# Development of Digital Competence for Research
###### Abstract
* In [PERSON] doctoral thesis, the students' self-perception of mastery of digital competence was found at a basic level, by obtaining failing grades in the practical and knowledge part, in addition to the fact that with their strategy they did not achieve a significant difference in any of the dimensions of digital competence [17]. * [PERSON] et al. [18], found statistical differences in the five competency areas between pre-test and post-test. * In the doctoral research of [PERSON] [19], it was concluded that children adopt the use of ICTs (Information and Communications Technology) in their daily lives at a high level, but not so much at school, since their main assigned use is for leisure and recreational activities. However, their level of digital competence drops drastically when trying to do activities with the Internet and ICT applied to homework. * [PERSON] [20] identifies the need to develop the digital competence that university students require when doing research. His proposal is based on the recommendations made by the European Parliament [21] regarding the development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes required for the development of individuals. Therefore, it is necessary to adapt the construct of digital competence that university students need to develop in order to conduct research, adapting their knowledge, skills, and attitudes to the academic environment. According to the hierarchization of digital competence proposed by [PERSON] and [PERSON] [7] and taken up by [PERSON] [3], Digital Competence for Research can be placed as a level II digital competence, where the competences applied to a specific activity such as research, starting from the generic digital competence, with its skills, knowledge, attitudes and values, are all grouped together. On the other hand, according to [PERSON]'s [6] perspective, the DCR is a digital competence; how ever, based on his recommendations, each of its competencies is required to be adapted to the specific needs of the environment or application. As an example, scientific research is a sector of society that is directly affected by digital technologies, according to the agreement of 14 May 2020, presented in the official state gazette [21], by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training of the Spanish government. Digital competence for research was composed of three dimensions: (a) digital information management, (b) communication and collaboration in virtual environments, and (c) digital content creation. Digital competence for research could be operationally defined as the ability to search, filter, evaluate and manage data, information, and digital content, as well as to communicate and collaborate in virtual environments, creating digital content for research purposes. As a result of the above, the research question arises: What is the difference in digital competence for research among undergraduate engineering students with the implementation of a blended learning course? It is proposed as a research hypothesis, that there are significant differences in digital competence for research among undergraduate engineering students with the implementation of a course designed in the blended learning modality.