ICT and knowledge management in Teaching and Engineering Students

Abstract

The integration of Knowledge Management (KM) in various fields, including academia and business, has been fostered by the promotion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The aim of this study was, on the one hand, to understand the key processes of KM in students of the Faculty of Education and the School of Engineering in a Spanish university, and, on the other hand, to evaluate the extent to which ICTs serve as support to these processes. To this end, the designed and validated MAINGC questionnaire was administered to 200 students who entered university in the 2018-2019 academic year. Fourteen ICT tools and four dimensions of KM were analyzed: information management, transformation of information into knowledge, management of the resulting learning, and ICT tools for KM support. The results showed differentiated patterns of technology use and perceptions of KM according to sex, age and degree. Indeed, education degree students reported higher perceptions of competence in KM processes compared to engineering students. Participants’ responses regarding ICT tools suggested that the use of these tools has not yet been fully integrated into KM processes and revealed that both groups of students showed different patterns of use within the academic environment.