Uses of ICT Tools from the Perspective of Chilean University Teachers

Verónica Marín-Díaz,Julio Cabero-Almenara,Irma Riquelme

doi:10.3390/su12156134

Verónica Marín-Díaz, Julio Cabero-Almenara + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su12156134

Copy DOI

Abstract

The use of the ICT in university learning processes is linked to their use by the educator. This aspect will determine the use of some resources over others, and consequently, the prevalence of some methodologies over others. The main objective of this work is to determine the use of the ICT by university educators, and from this, to determine which elements will define the design of a training program on the use of the ICT. For this, and with the use of an ex post facto method with a sample of n = 1113 subjects, the main result obtained was that the male professors utilized the digital tools more often for their teaching tasks. Furthermore, those with less professional experience preferred to use tools found in the cloud. Thus, it is concluded that the model of training observed from the demonstrated use of digital resources is linked to the preoccupation of education professionals for caring for the digital environment, and this model should be designed as a function of the methodologies and the system of evaluations utilized by the professors.

Highlights

The appearance of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the education sphere has brought with it changes that have affected the two main actors of the education process, students and educators
Today’s university students are catalogued as “millennials”, students who were born in the digital era, and as a result, their link with technological resources is greater than in previous eras, where the students had a more analogical profile. As for the latter, the professors, it has been observed that they find themselves in a two-sided moment. They have to or need to update their teaching methods [9], and on the other, they must be in a continuous learning process, given that the continuous development of the digital tools implies the appearance of new resources or the improvement or disappearance of the existing ones, so that their use in teaching is contingent to this continuous educational renewal
The main conclusion of the present work is that Chilean university professors need pedagogical training on digital resources, which will allow for the development of their digital competence

Summary

Introduction

The appearance of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the education sphere has brought with it changes that have affected the two main actors of the education process, students and educators. Today’s university students are catalogued as “millennials”, students who were born in the digital era, and as a result, their link with technological resources is greater than in previous eras, where the students had a more analogical profile. As for the latter, the professors, it has been observed that they find themselves in a two-sided moment. They have to or need to update their teaching methods [9], and on the other, they must be in a continuous learning process, given that the continuous development of the digital tools implies the appearance of new resources or the improvement or disappearance of the existing ones, so that their use in teaching is contingent to this continuous educational renewal. According to [10], the professors use the ICT timidly, due to a series of aspects related to the lack of previous training; the lack of infrastructure or resources provided by the universities [11,12], their attitudes and previous beliefs [9,13], their motivations [14] or feelings [15], or their resistance towards their use [11,13], etc

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion