Training pre-service teachers to enhanced digital education

ABSTRACT

Teachers must be digitally competent at the beginning of their career. The main aim of this paper is to study whether specific training is necessary to enable pre-service teachers in Catalonia with the required level of teacher digital competence (TDC). Three cases are discussed. In the first case, TDC is self-assessed among first-year pre-service teachers (N = 1166). In the second, TDC is assessed among second year pre-service teachers who received specific training (N = 33). The third case measures TDC among third-year, pre-service teachers without any specific training in TDC (N = 151). Results reveal that pre-service teachers who are given specific training in TDC get better scores in the assessment compared to those who do not receive training. Practical implications on formative assessment emerge: specific training in TDC in higher education curricula must be practical and address methodological aspects of TDC.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher evaluation
• Self-assessment
• competency based education
• digital technology
• digital skills

Acknowledgments

• Observ@COMDID: e-Observatori per el desenvolupament i la pràctica professional de la Competència Digital Docent en l’educació Infantil, Primària i secundaria. Ref. RTI2018-096815-B-I00

• (ID_COMDID) La Inclusió Digital en la formació inicial dels mestres en COMpetència DIgital Docent. Ref. 2020 ARMIF 00005

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the DDepartament d''Innovació, Universitats iEmpresa, Generalitat de Catalunya [(ID_COMDID). Ref. 2020 ARMIF. 00005 La Inclusió D]; Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovació y Universidades [RTI2018-096815-B-I00 - Observ@COMDID: e-Observator; Departament d’’Innovació, Universitats i Empresa, Generalitat de CatalunyaDepartament d’’Innovació, Universitats i Empresa, Generalitat de Catalunya [(ID_COMDID). Ref. 2020 ARMIF. 00005 La Inclusió D];