Perceptions of Digital Education to Accelerate the Flow of Knowledge

Abstract

It is time when it is conceptually necessary to replace the growth of the economy with the growth of well-being. We mean the suppression of poverty, the careful use of natural resources, but also the effective use of human labour and time. The growth of society’s well-being requires the acquisition of skills and the development of the ability to learn and innovate. Increasing literacy, skills, and key competences requires a constant need for education, which naturally leads to lifelong learning. The paper deals with the perception of the use of digital education to accelerate the flow of knowledge within the framework of institutional growth and innovation development in Slovakia. The work evaluates the results of a survey focused on the use of digital education. The outcomes point to the advantages and disadvantages of digital education in the process of building knowledge and monitoring the clusters of information flows in digital education in Slovakia. Digital education is beneficial and necessary for education, but its effectiveness is conditioned by the professional approach of teachers, who would be able to evaluate the benefits of digital education within the flow of information for student education, which is equally conditioned by student activity.

1. Introduction

Education around the world is undergoing significant changes due to rapid technological development. With the growth of global digitalization, these changes and impacts are also reflected in the sphere of education. The COVID-19 pandemic and related social distancing measures and school closures around the world have accelerated this digitization to a significant extent. According to EDUCAUSE Horizon Report [1], the pandemic has literally catapulted the world into a digital age. However, it also manifested in increasingly advanced and equitable technologies and the contemporary growth of digital data that institutions can use more effectively. All of this has created an urgent need for a critical and detailed examination of how this digitalization is transforming the world of education [2]. Universities and other educational institutions had to go through significant changes in order to be able to fulfill the functions for which they were created. The COVID-19 pandemic quickly changed the education system and tested the readiness of companies to respond flexibly to situations they had not had to deal with before. On the one hand, the flexibility of the universities was addressed, how they will deal with the new situation, and on the other hand, the possibilities of the student were addressed, to what extent and in what way he will participate in the new form of education [3].

In compliance with authors [4, 5] higher education institutions can be considered a business model, wherein digital transformation is broadly used. Digital technologies can play a critical role in facilitating and advancing business model innovation [4]. Digital transformation is “a process in which digital technologies cause disruptions, prompting strategic reactions from firms seeking to shift their value creation paths while managing structural changes and organizational constraints that influence the positive and negative results of this process” [6]. In recent years, digital transformation has emerged as an important attention-grabbing phenomenon for researchers as well as practitioners [7]. Macro-level digital transformation refers to the changes that affect the institution and society in general due to new digital technologies [8]. From an organizational level perspective, companies thanks to these technologies can come up with possibilities how to innovate by developing strategies that accept the implications of digital transformation and drive superior operational performance [9].

In the context of education, digital transformation includes the reassessment of teaching and learning processes, simultaneously considering technical skills as the practical aspects of digital transformation, as well as the inclusion of skills and mindsets [10]. Digital education refers on the one hand to the use of digital technologies for teaching and learning in both formal and non-formal education within a community, as well as to the infrastructure necessary to foster that providing [11]. Therefore, it inevitably involves digital technologies such as computers, software, phones, and cameras in the educational process [12]. Responding to current needs and trends, digital education is adapted to teaching activities following modern educational theories and uses digital teaching resources and methods to train interdisciplinary talents with innovative awareness and innovative ability [13].

Except for digital education actors (educators and students), the institutional environment where education takes place can present significant challenges to the adoption and use of digital technologies. As it is emphasized [14], successful adoption of digital technologies in education is a process that presents a significant financial, cultural, and logistical challenge. For its mastery is necessary presence of elements such as strong leadership; process focusing; cooperation with external partners; school-wide adoption of digital technologies and the connection between pedagogical aims and digital technologies [14]. A prerequisite for successful online education is the involvement and participation of all participants in online teaching. However, it is true that regardless of the chosen strategy in education, the level of student involvement, or the technical limitations that we often encounter in online teaching, it is the instructors who must act flexibly in every situation [15].

