Tools

Digital Competencies Survey (DCS)

We have developed and empirically employed a structured survey tool – Digital Competencies Survey (DCS) – to explore nursing students’ self-perceived digital literacy competencies within a discipline-specific context. The instrument was carefully designed to reflect the multifaceted nature of digital literacy as it applies to nursing education and practice. Drawing inspiration from established frameworks such as the European Commission’s Digital Competence Framework (DigComp), the survey was tailored to capture competencies relevant to nursing students’ academic and clinical environments. The survey is not a static tool but a constantly evolving one, with new emerging dimension currently developed for changing digital competencies with the emergence of generative artificial intelligence. The latest version of the DCS can be found in:  MARTZOUKOU, K., LUDERS, S.E., WORK, F., KOSTAGIOLAS, P. and JOHNSON, N. 2024. Digital divides in nursing students: an exploration of the relationship between self-perceived digital competencies and digital barriers. Journal of Documentation. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-09-2024-0209 A downloadable document with the survey questions that can be used in your own research study can be requested by filling in the online form.

The survey comprises 35 items, organized into 13 thematic areas: Everyday participation as a digital citizen, ICT proficiency with completing different tasks, ICt Productivity, Information literacy (identification of information types) , information literacy, Digital creation skills, digital research, digital communication, Digital innovation, Digital learning and development, Digital identity management, Digital wellbeing and Digital abilities to complete academic work.

Each item invites participants to self-assess their confidence using a five-point Likert scale, ranging from “novice” to “expert” This format allows for useful insights into how students perceive their own digital competencies across a spectrum of tasks. The original scale is based on research by Martzoukou et al., 2020.