Critical Thinking and Digital Competence in College Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

This research explores the intricate relationship between critical thinking and the cultivation of essential skills, competencies, and knowledge crucial for effective learning and digital fluency among university students. The backdrop of health emergencies has thrust students into unfamiliar terrain, necessitating the discernment of valuable information from the superfluous within the digital landscape. This study, specifically focusing on students enrolled at a university in northern Peru, adopts a non-experimental, correlational, and cross-sectional research design. The sample, selected through a non-probabilistic method, comprises 218 students. The survey instrument used encompasses 30 questions related to critical thinking and 25 questions concerning digital competence, each offering response options on a 4- to 5-point scale. A comprehensive analysis encompassed both the substantive and dialogic dimensions of critical thinking, and within digital competence, the dimensions included learning, informational, communicative, digital, and technological cultures. The findings underscore a remarkably high level of positive correlation between these variables (0.96). In summary, digital competence emerges as a complementary pillar that reinforces and fosters critical thinking within the realm of lifelong learning.