The authors [10] emphasize the use of technological, human, organizational, and pedagogical drivers in a comprehensive manner for guidance and support of the digital transformation of teaching processes. They grouped the main drivers for digital transformation in education by category according to the analysis of international organizations’ reports focusing on education and economics worldwide (OECD, OU, WWF). The drivers in the basic division can be divided into technological, organizational, and digital teaching competence and pedagogy, as well as students’ skills whether hard or soft. The authors [16] point out that the drivers are complexly interlinked and interact with each other, therefore, their comprehension is crucial in building strategies for digital transformation. In accordance with the EDUCAUSE report from 2018 [17], the transformation drivers in education are linked and influenced by technology trends and changes, since also by [18] digitalization is usually seen in connection with technical innovations.

Increased rate of digital technologies utilization and related digitalization represents a pillar of national and international education policy worldwide. According to the “Report on the Digital Development of Global Higher Education”, a study of the global higher education landscape shows that digitalization is considered in many countries as a strategic and essential way to the quality and sustainable development of higher education. Despite the common global patterns, each country has its own approach and priorities [19]. The premise according to [10] is to deal with a digital transformation toward education holistically. It includes not just the use of digital technologies, but also considering the specificities of students; the adoption of organizational processes and practices in alignment with new social and work relationships; teachers’ equipment with digital skills; students’ equipment with the technical, cognitive, social and emotional skills; and the adoption of innovative pedagogies. The authors [20] also emphasize the importance of cooperation in a way that students, teachers, and all responsible entities involved in the higher education system must cooperate in order to support the changes that need to be made to implement the digital revolution.

From a knowledge management perspective, actually, we are in an era when the world becomes more and more connected, jobs become more and more complicated and complex, linked to the rapid growth of technology and digitalization. The key to knowledge management concept is not how much individuals learn in any organization, but how much their knowledge is transferred to the organization as a whole and do the other workers have the possibility to gain the knowledge necessary for the effective and efficient goal achieving [21]. The organizational learning process has a crucial positive influence on knowledge flow and likewise strengthening an organizational learning process helps knowledge inflow [22]. According to [23], knowledge management can be understood as a system that integrates people, process, and technology to achieve sustainable results by increasing performance through learning.

In this sense, it could be said according to [24], that the modern education system is facing a crisis of skills. The future educational process must offer more than just the transfer of knowledge and investment in the students’ thinking, creativity, and innovation. The digital revolution means new challenges to the university: to provide training in digital skills and to accelerate the renewal of learning methods. In this regard, the emergence of digital technology has contributed to the revolution of learning methods and the potential of digital technologies has enhanced student learning [7]. Knowledge flow is a process that an organization utilizes in order to absorb and apply new knowledge [25]. The authors [26] emphasize the establishment of continuous relationships between universities and industry which is necessary to generate an adequate knowledge flow. Next, governmental support is needed to promote these relationships through regulatory laws, group organization, education, and research incentives [26]. In conditions and in relation to universities and education, knowledge flow was analyzed in numerous studies, for example: in terms of personalizing an e-learning system driven by knowledge flow [27]; in terms of engineering education in universities [25]; as the critical issue of learning and knowledge convergence in knowledge-intensive organizations [28]; in terms of the correlation between organizational learning, knowledge management, and organizational performance [29]; in terms of technology transfer in universities from a knowledge-flow perspective [26].

The aim of the chapter is to evaluate the perception of the use of digital education with an emphasis on accelerating the flow of knowledge within the framework of institutional growth and innovation development in Slovakia. In order to achieve the goal, a survey on a sample of respondents is described in the methodology. In the chapter, we then interpret the results of the analysis from the obtained data. Relationships relevant to the knowledge flows of digital education in Slovakia were identified and illustrated. The outcomes point to the advantages and disadvantages of digital education in the process of building knowledge.

2. Methodology

The methodology is based on the questioning of Slovak students. The sample consisted of 112 students in the Slovak Republic. The survey was carried out through a questionnaire consisting of several parts, such as identification data and questions focused on experiences with digital education. The questions related to digital education focused on three areas: education, skills, and others. Each area contained several parameters. The questioning was implemented electronically. The surveyed questionnaires were processed into the database and primary evaluated quantitatively.

