Digital Culture of University Students: Analysis of Future Economists and Managers

Abstract

The article presents the results of the study carried out at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University with the purpose of exploring the digital culture of students enrolled in Economics and Management courses. The following problems have been solved to achieve this goal. We have proposed a definition for the term "digital culture" with respect to an individual as the subject and carrier of this culture. We have developed a questionnaire allowing to identify the level of digital culture in the target group and surveyed a representative sample of 176 people. We have analyzed the results in terms of learning levels, formulating conclusions and making recommendations based on the analysis performed. Our findings indicate that a significant proportion of students have a low level of digital culture and are conservative towards modern information and communication technologies. We have drawn conclusions on the dynamics of using information and digital technologies for training bachelor's and master's students, generating recommendations on the possible methods for solving the problem we have discovered and on increasing the level of digital culture of students.