ICT Use, Digital Skills and Students’ Academic Performance: Exploring the Digital Divide

Abstract

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are an integral part of our environment, and their uses vary across generations and among individuals. Today’s student population is made up of “digital natives” who have grown up under the ubiquitous influence of digital technologies, and for whom the use of ICT is common and whose daily activities are structured around media use. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of ICT use and digital skills on students’ academic performance and to explore the digital divide in France. Data were collected through face-to-face questionnaires administered to 1323 students enrolled in three French universities. Principal component analysis, a non-hierarchical k-means clustering approach and multilevel ordered logistic regression were used for data analysis and provide four main findings: first, poor investment in ICT affects students’ results; second, the ICT training offered by universities has little impact on students’ results; third, student performance improves with the innovative and collaborative use of ICTs; fourth, the acquisition of digital skills increases students’ academic performance. The results show that the digital divide still exists, and this raises questions about the effectiveness of education policies in France. They suggest also that organizational change in universities is essential to enable an exploitation of ICT.