When investigating various quantities, it is advisable to monitor not only quantitative quantities but also their qualitative parameters. Here we encounter satisfaction with the investigated quantity, which is appropriate to confront the experiential feeling and its conformity or non-conformity with the expectation. The issue of defining individual quantities has been studied by several authors, who are basically based on the theory of different perceptions of the parameters of the investigated object (product) derived from two-factor motivation while varying the conceptual apparatus for the requirements of the investigated object. There are several reasons why it is necessary to monitor the satisfaction of the end users of the studied subject, not only at the corporate or macroeconomic level but also – as in our case, in the process of digital education. Here, we used the Kano model, which, as reported by Ji et al. [30] with its application qualifies the qualitative functions of development in connection with the logical priorities of stakeholders [31, 32]. As part of the methodology using the Kano model, the questions were formulated in such a way as to capture the reactions of students from a positive point of view, but also from a negative point of view on the issue being addressed. For each question, the student had the opportunity to express agreement or disagreement with the given question on a Likert scale.

After the implementation of the survey through the inquiry, the database was created. The data were first evaluated quantitatively, through descriptive statistics and then based on the Kano methodology. For each investigated parameter, the individual answers to the positively and negatively posed question were separately evaluated through the cross rule of the KANO model. Hereby, we have identified the perception of students and their requirements within the framework of digital education, such as Attractive (A), Mandatory (M), Reverse (R), One-dimensional (O), Ambiguous (Q), or have no influence - Indifferent (I).

Individual categories of product requirements that have an impact on customer satisfaction can be characterized according to Chen et al. [33] as follows:

• Mandatory requirements (M) are considered natural and are automatically expected by customers.

• One-dimensional requirements (O) represent those attributes that lead to satisfaction if they are fulfilled and to dissatisfaction, if they are not fulfilled, and therefore there is a direct linear dependence between them.

• Attractive requirements (A) represent a definite effect on satisfaction.

• Reverse requirements (R) are also called exact opposites, representing attributes to which respondents react in opposition.

• Indifferent requirements (I) that have no impact on customers or also called insignificant requirements represent attributes whose fulfillment or non-fulfillment does not affect satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

In addition to the above categories of product requirements, the Kano model also identifies the ambiguous, or so-called Questionable requirements (Q). These express a questionable result, which is related to either incorrectly worded questions or a misunderstanding of the question on the part of the respondents.

The determined survey objective is to monitor the clusters of information flows in digital education in Slovakia from the point of view of the investigated parameters. Data were processed in the STATISTICA program using cluster analysis.

3. Analysis and evaluation of research focused on the perceptions of digital education to accelerate the flow of knowledge

The survey was conducted from November 2020 to January 2022 in Slovakia in the time of the pandemic, when education has just moved to the digital environment. Overall 112 students participated in the survey. Of these, 83.5% were full-time students and 16.5% were part-time students. Students ranged in age from 19 to 45 years.

Given the amount of time, young people spend online [34, 35], a developed digital skill appears to be a hallmark of today’s students with that in mind, we were interested in how the students manage technical support and installation in digital education (Figure 1). As many as 59.6% of the surveyed students managed the installation and technical support for education without any problems. However, 31.2% of students faced minor problems. With the help of a friend, 6.3% of students managed the installation and technical support, and 2.7% of students asked the university administrator for help.

Figure 1.

Mastering technical support and installation in digital education by students.

Most students (63%) are familiar with the software used for education, and another 37% are familiar with it, but with fewer difficulties. None of the interviewed students need help using software for education (Figure 2).

Figure 2.

Orientation of students in software used in education.

Students perceive distance learning using digital technologies as more efficient, more flexible, and not boring, on the contrary, it is more interactive (Figure 3). Teaching is not chaotic at all, so management is a teaching process, rather it is formal on the part of students who are more passive in digital education, but it is certainly not formal on the part of teaching lecturers. It is not so much fun and interesting.

Figure 3.

Students’ views on digital teaching.

Students reported that they perceive a deterioration in personal communication skills during distance digital education (Figure 4). On the other hand, they perceive the positive impact of such learning on their other skills.

Figure 4.

Acquisition of students’ skills during digital education.

Requirements and demands for education, during distance digital education, are evaluated by students as above average compared to contact education (Figure 5).

