Attitudes Towards using Digital Technologies in Education as an Important Factor in Developing Digital Competence: The Case of Slovenian Student Teachers

Sonja Čotar Konrad,Tina Štemberger

doi:10.3991/ijet.v16i14.22649

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine what attitudes specifically Slove-nian student teachers hold towards using digital technologies in education, their self-reported proficiency in using digital technologies in education and to what extent their attitudes towards using digital technologies in education predict their self-reported proficiency in using digital technologies. We measured the attitudes towards using digital technologies in education through four dimensions: Teaching and learning, Assessment and critical thinking, Empowering learners and Facilitating learner’s digital competence. Self-reported proficiency in using digital technology was measured on four groups of digital technologies: Digital resources, Communication tools, Digi-tal tools and Online learning tools. The results show that Slovenian student teachers predominantly hold positive attitudes towards using digital technol-ogies in education, but they assess themselves as low-level users. Also, the student teachers’ attitudes towards using digital technologies in education were proved as an important predictor of their level of proficiency in using digital technologies.

Highlights

Teacher digital competence is a relative term with respect to time and context, with the given national curriculum always an essential part of this context, as it outlines what competence is considered relevant for teachers [1]. [2] proposes understanding that digital competence, along with instrumental skills, encompasses the ability to evaluate and use information critically, and to comprehend the role of technology and its development in social, political, and economic contexts. [3] further defines digital competence as skills, knowledge, creativity, and attitudes which teachers need, to manage the demands of the knowledge society
This paper was built on the premise that attitudes towards using digital technologies in education are an important predictor of proficiency level in using digital tools for educational purposes [24]
The results in general show that Slovenian student teachers predominantly have positive attitudes towards using digital technologies in education, which is in line with previous research [19, 24, 25, 26]

Summary

Introduction

Teacher digital competence is a relative term with respect to time and context, with the given national curriculum always an essential part of this context, as it outlines what competence is considered relevant for teachers [1]. [2] proposes understanding that digital competence, along with instrumental skills, encompasses the ability to evaluate and use information critically, and to comprehend the role of technology and its development in social, political, and economic contexts. [3] further defines digital competence as skills, knowledge, creativity, and attitudes which teachers need, to manage the demands of the knowledge society. [3] further defines digital competence as skills, knowledge, creativity, and attitudes which teachers need, to manage the demands of the knowledge society. This definition was later adopted in other research in the field Self-assessment tools and training programmes have been developed to describe the facets of digital competence for teachers, and to help them assess their competence, identify their training needs and offer targeted training [10, 11, 5, 12, 13]. The DigCompEdu was the basis for our study’s questionnaire on attitudes towards using digital technologies in education

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion