Research Article
Nazir Ahmed Jogezai, Diana Koroleva, Fozia Ahmed Baloch
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 15, Issue 4, Article No: ep466
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic, which posed challenges for accommodating student learning, also opened avenues for using digital resources in online learning. However, differences were observed in their use, effectiveness, and intensity across developed and least developed societies. This is referred to as “digital inequalities,” caused by factors such as insufficient organizational-level support and teachers’ digital competence (DC). This study was conducted to determine teachers’ DC and reveal if their DC was explained by their digital nativeness and principals’ digital instructional leadership capital. The study used a quantitative research method, whereby data were collected from 393 teachers. The researchers used SmartPLS 4 and SPSS 24 to analyze data. The findings complement the available literature and help pave ways to promote the integration of digital resources in teaching and learning.
Keywords: digital nativeness, digital competence, digital inclusion, digital instructional leadership, COVID-19 pandemic, teacher
Research Article
Sara Dias-Trindade, José António Moreira, Juan Gabriel García Huertas, Pablo Garrido Pintado, Ana Mas Miguel
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 15, Issue 4, Article No: ep463
ABSTRACT
The potential of DTIC has brought new and emerging challenges to teachers, making it essential to acquire digital competences, especially in virtual learning environments and online technologies. In this sense, based on the DigCompEdu CheckIn self-assessment questionnaire, validated for the Portuguese population by earlier studies, this research aims to identify the most fragile and robust areas of digital competences of Portuguese and Spanish university teachers. The quantitative methodological approach emphasizes teachers’ perception of their digital competences in three dimensions: teachers’ professional competences, teachers’ pedagogical competences and students’ competences and involved 347 teachers from Portugal and Spain. The results show that teachers of the two institutions have an overall moderate level of digital proficiency–level B1 and B2–and that the differences encountered between Portuguese and Spanish teachers (for example, Portuguese teachers have level A2 in area 4–assessment–, while Spanish teachers are already at level B2) highlight the need to invest in specific training that may address specific frailties, and therefore allow for the promotion of their digital competences. Results relating to teaching experience and age show that there is no direct relation between either factor or being digitally competent. Regarding gender, results reveal that men had slightly better results than women. Overall, what the results show is the need for teachers to increase the level of digital competence through specific training, prepared according to the specificities of each institution, and the importance of developing public policies that prepare teachers for a more digital education.
Keywords: digital technologies, digital competence, higher education, teacher training, DigCompEdu
Research Article
Niurka Guevara-Otero, Elena Cuevas-Molano, Esteban Vázquez-Cano, Eloy López-Meneses
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 15, Issue 4, Article No: ep451
ABSTRACT
The objective of this study was to identify university student profiles with different levels of predisposition and usage of digital competences in social communication and collaborative learning (CSCCL) as well as technology use in information search and treatment (CSTI). The sample comprised 383 students from three state universities in Spain. The study employed a questionnaire called “basic digital competences 2.0 in university students” (COBADI). Chi-squared automatic interaction detection (CHAID) algorithm was used for data analysis due to its capability to handle both quantitative and qualitative variables, enabling profiling and the generation of predictive models with easily interpretable graphical representations (decision trees). The results revealed a high level of digital competence in socialization and execution of tasks online, managing digital tools for planning study time, and using resources for information searching and browsing. These findings align with previous works on collaborative writing on the Internet and digital competence. However, students demonstrated low digital competence in data analysis processes and image production using social software apps, which has been linked to task complexity and heavy workload in other studies. Interestingly, the students’ sociodemographic characteristics (age, sex, and university attended) did not influence their predisposition towards the analyzed digital competences. In conclusion, enhancing effective digital teaching in higher education can be achieved by incorporating the teaching of critical analysis of information, addressing information overload, providing instruction on social software apps, and emphasizing collaborative learning. These strategies aim to help students acquire and apply knowledge relevant to the current job market.
Keywords: digital competence, university, collaborative learning, social communication, ICT, CHAID algorithm
Research Article
Isabel María Gómez-Trigueros
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 15, Issue 2, Article No: ep406
ABSTRACT
This paper analyzes the professional ethical knowledge of teachers in the use of technologies by teachers in training. Based on the disciplinary pedagogical technological knowledge (TPACK) model, it is intended to measure the correct inclusion of technologies in the classroom. For this, a descriptive exploratory methodological design study was carried out. The instruments used have been the Likert scale questionnaire and the personal interview, organized into four dimensions in which the self-perception of professional ethical knowledge, ethical knowledge of technology, pedagogical technological ethical knowledge and disciplinary technological ethical knowledge of the future teachers. The questionnaire has been applied to a sample of 1.051 trainee teachers from a European university in the context of COVID-19 and 822 students participated in the interview.
The results show the scarce training in professional ethical knowledge of teachers in training and the importance of addressing this knowledge in the 21st century, a post-pandemic context. Another of the conclusions is the need to include the ethical component in the TPACK model to achieve a correct and ethical use of digital resources in the classroom.
