ICT SKILLS AND COMPUTER SELF-EFFICACY OF HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS

In this paper we continue our previous research on ICT skills in the higher education student population. We focus on several students' perceived ICT skills, general computer use patterns, and perceived computer self-efficacy. The approach taken is different from the mainstream computer literacy research in not focusing on 'Office-based' skills, but rather on lower-level operational skills that are often taken for granted in a the higher education curriculum. On the moment of writing, our sample holds 195 students at bachelor and master level. We scored 6 dimensions within global ICT skills: File Management, Security, Technical Issues, Legal Issues, Internet and Awareness and compared this to computer self-efficacy levels. We investigated the existence of gender effects, bachelor-master effects, the impact of the chosen study subject and computer use. The results show that students in the sample rate their own ICT skills quite high, apart from the dimensions legal and technical issues. We also found that specific computer use profiles, such as identifying oneself as a 'blogger', renders good self-efficacy predictions. While the gender and study subject effects are limited, significant differences between master and bachelor students have been revealed. The findings form a basis for the continued improvement of the higher education ICT curriculum and future research.