Author(s)

Juliana Teixeira da Câmara Reis^1*, Izabel Hazin², Jorge Tarcísio da Rocha Falcão², Luciano Meira³, Pedro Bendassolli², Amanda Guerra², Taciana Pontual Falcão⁴, Apuena Vieira Gomes¹, Marcel Vinícius Medeiros Oliveira¹, José Ivonildo do Rêgo¹

¹Digital Metropole Institute, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Natal, Brazil.
²Psychology Department, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Natal, Brazil.
³Psychology Department, Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), Recife, Brazil.
⁴Statistics and Mathematics Department, Rural Federal University of Pernambuco (UFRPE), Recife, Brazil.

This article presents an analysis of the selection process of students from both private and public high schools in the state of Rio Grande do Norte (Northeast of Brazil), in order to form the first group of the Information Technology technical course of the Metrópole Digital project at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). The selection instrument consists of a written exam built on the basis of a set of matrices that depict relevant competences and abilities expected from the students. Data concerning the profile of distribution of performance per exam question are presented, together with empirical evidences of the effectiveness of the proposed competence matrices in the selection process. The correlation very fied among the matrices compounding the instrument and scores in courses, and the instrument as a wholeand scores in courses is moderate to strong (r_S = 0.6 and r_S = 0.7; p < 0,05). The association between the criterion variables (Average of Performance in the Basic Moduleof courses) and the explicative variables (Total score in the selection instrument (QTot) and each of the five compounding matrices) is moderate (r_S=0.51, p = 0.001), and the matrices and QTot are jointly responsible for 25% of the variance of the performance in the basic module. The regression coefficient for matrix 1 is 1.38 (CI of 95% = 1.07-1.68); for matrix 2 it was 0.65 (CI of 95% = 036-0.95); for matrix 3, 1.2 (CI of 95% = 0.92 - 1,55); matrix 4 0,76 (CI of 95% = 0.45-1.06); matrix 5 1.08 (CI of 95% = 0.78-1.39). The effects of student-descriptive independent variables on performance in the exam are also presented and discussed, and predictive relationships between performance in the exam and performance in the disciplines of the course are verified. Data collected allow concluding that the instrument of selection proposed fits well the aim of forming a group of students to undertake a technical course in the area of information technology.

Competences in Information Technology, Prospection of Students, Digital Inclusion

Reis, J. , Hazin, I. , Falcão, J. , Meira, L. , Bendassolli, P. , Guerra, A. , Falcão, T. , Gomes, A. , Oliveira, M. and Rêgo, J. (2015) Development and Results of an Instrument to Search for Competences and Abilities in Information Technology. Creative Education, 6, 2384-2396. doi: 10.4236/ce.2015.622244.