Figure 5.

Requirements and demands for education.

Also, aspects related to the speed of communication in digital education are rated by students as above average in contact education (Figure 5).

Based on students’ attitudes, the most frequented benefits of digital education are lower costs of transport to school, faster communication, lower costs of materials to school, sufficient software and technical provision of education, and more time for social contacts (Figures 6 and 7). In addition, health security, more time for family, more time – an efficient form of education, more free time, and flexibility were mentioned among other benefits.

Figure 6.

Students’ perception of the speed of communication in digital education.

Figure 7.

Students’ perception of the benefits of digital education.

On the other hand, lack of personal contact with classmates, insufficient internet connection quality, lack of personal contact to understand the curriculum, lack of space for discussion in the online environment, insufficient communication, and unavailability of professional literature were seen as the main disadvantages (Figure 8). In addition, students mentioned poor sound quality, which made it impossible to understand the communicated topic.

Figure 8.

Students’ perception of the disadvantages of digital education.

Findings from the survey conducted by students in Slovakia on the perception of digital education point to the drivers and inhibitors listed in Table 1.

+ Digital education	− Digital education
Faster communication	Poor quality teaching materials for online education
Quality internet connections	Unavailability of professional literature
Sufficient technical provision of online teaching (quality computer, etc.)	Unavailability of a quality internet connection
Sufficient online learning software security	Insufficient technical security of online teaching (quality computer, etc.)
More time for social contacts via digital (internet) network	Insufficient software security for online teaching
Lower transport costs to school	Lack of personal contact, which was necessary for some curriculum or would be more suitable for explaining the curriculum
Lower material costs (more is required in digital form compared to contact teaching)	Lack of personal contact with classmates
The ability to formulate one’s own opinion	In an online environment, it is not possible to create a suitable space for discussion, as is the case with contact teaching in lectures and seminars.
The ability to search for and convey information	High costs (payment for data and internet connection)
Skills to detect hoaxes, resp. Select information	Being not a technical type and therefore online teaching caused me problems
The ability to creatively receive and process information	Unavailability of a quality internet connection
Skill of working with text	Insufficient technical security of online teaching (quality computer, etc.)
Digital skills	Personal communication skills
The skill to learn for yourself	Teaching is more challenging
The skill to think or act creatively	Teaching is passive
Skill in formulating and solving problems	Teaching is boring
The ability to regulate your actions	Teaching is more effective
Skill of time planning (time for work, entertainment, etc.) - time management
Digital communication skills - digital socialization
Teaching is more flexible
Teaching is more interactive
Teaching is more interesting

Table 1.

Drivers and inhibitors of digital education in Slovakia.

3.1 The perceptions of digital education to accelerate the flow of knowledge through the Kano model

The text above describes the attitudes and perceptions of digital education by Slovak students through descriptive statistics. As Olimpo [36] states, attitudes and ways of perception cannot be considered completely as attributes of individual approaches, because they have a low informative value in representing the relationships between one’s own experience and one’s own expectation. This relationship is based on the theory of contradiction, which is based on the assumption that the respondent has a certain idea about the given fact or product and confronts it with his experiences [37]. The theory of contradiction was dealt with by KANO [38] in his methodology for the purpose of determining differentiating quantities about a given fact or product. Therefore, we used the Kano model to identify perceptions of knowledge flow accelerators within digital education. In the analysis, it is important to search for quantities that the respondent considers Mandatory, Attractive, and One-dimensional. Table 2 presents the results based on the Kano model.

