Between adoption and rejection: attitudes of adult educators toward digitization in Germany

Abstract

The use of digital media in adult education is very heterogeneous. To date, there are no empirical studies that have examined the possibility that media‐related differences in media usage of adult educators could be in part due to differential media pedagogical attitudes of adult educators. Moreover, there is a lack of empirical evidence to support the understanding of what factors modulate differences in media pedagogical competencies of adult educators. In order to examine different theoretical potentialities, in the present study, an online survey of adult educators (n = 626) was conducted to investigate the attitudes of adult educators in Germany toward their use of digital media. The results of the study indicate that there are influencing factors such as educational level or employment context on attitudes toward digital media.

German Teachers’ Digital Habitus and Their Pandemic Pedagogy

“…Thus, it is clear that something else must play a role in determining this non-usage. Although analyses of teachers' beliefs have long played a role in explaining their digital behaviors, as demonstrated by thorough qualitative (Ertmer and Ottenbreit-Leftwich 2010;Tour 2015) and quantitative (Mayer and Girwidz 2019;Nistor et al 2014;Rohs et al 2020;Rubach and Lazarides 2019) studies, examinations of these factors have not brought about a substantial change in the status quo.…”

Digital technologies in training and adult education

“…Furthermore, we need more knowledge about the competencies needed for trainers to skillfully navigate, orchestrate and work within digitally technology‐mediated training contexts (Koehler et al ., ; Oberländer et al ., ; Rohs et al ., ; Schmidt‐Hertha & Rohs, ). Hence, and in addition to the producing studies of trainees’ experiences and perceptions, researchers need to address more deeply the digital competencies, skills and attitudes of trainers toward the digital media and infrastructures (Bonnes et al ., ; Rohs et al ., ).…”

“…In the fourth contribution, Rohs et al . () examine the attitudes and competencies of adult educators. Using quantitative online survey data, their analyses signal that educators with higher educational attainment and with higher levels of media‐related training were significantly more positive and critically reflective toward the digital media.…”

“…The five contributions in this special issue reflect on a number of issues, for example, the competence level of trainers (Bonnes et al ., ; Rohs et al ., ) and how these are affectively perceived by the trainees (Dowling‐Hetherington et al ., ; Gegenfurtner et al ., ).This issue is in line with previous research in the field of digital training (e.g., Koehler et al , ; Rohs et al , ; Testers et al ., in press). Another issue reflected in the contributions of this special issue is associated with the potential benefits of digital training environments or, in the case of Kraiger et al .…”

Perceptions of Teachers Regarding Online In-Service Training in their Professional Development in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

“…Thus, in light of other experiences and trainees to adults and knowledge of contents to trainees it is important to facilitate them through digital learning and use of digital technologies (Bonnes et al, 2020). And the same idea is used by (Rohs et al, 2020).…”