Quantitative-comparative research on digital competence in students, graduates and professors of faculty education: an analysis with ANOVA

Abstract

Currently, the figure of the teacher is a key element to train students in the use of new information and communication technologies (ICT), which will positively influence the entire teaching-learning process. Therefore, it is an indispensable requirement in the initial training of the teacher the development of the digital teaching competence, understanding this construct as the set of knowledge, use and attitudes towards digital technologies. However, in the initial teacher training, the development of digital teaching competence may vary depending on the educational stage in which they carry out their teaching. For this work, the level of development of digital teaching competence of university teaching staff of the Faculty of Education, graduates of education, and students (future teacher of primary and child education) has been taken into consideration. Therefore, in this work we have tried: (1) to analyse the level of competence of the teachers regarding to three components which structure the term digital teaching competence; and (2) to compare the level of competence between the different types of teachers in each of the dimensions that make up the term digital teaching competence. For this purpose, an ex post facto investigation has been carried out with 715 participants, using one-way ANOVA technique by multiple comparisons. The results show that there are significant differences in attitudes towards digital technologies among students and graduates with respect to the university teaching staff. In relation to the knowledge and use dimensions, there are no differences between graduates and university teaching staff, but there are differences between both groups with the students.