What shapes students’ AI literacy? Investigating digital competence, student background, and GenAI use in higher education

Does it Matter that Most Representatives are Higher Educated?

Nowadays, with technology penetrating into every aspect of our life, the ways to acquire knowledge has been greatly revolutionized. The outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has accelerated digital informatization in education and the educational model has been transformed substantially. The demand for digital competence is at record high. The purpose of this study is to systematically explore digital competence in different national educational contexts during the COVID-19 pandemic (2019–2021), to provide academics with the current state of digital competence in education and main research trends in digital competence in education during this period, elucidate the impact of pandemic on digital competence, and explore the limitations in the implementation of digital competence in educational research. The results indicate that most research on digital competence in educational contexts related to COVID-19 focused on the current state of the digital competence of teachers and students, especially those in higher education and formal learning context. Still, with the situation compounded, the researchers furthered their study by investigating the factors that influenced digital competence in order to address educational challenges in a pandemic context. In addition, teachers and students were still not well equipped as for digital competence though their digital awareness and digital readiness in the teaching and learning process increased. It is recommended to promote and enhance digital competence training in order to improve students’ achievement and the quality of education.

The purpose of this article is to examine how policy documents in Norway the last ten years have interpreted ICT and digital competence in teacher education and in school. Norway implemented in 2006 a new national curriculum which increased the status of digital competence to be the fifth basic skill in the Norwegian elementary school (stage 1-13). This was a historic event and never before has digital competence achieved such status in curricula, neither nationally nor internationally. The same has newly happened with the new General Plan for Teacher Education where digital competence has become the fifth basic skill in all subjects. However, both teacher educators and teachers lack sufficient digital competence to fulfil these ambiguous policy goals and therefore the article suggest how a model of digital competence can bridge some of the gap between the intentions in the policy documents and the teachers/teacher educators’ practise. At the same time the article attempts to elaborate our perception of the concept digital competence in an educational discourse and how one can define digital competence in light of a Scandinavian educational perspective. The research question in this article is: how can digital competence be defined and what are the foundations of digital competence in teacher education and schools in light of the policy documents in Norway?

This paper intends to study the self-esteem and academic background of arts, science and commerce students in higher education and also attempts to find out the relationship between self-esteem and academic background among students in higher education. The researchers used purposive, stratified random sampling technique for selecting the sample comprising of 600 under graduate students from different colleges affiliated to University of Calcutta. Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI) developed by Singh and Srivastava (2010) and self-made Interview Schedule for measuring the academic background of the students was used for collecting data. The collected data were analyzed by using mean, Standard Deviation (SD), percentage, t-test, and Pearson product-moment coefficient of correlation test and accordingly interpretations were made. Result revealed that arts and commerce students are significantly different from the science students in respect of level of self-esteem; but however no significant difference was noted in the level of self-esteem between arts and commerce students. The researchers also observed that there is no significant difference in the academic background between arts and commerce students however, the academic background of science students was found to be relatively better than arts and commerce students. It was noted that there is a significant positive relationship between self-esteem and academic background among the students pursuing their studies in higher education.

In the era of artificial intelligence, emerging digital technologies have revolutionized the nature of workplaces, making digital competency (DC) an increasingly essential competency in the modern job market. However, there are discrepancies between the existing and required levels of DC among employees, highlighting the need for proper and early educational interventions to foster this competency in higher education. In response to this need, this study aims to explore the degree of commitment (DC) among university students in work contexts. This study first developed an instrument to assess the level of DC and conventionally stressed job competencies—cognitive, interpersonal, and self-leadership—and applied it to 4,297 first-year university students. The study first compared the students' DC levels with other job competencies and found that their DC levels were lower than those of other competencies. Additionally, the study investigated the relationship between DC and other job competencies, identifying the prerequisite role of DC in affecting other competencies. Finally, the study also explored factors that promote DC and found that students' interest in emerging information and communication technologies is the most prominent indicator of their DC level. We also examined the effect of experience and attitude toward learning programming on the DC level and found that they were also significant factors. In particular, learning both block-based and text-based programming languages was the most effective means to improve DC. Accordingly, the practical implications for future studies and stakeholders regarding students' DC in higher education were discussed.