Keywords: professional ethics, teaching digital competence, technology, teachers in training, TPACK
Research Article
Linda Castañeda, Daniel Villar-Onrubia
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 15, Issue 1, Article No: ep397
ABSTRACT
Digital literacy has moved away from its traditional instrumental conception, to be nourished by critical perspectives that have been increasingly adopted in all areas of the analysis of technology and education. The importance of generating educational models that contribute to the emancipation of people in a post-digital and highly complex world is an increasingly evident challenge. However, it is still difficult to find concrete examples of pedagogical strategies specifically devised to foster digital literacy in line with this much needed emerging critical lens. This paper presents a case study of a set of learning experiences integrated into a compulsory module for students in the 1st year of a degree in education sciences, which leads to the qualification required to teach at primary schools in Spain. The results highlight the importance of providing students with learning opportunities conceived to help them become future teachers ready to have a transversal impact on education for the emancipation of people in the post-digital world, rather than simply training them as operators who use technology to enhance skills.
Keywords: digital literacy, digital competence, teachers’ education, critical digital literacy, digital education
Research Article
Gulnara M. Kassymova, Saule B. Tulepova, Madina B. Bekturova
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 15, Issue 1, Article No: ep396
ABSTRACT
Digital competence has become a crucial capability in the learning process, in the working place, and in personal communication. The aim of the article is to explore master students’ perceptions of their digital competence by identifying frequency, expertise, and satisfaction in using information communication technologies (ICT) in their learning process when studying at university and teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in the context of online education. The sample comprised 49 master students who participated in distant evening classes at a private university in Kazakhstan while working simultaneously as teachers of English in various educational institutions during the day. Master students’ perceptions of digital competence is one of the approaches to reveal the gaps in students’ digital competence development necessary for learning and teaching EFL online. The main research tool for data collection was the online survey allowing the master students to measure their level of digital competence. Evident from the results, the majority of respondents are digitally competent; yet there is a cohort of master students who scored low on ICT skills needed for teaching and admitted the necessity of improvement. Also, according to the findings, the respondents’ frequency, expertise, and satisfaction level by their digital competence needed in the learning is higher than that in teaching. This can also imply that even though the frequency and expertise in using digital technologies for learning contributes to the development of the expertise in using them for conducting their own classes, master students need special training on the use of ICT for pedagogical purposes.
Keywords: perceptions, digital competence, ICT, learning, teaching, EFL, online
Research Article
Alfiya R. Masalimova, Klavdiya G. Erdyneeva, Anatoly S. Kislyakov, Zhanna M. Sizova, Elena Kalashnikova, Elmira R. Khairullina
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 14, Issue 4, Article No: ep382
ABSTRACT
One of the objectives of education is to provide diverse pupils with proper educational opportunities. It is anticipated that the night instructors will have this equipment. In this study, validity, and reliability evaluations of the scale to be used to identify digital competence in prospective instructors to support children with functional diversity were conducted. To conduct the research, education faculty students were selected as the target audience. The data gathered were subjected to exploratory factor analysis. A confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate the obtained results. According to the findings of the investigation, thirty components and five contributing variables were found. It has been proposed that future academics do studies on the validity and reliability of the instruments with a number of different populations.
Keywords: pre-service teachers, digital competence, assist students
Research Article
Julio Cabero-Almenara, Rosalía Romero-Tena, Carmen Llorente-Cejudo, Antonio Palacios-Rodríguez
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 13, Issue 3, Article No: ep305
ABSTRACT
In recent years, studies carried out in the educational field have concluded that the Flipped Classroom methodology offers numerous advantages for both teachers and students. In this sense, this approach is worked on at the university to develop skills necessary for the future professional of students, as well as increase their commitment to the subjects. The general objective of this research is to verify if the learning acquired through the Flipped methodology, as well as the perception of it, are useful for university students of the Degree in Primary Education. For this, two types of designs are used: pretest-posttest and validation through structural equations (PLS) of the scale to evaluate the degree of acceptance of the Flipped methodology based on the TAM model. The results show the adequacy of the training proposal based on Flipped methodology for university students. The students perceive the incorporation of the inverted methodology as an adequate strategy, highlighting the ease of use in the classroom, the acceptance of its integration, the transformation of interest in learning and showing a positive attitude towards its use in the future. Together, the level of acceptance as regards the validation of the TAM model is high. Finally, the possibility of replicating the model in similar investigations or through the so-called emerging technologies is evaluated.
Keywords: flipped classroom, digital competence, primary education, teacher training, TAM, CFA
Research Article
Héctor Galindo-Domínguez, María-José Bezanilla
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 13, Issue 2, Article No: ep294
ABSTRACT
It is though that those students who better manage their time and perceive themselves to be more effective in the tasks they perform are thought to be due, in part, to a stronger understanding and command of digital competence. This competence allows students to know and use a greater number of tools and techniques to respond to the problems that arise in their academic career, favouring the reduction of perceived stress. To test this hypothesis, a total of 200 students from different degrees of Education and universities participated in the study, who answered the Digital Competence Questionnaire in University Students, the Spanish version of Time Management Behaviour Questionnaire, the Scale of Perceived Self-efficacy in academic situations, and the Scale of Global Perception of Stress. The results show how the starting hypothesis is fulfilled in that time management and academic self-efficacy function as mediators between digital competence and types of positive or negative stressors. Finally, these findings implications are discussed.
Keywords: digital competence, self-efficacy, time management, stress, university, higher education, technology, ICT