	Parameters	A	I	M	O	Q	R	Attitude
Education	Interesting	0	85	7	1	0	19	I/R
	Fun	1	86	2	0	0	23	I/R
	Flexible	40	55	2	6	1	8	I/A
	Interactive	3	83	12	2	2	10	I/M
	Faster	8	82	0	1	6	15	I/R
	Communication	5	76	0	0	2	29	I/R
	Active teacher	2	81	12	0	2	14	I/R
	Active students	2	86	2	0	1	21	I/R
	Efficiency	0	61	27	5	3	16	I/M
Skills	Formulate your own opinion	1	111	0	0	0	0	I/A
	Search and convey information	8	104	0	0	0	0	I/A
	Expose hoaxes, or select information	4	108	0	0	0	0	I/A
	Creatively receive and process information	3	109	0	0	0	0	I/A
	Work with text	11	101	0	0	0	0	I/A
	Digital skill	9	103	0	0	0	0	I/A
	Learn by yourself	10	101	0	0	0	1	I/A
	To think creatively	7	105	0	0	0	0	I/A
	Formulation and problem solving	4	102	0	0	6	0	I/A
	Regulate their actions	2	109	0	0	0	1	I/A
	Time management	24	85	0	0	0	3	I/A
	Digital socialization	24	87	0	0	0	1	I/A
Others	Lower travel costs	48	43	19	2	0	0	A
	Faster communication	40	65	6	1	0	0	I/A
	Lower material costs	25	85	0	0	0	2	I/A
	Sufficient technical equipment	12	65	30	0	0	5	I/O
	Sufficient software equipment	9	69	32	2	0	0	I/O
	Social contact	0	56	6	0	1	49	I/R
	Internet connection	2	41	3	12	0	54	R

Table 2.

Perception of digital education processed through the Kano model.

Based on the Kano model, we can see that most of the investigated parameters did not affect students in the process of digital education, they were Indifferent (I). Students perceive Lower transportation costs as an Attractive (A) parameter. However, they perceive Internet connection during digital education in contradictory ways (R).

Even though distance digital education did not significantly affect students’ attitudes toward education, students perceive the Interactivity and Efficiency of this type of education as Mandatory requirements (M). The Flexibility of education is perceived as Attractive (A). The other parameters are presented by the opposite attitude – as Reverse (R). This means that students do not perceive digital education through parameters such as Interesting, Fun, Communication, and they also perceive the Activity of teachers and students in the same contradictory way. On the contrary, the Attractive (A) parameter is the improvement of their skills in the digital environment. Attractive attributes increase satisfaction exponentially and have the most significant impact.

Other advantages perceived as One-dimensional (O) are Sufficient technical and Sufficient software equipment. For students, these attributes represent a linear relationship between their expectations and satisfaction. Attractive parameters (A) were Faster communication and Lower material costs. On the other hand, they perceive Social contact in addition to Internet connection to be significantly contradictory – Reverse (R).

3D visualization (Figure 9) of the multivariate analysis of the Kano model results points to the differences in the influence of individual investigated parameters at individual grades of study (from the 1st year of bachelor’s degree to the last year of the Master degree). 3D visualization presents the impact of the current year of study on the perception of education in the parameters: Fun, Faster, Communication, Work with text, Time management, and Sufficient software equipment. Other investigated parameters (Figure 9) have maintained the same perceptions within the grades of study. Both in the overall results and within individual grades of study, students perceive Social communication and Internet connection negatively – Reverse (R).

Figure 9.

3D – The influence of the grade of study (current year and degree) on the investigated parameters of digital education.

Interesting results can be observed, for example, with parameter Active students, where with a higher grade, student activity decreases from Attractive (A) to not having an impact - Indifferent (I). The opposite effect can be observed in the parameter Search and convey information, which changes from One-dimensional (O) to must-be (M) as the grade increases. Equally significant changes can be observed in Formulation and problem-solving, Digital skill, or Faster communication, and others. These tend to increase their demands on requirements from no impact (I) to must-be (M) with increasing grade of study.

Following the data obtained from the survey, quantitative and qualitative data, we investigated the flow of knowledge within digital education. The cluster analysis was used for the evaluation regarding the determined survey objective, to monitor the clusters of information flows in digital education in Slovakia, Figure 10.

Figure 10.

The clusters analysis of digital education in Slovakia.

Using cluster analysis, we identified the following three clusters displayed in the Table 3.

Cluster 1		Cluster 2		Cluster 3
17	To think creatively	4	Interactive	1	Interesting
18	Formulation and problem-solving	7	Active teacher	2	Fun
13	Creatively receive and process information	20	Time management	6	Communication
10	Formulate your own opinion	21	Digital socialization	8	Active students
12	Expose hoaxes, or select information	3	Flexible
19	Regulate their actions	9	Efficiency
11	Search and convey information
16	Learn by yourself
14	Work with text
15	Digital skill
5	Faster

Table 3.

