Abstract
The ICTs are simultaneously an important tool and subject in teacher training. It, therefore, follows that digital competence is fundamental and constitutes a significant educational challenge, particularly the digital divide or gap by gender. The aim is to identify and analyze self-perceptions of digital skills, and the possible relationship of these to gender, in first-year university students taking a degree in primary education teacher training at a Spanish faculty of education. This is a descriptive study using ex-post-facto method and collecting data from a questionnaire administered for four consecutive years to the above-mentioned subjects. The results revealed gender differences in the students’ reported perceptions. Men were more likely to perceive themselves as competent in the use of ICTs, reporting better information management and online collaboration skills using digital media. Besides, they made more use of computers as their sole device for browsing, downloading, and streaming and felt more confident about solving problems with devices. In contrast, women reported making more use of mobile phones and were more familiar with social media and aspects related to image and text processing and graphic design.
Highlights
In initial teacher training, ICTs are simultaneously a tool and an important knowledge [1,2,3] because they promote universal education and meaningful learning and contribute to professional performance and development and the management and organisation of educational resources [4].Unless teachers possess digital skills, there is little chance that they may help their students to master this core competence
In the light of the general objective of this study and by the review of the literature on the use of technology by young people, we selected a single instrument, the COTAEDU digital competence questionnaire, which we developed based on the COTASEBA questionnaire [21]
Given the large size of the sample, we used a single instrument, the COTAEDU digital competence questionnaire, which we developed based on the COTASEBA questionnaire [21]
Summary
ICTs are simultaneously a tool and an important knowledge [1,2,3] because they promote universal education and meaningful learning and contribute to professional performance and development and the management and organisation of educational resources [4].Unless teachers possess digital skills, there is little chance that they may help their students to master this core competence. As future citizens with full rights and duties, it is a skill they need, since ICTs are a key element in social change [5,6] In this respect, [7] indicated that the benefits of these technologies depend on the use made of them, but they have the potential to facilitate communication, reduce the barriers of space and time, improve quality of life, be a valuable resource for learning [8] and provide equitable access to information and communication. They developed a questionnaire, the COTASEBA (high school students’ technological competence questionnaire), which they administered in several autonomous regions. This same instrument has been employed in subsequent studies [13,22,23,24,25]. Besides the COTASEBA, other instruments have been developed to assess digital skills, such as the one designed by [2], but the COTASEBA has undoubtedly been one of the most influential in Spain
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