Luis Rosario-Albert Universidad Ana G. Méndez, Carolina Campus, Puerto Rico, (USA)
Ezequiel Bayuelo-Flórez Universidad Ana G. Méndez, Carolina Campus, Puerto Rico, (USA)
Keywords
Equidad digital, destrezas digitales, inclusión digital, brecha digital, Internet, Puerto Rico.
Abstract
El problema de la investigación son las desigualdades digitales entre los estudiantes universitarios y explorar cómo la educación en destrezas digitales puede mejorar la educación a nivel universitario. Los objetivos del estudio abordan tres tópicos: 1) identificar las barreras que enfrentan los estudiantes universitarios de bajos recursos para acceder y adoptar servicios de internet de banda ancha, 2) evaluar si la educación en habilidades digitales mejora la adopción de servicios de internet de banda ancha, y 3) identificar estrategias de enseñanza relevantes para mejorar el acceso y la adopción de servicios de internet entre los estudiantes universitarios, lo cual podría ser valioso para las agencias gubernamentales y las organizaciones de educación superior en Puerto Rico. Con base en hallazgos empíricos, se exploró el papel de la educación en el desarrollo de las habilidades digitales necesarias para que los sujetos utilicen la Internet de manera efectiva. El estudio empleó un enfoque de métodos mixtos con un diseño secuencial. En la fase cuantitativa, se administró un cuestionario de entrada a una muestra de cincuenta (N=50) estudiantes. Posteriormente, se ofreció a los participantes un taller sobre destrezas digitales, seguido de un cuestionario de salida. En la fase cualitativa, se realizó un grupo focal con seis (6) estudiantes que habían participado en la fase cuantitativa. Los resultados revelaron una baja prevalencia de barreras para el uso y acceso a internet entre los sujetos de la muestra. Se conectaron a la Internet consistentemente a través de sus teléfonos móviles, en casa y en el contexto universitario. Hubo una alta demanda de aprendizaje por las aplicaciones digitales CapCut, Canva, y los temas de inteligencia artificial y ciberseguridad. Los participantes reportaron un aumento en la percepción de conocimiento sobre conceptos como la brecha digital, la equidad digital y las habilidades digitales enfatizadas en el taller. Este aumento fue estadísticamente significativo (p < 0.05).
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Fundref
This study received government funding from the Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (No. 72-09-C13062) in the U.S. The research was part of the digital inclusion project, “Universidad Ana G. Méndez, Carolina Campus Broadband Digital Inclusion Project”. The authors are grateful to the Jesús T. Piñero Library and Social Research Center at the Universidad Ana G. Méndez, Carolina Campus, for its support in conducting the study.
Technical information
Received: 2025-04-02 | Reviewed: 2025-06-20 | Accepted: 2025-08-01 | Online First: 2026-01-02 | Published: 2026-01-04
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Luis Rosario-Albert., Ezequiel Bayuelo-Flórez. (2026). Barreras al acceso y adopción de internet y estrategias para promover las competencias digitales en estudiantes universitarios de Puerto Rico. Comunicar, 34(84). 10.5281/zenodo.18113560