Identified clusters.

The significance of colors in Table 3 according to Figure 10 - cluster 1 - orange, cluster 2 - yellow, cluster 3 - slightly orange.

Based on the identified clusters, we can state that Cluster 3 includes the parameters: Interesting, Fun, Communication, and Active students. From the above, we can consider that the activity of students is dependent on communication, that is, the ability of the teacher to communicate digitally, since the teacher does not have the possibility of personal contact to increase the activity of the student. Furthermore, student activity also depends on fun and interesting delivery of the curriculum within digital education.

Cluster 2 clumps together parameters: Interactive, Active teacher, Time management, Digital socialization, Flexible, and Efficiency. This cluster is connected with the activities of the teacher to set digital education in such a way that he correctly schedules the time management of education, connected with digital socialization, which is supposed to arouse interest in students and their activity during education. This makes digital education interactive and effective for both parties (teacher and student) involved in the educational process.

Cluster 1 consists of all investigated skills: Formulate your own opinion, Search and convey information, Expose hoaxes or select information, Creatively receive and process information, Work with text, Digital skills, Learn by yourself, To think creatively, Formulation and problem-solving, and Regulate their actions. Based on this, we can conclude that if there is a positive interaction between Cluster 3 and Cluster 2, digital skills also improve.

From the above, we can conclude that digital education is beneficial and necessary for education (Cluster 1), but its effectiveness is conditioned by the professional approach of teachers (Cluster 2), who would be able to evaluate the benefits of digital education within the flow of information for student education, which is equally conditioned by student activity (Cluster 3).

Zelená [39] claims that if the use of information and communication technologies is to be beneficial for education, it is necessary for teachers to have professional skills that would enable them to evaluate the use of information and communication technologies also in the field of the psyche of its user (Cluster 2). In this context, the teacher is expected to prepare for digital education:

• organizational lesson scenario

• the method of managing the lesson, not forgetting the possibility to modify it

• conditions for experimentation, search and application of effective methods, procedures, and forms

• options accepting demands and requirements appropriate to different types of students according to their skills

• means of motivating and activating students

• space for questions and their subsequent reactions, responses, proposals, etc.

• criteria for assessing the student’s activity in order to evaluate it

• opportunities to communicate and create suitable conditions leading to capturing the student’s attention in order to induce new activities in him.

The primary activating source of the flow of information in digital education is the teacher, as in the traditional model of education. Here, however, it is important, as stated by Horváthová [40], to start from the support of the brain’s own activity and to try to create an environment in education that transfers this activity and control from the machines (digital education) to the user. As constructive, we can call all tools that support student activity, with which anything can be created - these are various editors, programming languages, modeling tools, etc. These digital tools based on a multimedia basis provide a number of advantages - interactive intervention of the student in the course of teaching, visualization, simulation of processes, etc. The connection of various digitally presented information within education creates a very complex virtual network of information, which must be organized into knowledge structures. The basic element of digital education is then an information unit that is combined into various structures that are linked using keywords.

The different ways of learning in the digital environment allow the teacher to change the classroom and adapt it to the teaching unit to support the development of the students’ learning. Thus, digital education allows them to create a flexible learning space where students are actively involved in the creation of knowledge by participating in learning and assessment in a way that is meaningful to them and thus creating an independent learning culture. Despite the use of flexibility and a specific culture of learning in the digital environment, the teacher is a constantly activating element of digital education, who must deliberately manage the content of education to help students develop conceptual understanding and procedural fluency of education in a given issue. The teacher’s role in the digital space is even more important and often more demanding than in the traditional model of education, in order to keep students’ attention without physical contact and to be able to develop their knowledge and skills. Therefore, as stated by Kubálková [40], the potential of innovation in the post-initial training of teachers is underlined here, respecting andragogic aspects of the professional development of teachers, with a focus on the area of lifelong education of teachers and their professional development. Thus, digital education is built on the four pillars of F-L-I-P (Flexibility - Learning culture - Intentional content - Professional teacher), as stated by Flipped Learning Network [41] and Seberíni et al. [42].

