IEEE REVISTA IBEROAMERICANA DE TECNOLOGIAS DEL APRENDIZAJE, VOL. 15, NO. 4, NOVEMBER 2020 389 The Safety Area of Digital Competence: A Mixed Method Study in Galician Primary Education Students Esther Vila-Couñago , Uxía Regueira , and Eulogio Pernas-Morado Abstract—This article aims to evaluate the safety area of digital competence in pre-adolescents schooled in primary edu- cation as well as to understand the processes that interfere with the development of that area. A mixed research methodology was used through an exploratory sequential design with a qualitative phase (multiple case study) followed by quantitative phase (assessment test on safety). Particularly noteworthy among the results obtained is the influence of the family on the subcompetence of health protection as it is the one that worries families the most and where students score the highest on the test conducted. Index Terms— Digital competence, digital divide, digital safety, mixed method research. I. I NTRODUCTION T HE impact of new technologies in societies has led to changes in all domains of life so that digital compe- tence (DC) has become one of the skills demanded by con- temporary society. This situation has been made all the more apparent and pressing in view of recent events marked by the lockdown and the different measures taken by governments as a result of the health crisis caused by the COVID-19. DC has now proved indispensable for teleworking, telelearning, leisure and also to keep abreast of topical matters and remain in con- tact with those dear to us. The risks that a number of authors have been suggesting as regard the digital divide [1], [2] are today magnified by the lack of access and competences: inequalities in terms of gender, social breakdown, institutional exclusion, socialization spaces, infoxication or social alarm, to mention but a few. Manuscript received August 7, 2020; accepted September 8, 2020. Date of publication October 22, 2020; date of current version November 16, 2020. (Spanish version received May 12, 2020; revised June 15, 2020; accepted July 1, 2020). This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Project Competencia Digital en Estudiantes de Educación Obli- gatoria: Entornos Sociofamiliares, Procesos de Apropiación y Propuestas de E-Inclusión under Grant EDU2015-67975-C3-1-P. (Corresponding author: Eulogio Pernas-Morado.) Esther Vila-Couñago and Eulogio Pernas-Morado are with the Department of Pedagogy and Didactics (Area of Didactics and School Organiza- tion), School of Education Sciences, Universidade de Santiago de Com- postela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain (e-mail: esther.vila@usc.es; eulogio.pernas@usc.es). Uxía Regueira is with the Department of Pedagogy and Didactics, School of Education Sciences, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain (e-mail: uxiafernandez.regueira@usc.es). There exists a Spanish version of this article available at http://rita.det.uvigo.es/VAEPRITA/V8N4/A17.pdf Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/RITA.2020.3033218 In this context, a number of measures and tools have urgently been put in place in a variety of sectors, including the educational domain, so as to pursue the daily activities in this new scenario. While in the current context concerns have been voiced as regard access and instrumental competence –basic issues to ensure the continuity of the educational activity– it is paramount to maintain at the center of debate the fact that the ability to use these technologies in a clever, critical and reflexive way should be conceived within the framework of the interconnection and negotiation between the opportunities and risks they entail [3]. A negotiation that in times such as these –when there is high exposure to tools and technologies implemented with urgency and at an accelerated pace, where world-level data collection has been normalized with new purposes that add to those already known and where the focus is on health– means that e-safety and the DC on this domain are a priority. II. DIGITAL COMPETENCE IN PRE-ADOLESCENTS: THE SAFETY DIMENSION This study has as its frame of reference the DIGCOMP Project [4], whose definition of DC mentions a learning that entails a cognitive empowerment and the transfer of knowledge through the use of digital tools in a variety of contexts [5] in a manner that is effective, efficient, suitable, critical, creative, autonomous, flexible, ethical and discerning [4] in order to solve real problems. In DC, five dimensions have been iden- tified: information, communication, content creation, safety and problem solving. In turn, these areas encompass a total of 21 subcompetences. It follows from the literature that the technology-related safety dimension [3], [6]–[10] is the one that worries families and institutions working with minors the most. This dimen- sion, in turn, encompasses four subcompetences [4]: • Device protection. It entails understanding the on-line risks and threats; knowing and being able to take security measures to protect the devices and prevent the fraudulent use of passwords; showing a positive but realistic attitude regarding the risks involved in the on-line use of new technologies. • The protection of personal data. It involves understand- ing the terms and conditions of privacy as well as its guarantee and protection through safeguarding the data shared and the creation of the user’s own digital identity 1932-8540 © 2020 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See https://www.ieee.org/publications/rights/index.html for more information. Authorized licensed use limited to: UNIVERSIDADE DE SANTIAGO. Downloaded on July 06,2021 at 18:07:34 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.