About the journal

Cobiss

Srpski arhiv za celokupno lekarstvo 2019 Volume 147, Issue 11-12, Pages: 736-745
https://doi.org/10.2298/SARH180704047V
Full text ( 442 KB)


Informatics literacy among first-year students of medicine, dentistry and pharmacy at the University of Niš in compliance with European Computer Driving Licence

Višnjić Aleksandar ORCID iD icon (University of Niš, Faculty of Medicine, Niš, Serbia + Institute of Public Health of Niš, Niš, Serbia)
Višnjić Jelena ORCID iD icon (University of Niš, Faculty of Medicine, Niš, Serbia)
Milosavljević Nataša (University of Niš, Faculty of Medicine, Niš, Serbia)
Marković Roberta (University of Niš, Faculty of Medicine, Niš + Institute of Public Health of Niš, Niš, Serbia)
Jovanović Tamara (University of Niš, Faculty of Medicine, Niš + Institute of Public Health of Niš, Niš, Serbia)

Introduction/Objective. Having taken into account the complex role of students and teachers participating in the global education system and the creation of European Higher Education Framework, it was necessary to perform research on Informatics Literacy (IL). Therefore, our aim was to analyze IL of the students including the knowledge of each of the four core modules and two standard European Computer Driving Licence modules, as well as to propose measures to improve students’ IL. The objective of the research was to evaluate the effect of therapy with stabilizing occlusal splint in the control of painful symptoms of TMD in comparison with the effect of drug therapy. Methods. We conducted a cross-sectional study during 2015/2016 at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Niš, and included 292 first year students. Parts of the questionnaire that related to the self-assessment, as well as the test of knowledge in Informatics, modeled after the ECDL consisted of questions from six thematic sections. Results. The study included 88 male (30.1%) and 204 female (69.9%) students. The computer is mostly used for the Internet (69.5%), then for entertainment (24.3%), and seldom for data processing programs (6.2%). Medical students showed higher level of knowledge of all six modules (p < 0.001). Male students also had higher level of IL (OR = 0.38, 95% CI 0.20–0.73). Students who completed high school showed better IL compared to students who completed secondary medical school (OR = 0.34, 95% CI 0.18–0.66). Education of parents and monthly income had no impact on students’ IL. Conclusion. IL of students is not satisfactory. It is necessary to modify the Informatics curriculum according to European standards and to introduce the course to all study groups.

Keywords: informatics literacy, students, ECDL

Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 43012 and Grant no. 41018