ABSTRACTThe Collaborative Knowledge Practices Questionnaire (CKP) is an instrument designed to measure the learning of knowledge-work competence in education. The focus is on qualities of knowledge work which can be learned and taught in multiple educational settings and which may be especially important for courses with collaborative assignments. The original instrument was theoretically based on the knowledge-creation metaphor of learning. The instrument has been validated in Finnish based on student responses from a large number of higher education courses. The validation of the instrument resulted in seven scales relating to different aspects of interdisciplinary, collaborative development of knowledge-objects using digital technology. This study aimed to cross-culturally translate and adapt the original instrument into English and perform an exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM) analysis in order to investigate whether the same factorial solution of the instrument also works in English in higher education courses in international settings. The original instrument was translated according to established guidelines for cross-cultural adaptation of self-report measures. The translated version has been tested in courses in medical education, online teaching and problem solving. The results provided evidence that the latent factor model found in the original instrument provided a good fit also for the adapted questionnaire.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to thoroughly assemble, analyze and synthesize previous research to investigate and identify teaching staff competencies derived from the roles and tasks attributed to university professors.Design/methodology/approachIn this literature review, the authors looked at both the conceptual framework exploring the educational concepts and the learning theories focusing on teaching staff roles and competencies in higher education. Thirty-nine scientific papers were studied in detail from a total of 102 results, which were eligible based on the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses statement.FindingsA multi-dimensional approach to teacher competencies in higher education was proposed, which consists of six main dimensions with their respective characteristics. Thirty-two discrete teaching staff competencies were identified and distributed in the aforementioned dimensions. The research revealed that specific competencies, such as the digital competence of teachers, which have lately become of high importance worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic implications, surprisingly, until recently, they were considered secondary in the educational process.Research limitations/implicationsThe study was based on the existing literature without using data drawn from an appropriate questionnaire addressed to students and/or interviews with academics. In addition, in an effort to maintain a homogeneous base of teacher competencies, inclusion of domains of expertise was avoided. Further research should focus on designing and developing a holistic model using analytical learning approaches that will contribute to the assessment of teachers’ competencies and explore the relationship of these competencies to students’ academic achievement, contributing quality to higher education.Practical implicationsA specific framework of teacher competencies in higher education, in practice, can be a useful reference point not only for ensuring quality in the selection of teachers and their career-long professional development but also for national education policy strategies. The definition of teacher competencies framework contributes to facilitating effective dialogue for the evaluation and quality assurance in education between agencies, authorities, researchers, teachers, policymakers, education managers and different communities at large.Social implicationsThese competencies are at the heart not only of the teaching and learning process but also in the workplace and in society in general and are increasingly recognized as essential. An adequately prepared community and management equipped with the required employee competencies is able to react immediately and in a positive way to any obstacle, yielding optimal results.Originality/valueThis is the first review, to the authors’ knowledge, to comprehensively explore the literature to identify, classify and rank the teaching staff competencies in higher education, revealing the gap between perceived and actual importance of various competencies.

Digital competence is among the basic key competences for digital learning and employability. For this reason, its acquisition and development should be on the agenda of higher education institutions (HEIs) who wish to prepare their students to thrive in an ever faster evolving digital labour market. However, the existence of a valid instrument that can help HEIs measuring and further integrating digital competence into pedagogical and organisational practices with sufficient precision is yet to be accomplished. This article provides a valid and reliable instrument to measure higher education students' digital competence on the basis of the European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens, also known as DigComp. The instrument was applied to a sample of 411 students from a mid‐large public HEI and the results attest its validity and reliability. In addition, the study explores proficiency differences among students from different fields of education and training, and gender. Results demystify the idea that ICT students are more digitally competent than those in other fields of study, but suggest males score higher than females, which feeds into the ongoing debate of gender differences in relation to digital technologies and the readiness of females for the digital labour market. The results lead to clear implications for research and practice. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Digital competence is critical for higher education (HE) students to benefit from digital learning, strive in a digital society and increase employability prospects. There is a lack of valid instruments to measure higher education (HE) students' digital competence and facilitate the identification of digital competence gaps. Few studies focus on the relationship between HE students' digital competence, gender and fields of education and training (FET). What this paper adds A valid and reliable instrument based on a common European framework for digital competence. HE students lack the necessary digital competences to effectively cope with digital environments. Digital proficiency is particularly low regarding “Safety”, “Problem solving” and “Digital content creation” competence areas. ICT students show less proficiency than those from other FET. Male students score higher than females. Implications for practice and/or policy The instrument can be adopted by different stakeholders to assess students/future job seekers' digital competence. HE institutions could benefit from such an instrument as a diagnosis to design specific teaching and learning strategies and target students' proficiency and particular needs. Tackling specific FET and competence areas can better support the development of students' digital competence and facilitate their employability prospects.

