Abstract
This study examines, using a cross-sectional approach, the digital competence of academic teachers at a time when teaching shifted to digital distance learning at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers from different academic fields at a large multidisciplinary Finnish university (N = 265) responded to a questionnaire about the purposes for which they use digital tools in teaching, how they evaluated their competence at distance teaching during the lockdown of March-May 2020 and their beliefs about distance teaching. The respondents used digital tools in teaching mostly for delivering information. According to their evaluations, their competence in distance teaching increased during the early stages of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but their beliefs about distance teaching did not relate to the feelings of competence. Respondents with no experience in distance teaching before the lockdown evaluated their competence as having increased more than did respondents with previous experience. The implications of the findings for understanding competence development are then discussed.
Highlights
In 2020, higher education was rapidly converted globally into distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic and closures of schools and businesses in societies throughout the world
This study has explored the purposes for which university teachers from different academic fields and with different experiences use digital tools for distance teaching, their beliefs about distance teaching and how they evaluate their competence at distance teaching during the COVID-19 lockdown of March-May 2020
Based on previous research on digital literacy, we defined the digital competence of academic teachers as skills, knowledge and attitudes regarding the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in such a way that students learn in a pedagogically meaningful manner
Summary
In 2020, higher education was rapidly converted globally into distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic and closures of schools and businesses in societies throughout the world. Academic teachers found themselves in a challenging situation where they had to transform overnight all of their teaching plans to fit the needs of online distance learning. This required teachers to rapidly develop their level of digital competence. Studies on the transition to distance learning due to the pandemic revealed notable variation between higher education teachers in how they perceived their readiness to implement remote teaching, with some teachers finding it very challenging (Watermeyer et al, 2021).
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