Validation of the Digital Transformation Model of the Universidad Autónoma de Chile

Abstract

The emergence and massification of digital technologies are having such an impact on educational systems that universities are being forced to design transformation processes that make it possible to ensure the gradual incorporation of technologies into academic-administrative processes with a view to achieving greater student-centered educational quality. In response to this need and for the specific case of the Autonomous University of Chile, a digital transformation model composed of nine dimensions and 54 indicators was designed, which was subjected to an analysis process through structural equation modeling to check its consistency, reliability, and validity. With the data resulting from the application of surveys to 97 undergraduate students from that university, it was possible to demonstrate that the variables considered, and their corresponding dimensions form a solid construct that can explain the preliminary model of the digital transformation process at the university. Therefore, even recognizing limitations of a methodological nature, the model was intrinsically validated by the data. The findings represent a first approximation for the construction of a new academic-administrative scenario at the Autonomous University of Chile, which is based on the proper use of scientific-technological advances that have occurred in the global context.