Measuring Students’ Use of Digital Technology to Support Their Studies

To provide a more holistic understanding of how digital tools shape the educational environment, this paper includes a comprehensive analysis that explores several dimensions of technology use in higher education: use of artificial intelligence in education, online collaboration, use of an E-Board for learning, and excessive use of technology. With the aim of measuring students’ use of digital technology to support their studies, this research meets the goals of developing the measurement process, building a multi-criteria model, and applying it to a real-life example of determining the degree of students’ use of digital technology in relation to the demonstrated quality of academic performance. The analysis is based on a survey conducted among students at the University of Maribor’s Faculty of Economics and Business. Using factor analysis and multi-criteria evaluation, the findings reveal that students who demonstrate very-high-quality achievements also report the highest level of technology use to support their studies. They are followed by students with outstanding achievements, who excel in using an E-Board for learning and in demonstrating responsibility regarding excessive technology use. Students who achieve acceptable-quality results with certain defects stand out in online collaboration and the use of AI in the study process. The lowest level of technology use was reported by students demonstrating moderate-quality achievements. Theoretically, this research contributes to a better understanding of the multidimensional use of digital technology in higher education, while, practically, it provides useful guidelines for optimizing digital learning tools and enhancing the overall quality of the academic process.