National reports recognize a growing gender gap in postsecondary enrollment as a major challenge impacting the lives of young men, particularly African Americans. Previous gender and race specific research is largely inconclusive. It is, for example, unclear from previous research how persistent the gender gap is across various school contexts, student demographics, and process characteristics. Drawing data from National Educational Longitudinal Study, the present study uses Hierarchical Generalized Liner Modeling (HGLM) to examine both student and school level characteristics that explain variations in college enrollment among African American men and women (with Caucasians included as a contrast group). Results showed that student level characteristics including gender, socioeconomic status, and race were all significant predictors of postsecondary enrollment. Furthermore, home process characteristics (including students' consistency of postsecondary expectations and parental involvement) significantly explained college enrollment when controlling for student home background factors. When considering school level variables, only the percentage of students receiving free or reduced lunch and the percentage of minorities in the school were significant predictors of college enrollment above and beyond what was contributed at the student level, that is, student background and home process factors.Keywords: gender, college access, African AmericansINTRODUCTIONNational reports spark concerns that the proportion of young women enrolled in college is exceeding those of men, and such gap has widened over time (Snyder, Dillow, & Hoffman, 2009). Men enjoyed the college enrollment advantages over females in the 1960s and the early parts of the 1970s, but the trend has shifted toward women since the 1980s (King, 2000). Evidence suggests that the economic changes, and the financial hardships felt by middle class families during the 1980s, influenced young men either to avoid college entirely or to drop out of college to pursue immediate financial and employment opportunities (King, 2000).The college enrollment gaps are even larger in recent years. Between the years 1999 and 2009, for example, women's college enrollment increased by 63%, while the college enrollment of men increased only by 36% (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). Women have also slightly surpassed men in degree attainment. Between 1999 and 2009, women increased bachelor's degree attainment by 34% while men increased by 32% (U.S. Department of Education, 2010).Statistics further indicate that although the disparity in college enrollment is consistent along racial and ethnic lines, the gender gap is highest for African Americans in comparison to Caucasians (King, 2000; Peter & Horn, 2005). Peter and Horn (2005) found that while Caucasian men and women of traditional college age differ in college enrollment by just two percentage points (49% for men to 51% for women); the difference among African Americans is 26 percentage points (37% men to 63% women). Given the social and economic benefits a college education provides, including gainful employment, improved quality of life, and becoming an informed and democratic citizen (Baum & Payea, 2004; Laura, 2005), African American men's disadvantages in college attainment when compared to their female counterparts is concerning.BackgroundResearch in higher education has provided ample evidence of the differences among men and women on college enrollment and degree attainment. The research evidence, however, is unclear about which factors contribute to this gender gap and what strategies help reduce the gaps.Educational research suggests that gender socialization, along with objective factors, such as the family's socioeconomic status (SES), may contribute to variations in educational outcomes between African American men and women (Brown, Linver, Evans, & DeGennaro, 2008; Hill, 2001). …

The article analyzes the current problems of educational policy in general and outlines the strategies for training future professionals and trends in competency-based training of future professionals in Ukrainian universities as its component. It is emphasized that the competence approach is the main direction of renewal of vocational education in the modern world, which provides a position in the educational process, which contributes to the experience of a holistic systemic vision of professional activity, systemic actions in it, solving new problems and tasks. Analysis of the works of leading scientists of today shows a significant interest in the problems of formation and development of professional competence in higher education, the application of the competence approach in the formation of future professionals; characteristics of competence in the education of foreign countries, the emergence and formation of a competency approach. The vector of higher education development makes it possible to identify a range of trends that confirm the transformation and allow to predict certain changes and design appropriate actions. Among them, we focus on those that are a direct indicator of changes in the organization and construction and conduct of the educational process in higher education institutions, in particular in universities: the accumulation of knowledge; gender policy; humanitarian knowledge; use of available resources; development of paradigms; development of scientific activity; development of the world ICT market; ethno-national processes; media globalization; development of the socio-cultural situation in society; innovation and investment activities, etc. This, of course, is not a complete list, but it is these positions that define the broad panorama of approaches that characterize modern university education. Сompetence (competency) is a dynamic combination of knowledge, skills, values ​​and personal qualities that describe the learning outcomes of the educational / curriculum and is the basis of the qualification of the graduate. Competencies are considered as the powers given to a person, the range of official (and other) rights and responsibilities. Thus, when talking about the implementation of the competency approach, we must outline the expected / obtained learning outcomes in accordance with the assigned qualifications.

