Research of study programs to determine the representation of digital competence development
As part of the e-University project, research into study programs was conducted to determine the extent to which students' digital competencies are being developed. The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at J. J. Strossmayer University of Osijek was selected as the executor of the research, and the research was prepared and conducted in 2023 and 2024.
Research Methodology
A mixed convergent-parallel approach combining qualitative and quantitative methods was applied. Eleven international scientific papers from the last five years focusing on teachers' digital competencies, professional development, and remote learning after the COVID-19 pandemic were analyzed. A quantitative content analysis was performed on a representative sample of 311 study programs, proportional to a population of 1646 programs, where the presence of digital competencies in program-level and individual course learning outcomes was checked. Two focus groups—one with teachers and one with students from the University of Osijek—served to contextualize the results.
Key results
More than 52.51% of programs have no digital competency outcomes at the program level, and only 7.76% have a share of 30% or more. Digital competencies are most prevalent in the natural (up to 20.28%) and technical sciences (15.28%), and least in the humanities (3.75%). Information and data literacy is present in 57.88% of programs (at least one course), digital communication and collaboration in 33.76%, digital content creation in 34.28%, problem-solving with digital technologies in 31.83%, while responsible use and security are the least represented with 18.01%. Artificial intelligence is mentioned in only 4.8% of programs (15 out of 311), mostly in technical and economic fields.
Guidelines for improvement
The research provides concrete guidelines for revising study programs: digital competencies must be explicitly included in the learning outcomes at the level of all study programs, especially those related to responsible use and security. Furthermore, it is essential to introduce mandatory teacher training for creating digital content and assessing the credibility of online sources, integrate contemporary topics like artificial intelligence into study programs, and regularly check alignment with labor market needs.