Horváthová [43] points out the importance of communication, which is now self-evident in the online space, and its function as a source of information is also important for us. In accordance with the principles of modern pedagogy and digital education, it allows us to involve people and information resources from literally all over the world in the educational process. Considering this, it can be argued that the implementation of digital technologies in education must be supported by the development of digital skills [44].

Schmidt [45] claims that through digital education, the student constantly perceives and processes various stimuli within the environment created by the teacher (Cluster 3). Through cognitive and neural structures, he can transform these stimuli into information that is important to him and exclude and forget the rest. This ability is the essence of effective learning. If the teacher can create a sequence of intense stimuli for the student, which the student’s brain evaluates as information, we are already talking about learning and acquiring skills within education. Schmidt [45] claims that the channel through which the student perceives the given information is equally important. Therefore, digital education is not only a tool for providing text or image study materials in electronic form, but currently represents a virtual structured network of information for the student.

Thus, the research points to the importance of connecting knowledge flows, knowledge development, and the fact of the necessity of their connection and interdependence. Hermelin [46] describes this state as shared connections between different local knowledge environments influencing the power and dynamic development of knowledge. Thai et al. [47] and Seberíni et al. [42] state that the effect of education is relatively large with mixed education.

The activation of knowledge through digital education, which is created by the mutual interaction of the teacher (Cluster 2) and the student (Cluster 3), leads to the development of the flow of information within education (cluster 1) and multimedia educational systems. In this way, we focus on the development of planned digital education [48], which is primarily aimed at developing the flow of information and knowledge in a given field. However, the goal of education is not only to develop the flow of information and knowledge in a given field but also to prepare the student for practice and develop his skills. In the context of various types of activities in digital education, the abilities of people, and individuals and the overall efficiency of the processes of building and sharing knowledge are significantly developed and improved [36]. In digital education, in addition to the planned flow of information, knowledge, and skill development, the acquisition of skills and knowledge also occurs spontaneously and unconsciously, while this process contributes to the development of the individual through interaction with others [49, 50]. It is an ability in which people can constantly develop and acquire new skills in order to be able to use them in every new change brought about by the digital world [51] and requires practice. Currently, there is a really sharp increase in the demand for not only professional but also digital skills [44], which digital education develops planned but also spontaneously as part of the creation of the flow of information during education. Based on the mentioned facts, we can conclude that digital education is a tool for facilitating knowledge sharing and development, as also confirms [52].

4. Conclusion

By means of a multivariate analysis of the results, we point out the differences in the influence of the investigated parameters depending on the individual degrees of study - all years from the bachelor’s degree to the master’s degree. The influence of the current year of study on the perception of digital education was manifested in the parameters assessing the fun and speed of the education process, the quality of communication, the ability to work with text, time management, and the adequacy of software equipment. Almost half of the student sample has a negative perception of social communication and internet connection in the context of distance digital education.

In the study, we identified three clusters, where the first one consists of all the studied skills, the second one is connected to the teacher’s activities, and the third one is related to the student’s activities. Based on the results, it can be concluded that in digital education, just as in the case of the classical model of education, the teacher is the primary activating source of the flow of information. But its role is expanded by activating the student in the digital environment so that the student develops not only his skills and knowledge in the given field of study but also develops his digital skills. Thus, the role of the teacher is not only to educate but also to manage the entire teaching process in a digital environment, using information flows within a structured multimedia educational system.

On the basis of the above, it is necessary to expand the education of teachers to include digital skills and work management (didactics in a digital environment). By managing the quality of digital education, we aim to increase student interaction and also improve the digital skills of all stakeholders.

On the based on the above results, we recommend:

• knowledge development and necessity of their connection and interdependence,

• shared connections between different local knowledge environments,

• multimedia educational systems development for the activation of knowledge through digital education,

• develop the flow of information and knowledge in a given field and prepare the student for practice and develop his skills.

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the support of the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education Science Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic Grant No. 1/0475/22 “Environmental Consumer and Environmental Citizen”. This paper is also realized thanks to the implementation of the Cost Action 18236 project “Multi Disciplinary Innovation for Social Change”.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.