Digital literacy and undergraduates’ values
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Digital literacy has been in the spotlight at all levels of education and society in general. It has been treated and
analysed within various dimensions and perspectives, namely dimensions associated with information, communication and technology, and perspectives related to technical and cognitive aspects. However, emphasis has seldom been laid on social values when handling digital literacy and particularly the Internet. It is important that digital literacy is not anchored in technology for the sake of technology only, but in the society’s coherent development, which cannot exclude the culture of consolidated social values and the construction of new values which enable the harmonious evolution of society in an era characterised by innovation, interconnection and knowledge. This study, conducted in the academic year of 2016/2017, involved a sample of 724 undergraduates attending two public higher education institutions, a Spanish one and a Portuguese one. Among the results obtained, we highlight that the majority of the undergraduates have been using the Internet for over 10 years and spend more than 30 hours a week searching for information predominantly related to academic life and current
affairs. Most of the communications they establish online are with friends, relatives and colleagues. They give more attention to values when communicating online with friends and relatives than when communicating with colleagues. The identification of counter-values is higher in the communications established with colleagues than in those established with friends, and it is also higher in the communication with these latter than in the communication with relatives.
Digital literacy has been in the spotlight at all levels of education and society in general. It has been treated and analysed within various dimensions and perspectives, namely dimensions associated with information, communication and technology, and perspectives related to technical and cognitive aspects. However, emphasis has seldom been laid on social values when handling digital literacy and particularly the Internet. It is important that digital literacy is not anchored in technology for the sake of technology only, but in the society’s coherent development, which cannot exclude the culture of consolidated social values and the construction of new values which enable the harmonious evolution of society in an era characterised by innovation, interconnection and knowledge. This study, conducted in the academic year of 2016/2017, involved a sample of 724 undergraduates attending two public higher education institutions, a Spanish one and a Portuguese one. Among the results obtained, we highlight that the majority of the undergraduates have been using the Internet for over 10 years and spend more than 30 hours a week searching for information predominantly related to academic life and current affairs. Most of the communications they establish online are with friends, relatives and colleagues. They give more attention to values when communicating online with friends and relatives than when communicating with colleagues. The identification of counter-values is higher in the communications established with colleagues than in those established with friends, and it is also higher in the communication with these latter than in the communication with relatives.
