Digital technologies in university education: Enhancing students' digital competence and digital culture

Abstract

The digital transformation of higher education requires effective approaches to developing students' digital competence and digital culture. This study aimed was to evaluate the effectiveness of an integrated pedagogical model based on contemporary digital technologies and targeted pedagogical conditions for developing university students' digital competence and digital culture. A mixed-methods quasi-experimental design was employed, combining theoretical, empirical, and statistical methods. The study involved 184 university students, equally assigned to an experimental group (n = 92) and a control group (n = 92). The intervention included a specially designed course on augmented reality, cloud technologies, artificial intelligence, gamification, Google Glass, and virtual laboratories, supported by an adaptive digital learning environment, digitally guided self-directed learning, and digital monitoring of students' educational activities. Students' digital culture was assessed using motivational, content-information, and activity criteria before and after the intervention. Following the implementation of the pedagogical model, the proportion of students achieving a high level increased in the experimental group from 3.3% to 55.4% for the motivational criterion, from 5.4% to 57.6% for the content-information criterion, and from 5.4% to 56.5% for the activity criterion, whereas improvements in the control group were substantially smaller (19.6%, 13.0%, and 26.1%, respectively). Pearson's χ² test confirmed statistically significant differences between the groups after the intervention. The study contributes an empirically validated pedagogical model demonstrating that integrating innovative digital technologies with targeted instructional support effectively enhances students' digital competence and digital culture in higher education.