Use of ICT in mathematics studies to develop digital skills of undergraduate engineering students

Several studies suggest that industrial infrastructure and education need to be adapted in line with the 4th Industrial Revolution. In education, on the one hand, schools, training and university programs need to be adoptive and, on the other hand, an entrepreneurial approach is needed to increase the information technologies and innovation skills of the workforce. To sustain economic growth, emerging economies need education and training programs to develop skills, especially digital, which are increasingly in demand in the labour market. Digital competence is not just the ability to surf the Internet; it can be broken down into many smaller components. It should be also noted that digital competence, can be seen also as a transversal competence, it also helps develop other essential skills, such as communication, language skills or basic knowledge in mathematics or science. The European Commission has developed the Digital Competences Framework for Europeans (DigComp), which is divided into five areas: information and data literacy; communication and cooperation; digital content creation; safety; and problem solving. The empirical part of the study includes a comparative analysis of the use of technology in mathematics studies at the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies and the Estonian University of Life Sciences, and a student survey to assess the development of digital competencies in mathematics studies at the university by five components identified in DigComp, as well as to identify which e-learning tools (informative and interactive) and internet resources looking for specific information or using other mathematics software besides MatLab or MathCad are included in the course. The analysis of students’ digital skills shows that these are quite good. However, the biggest problems for students were solving problems, such as storing files in the cloud, editing videos/photos, solving technical problems related to studying mathematics, and solving security problems.