In the article the main scientific thoughts concerning the problems of forming multicultural competence of the foreign medical students in the process of learning humanitarian disciplines were systematized. The relevance of the article is attributable to the presence of contradictions between the necessities of forming multicultural competence among foreigners who study on the medical educational institutions of Ukraine, and absence of systematized scientific and methodological basis concerning the issue of forming multicultural competency among foreign medical students, since during recent decades in the whole amount of scientific and pedagogical works a small quantity of researches dedicated to the mentioned problem, as well as the whole problem of education of foreign citizens in Ukraine, had been performed; and at the same time there is a great increase in the number of foreign students studying in Ukrainian institutions of higher medical education. The aim of the article is to perform an analytical review of the field of research and studies concerning the problems of forming multicultural competency among foreign medical students in the process of learning humanitarian disciplines. In the paper the fields of research and studies concerning the problems of forming multicultural competence in the process of learning humanitarian disciplines, the problems of forming multicultural competence among the students of establishments of higher education of different grades and accreditation levels, the problems of forming multicultural competence among foreign students, especially among the students of Ukrainian institutions of higher medical education were analyzed. Attention was paid to the researches of aspects of forming multicultural competence in educational institutions of different forms and levels of accreditation, forming multicultural competence in professional education of different specializations, forming multicultural competence and/or its components among foreign students, especially foreign medical students. Key words: multicultural competence, foreign medical students, humanitarian disciplines.

Modeling global transfusion medicine education.

With the rapid development of educational informatization, teachers' digital competence in higher education has become a crucial capacity for advancing teaching innovation and educational reform. This study aims to examine how university teachers' perceptions of organizational resources influence their digital competence, with particular emphasis on the mediating role of teacher agency. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted with 813 valid responses from teachers in five universities in Shanxi Province, China. Regression and mediation analyses were performed using the PROCESS macro for SPSS, controlling for gender and age. The results indicate that perceptions of organizational resources significantly and positively predict teachers' digital competence, and teacher agency partially mediates this relationship, with resources exerting both direct and indirect effects through enhanced self-efficacy and proactive engagement. These findings underscore the importance of supportive institutional resources and proactive teacher agency in fostering digital competence. This study contributes theoretically by extending teacher agency research within technology integration and provides practical implications for universities seeking to strengthen training, infrastructure, and motivational support.

The study of digital competence remains an issue of interest for both the scientific community and the supranational political agenda. This study uses the Delphi method to validate the design of a questionnaire to determine the perceived importance of digital competence in higher education. The questionnaire was constructed from different framework documents in digital competence standards (NETS, ACLR, UNESCO). The triangulation of non-parametric techniques made it possible to consolidate the results obtained through the Delphi panel, the suitability of which was highlighted through the expert competence index (K). The resulting questionnaire emerges as a good tool for undertaking future national and international studies on digital competence in higher education.

The paper considers the system of professional qualifications for teachers of subject education and defines the most important criterion for obtaining a higher pedagogical education. As part of the implementation of the structural model of teacher education, bachelor's and master's programs are distinguished. Each level is an independent system, but in unity, they form a model of a complete higher pedagogical education. This study established the pedagogical model of professional growth of a bachelor's graduate at the formal and non-formal levels of education, and the pedagogical trajectory of a graduate of a master's program determined the deepening of qualifications and work in higher education. The results of this study indicate a clear system of qualification levels, however, at the level of its content – professional competence – there is no single description of its constituent competencies. In the context of the competence-based approach to teaching implemented in higher education, pedagogical and methodological competence for a teacher of any qualification, as well as research competence for a master's degree graduate, are defined as a key component of pedagogical qualification. Based on the analysis of previous studies of teacher training under the conditions of a competency-based model, regulations and standards, the previously defined competencies were identified as basic ones. The development of the basic competencies of a teacher is determined by the system of professional growth and, within the framework of the “lifelong learning” model, forms a system of continuous teacher education. The system of professional growth in this study is determined by the qualifications achieved and depends on the education system: for a teacher of secondary education, the model for improving pedagogical skills through obtaining qualification categories is determined as the basis, and for a teacher of higher education, obtaining an academic degree, title and professional growth by position is available. Lifelong education for a teacher in this study also depends on the level: in secondary education – an increase in the level of pedagogical and methodological activities, and in higher education – an increase in the level of scientific and pedagogical activity throughout the entire period of professional activity.