Sociodigital practices, competences, mindsets, and profiles of Finnish students before and after the COVID-19 distance learning period

Digital fluency is a central 21st-century competence. Schools are responsible for ensuring that all students cultivate sophisticated sociodigital competences and mindsets needed for studying and collaborating through and around technology and overcoming digital challenges encountered. Although some schools have successfully integrated digital technologies into traditional schoolwork, students are not provided sufficient structured training in creative and academic practices of using digital technologies. This study explored changes before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in Finnish primary and middle school students’ perceived sociodigital study practices, competences, mindsets, and profiles. Participants were asked to respond to the Sociodigital Practices Inventory (SDPi), which assessed their sociodigital study practices, competences, and mindset. The participants consisted of 947 cohort 1 students (5th grade in 2019 and 6th grade in 2020) and 771 cohort 2 students (7th grade in 2019 and 8th grade in 2020). The results revealed subtle changes in students’ perceptions regarding schools’ digital practices; primary school students experienced an increase in basic practices while middle schoolers experienced a decrease in perceived advanced practices. Both boys’ and girls’ self-evaluated academic sociodigital competences increased from 2019 to 2020, while their artistic and technical competences decreased. Primary school boys’ sociodigital mindsets increased, while that of middle school girls decreased. The analyses revealed four latent profiles of digital fluency: Inexperienced, Enthusiastic, Humble, and Driven. We propose that it is vital to build a multidimensional view of students’ digital fluency by exploring interrelations between their sociodigital practices, competences, mindsets, and profiles.