences belong to the communication and collaboration area of framework DIGCOMP.

Design/methodology/approach

This article shows the results of the quantitative stage with a design pre-experimental pre-test–post-test. A questionnaire was designed and applied to an intentional sample from two different courses. In total, 178 students completed the questionnaire in the pre-test, and after five months, 38 students completed the questionnaire in the post-test.

Findings

The results show that students to whom POL was applied increase by 7% competence of interaction with mobile technology. The results also show that the students to whom CBL was applied to increase all four competencies (interaction +8%, share +6%, collaboration +5%, netiquette +4%).

Research limitations/implications

Self-perception for the evaluation of digital competence and the short study time are limitations to generalize the results, so a longitudinal study is necessary and complemented with qualitative analysis, to present a better validation of the contribution of active methodologies to the development of digital competences.

Originality/value

The rapid advance of technology and the results of various investigations make evident the need of digital competences development. The most common process is digital literacy through techno-functional training. However, these research results confirm that it is possible to promote these digital competences from a practical view and implicitly in active methodologies educational practices.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This research work is made within University of Salamanca PhD Programme on Education in the Knowledge Society scope. The authors would like to thank to the Technical University of Loja, Ecuador for its scholarship to study this PhD programme.

Funding: This work was supported by the scholarship from the Technical University of Loja, Ecuador to study the PhD Programme on Education in the Knowledge Society scope at University of Salamanca and by Research Direction and WritingLab at Tecnologico de Monterrey.

Citation

Agila-Palacios, M.V., Muñoz-Repiso, A.G.-V. and Ramírez-Montoya, M.S. (2022), "Influence of active methodologies: projects and cases in the development of digital competences with mobile devices", Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 1007-1020. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-05-2020-0149

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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