Virtual Education Modality and Digital Competence in University Students

Abstract

This chapter considers students from different Panamanian universities after the experience in the 2021-2022 academic year. There are important considerations about digital competence and professional progression, gender, age, and attitude influencing the virtual modality. Their behaviors and attitudes are also influenced by their competencies, going beyond a consideration referred solely to the rational approach of the study. 253 students participated in the study, most of whom were women (74.7 percent). The results evidently reveal the massive use and application of information and communication technologies in the university classroom. That technological tools put the focus on the curricula of universities and intervene in the degree of competence of their students. The digital skills present in university students are linked to daily activity, to systematic use in their subjects. This allows the assessment of competence, and an approach to the evaluation of digital competences that are not specific to a specialty, but are also generic competences.