Page 134 - International Perspectives on Effective Teaching and Learning in Digital Education

Milena Ivanuš Grmek, Monika Mithans, and Sabina Ograjšek

Table 2 Students’ Self-Assessments of their Abilities in Searching, Finding, and Accessing
Information and Content Using Digital Tools
I can … N M SD MIN MAX U p
… search and find groups on a specific 356 4. .69 . 5. 113.5 .5
topic (e.g., hobby, profession, artist,
science, historical event, travel destination)
on various social media.
… watch (read, listen, view) content in 356 4.18 .6 3. 5. 13648.5 .4
various formats on various smart devices.
… search and find a specific person on 356 4.6 .71 . 5. 1839.5 .38
various social networks using various
techniques and filters (e.g., various formats
of name, photo, email address, school,
company, etc.).
… navigate in the real–world using the 356 4.6 .7 . 5. 1917. .48
advanced features of a navigator.
… search and find a specific object or 356 3.93 .78 . 5. 1484. .683
similar objects using various search
engines (e.g., Google, Yahoo, Bing) and
databases, using appropriate keywords
and advanced criteria and filters.

also receives a high rating. Searching for specific people on social networks
and navigating in the real world using advanced navigation features are rat-
ed equally. While still highly rated, the ability to search and find specific ob-
jects or similar objects using various search engines and databases shows the
lowest average among the assessed abilities. This may indicate that students
find this task slightly more challenging than the others, possibly due to the
complexity of effectively using advanced search criteria and filters.
In the section, ‘Search, Find, and Access,’ we also compared the abilities of
elementary and preschool education students. The Mann-Whitney test re-
vealed significant differences in three abilities between the two groups. Ele-
mentary education students generally ranked higher in finding people on so-
cial media, finding groups on social media, and real-life navigation. However,
no significant differences were found regarding their general internet search
abilities and ability to view content in various formats on smart devices.

Develop, Apply, Modify
The responses reveal students’ self-assessed abilities in developing, apply-
ing, and modifying digital content and tools. Converting content from one
format to another is the area where students are most confident. Creating
events and setting notifications using digital calendars also ranks highly. Cre-
ating documents with advanced features such as text, diagrams, tables, and

134