Digital competence of higher education professor according to DigCompEdu. Statistical research methods with ANOVA between fields of knowledge in different age ranges

Abstract

The tasks of the university educators must be linked to the digital demands posed by the more sophisticated professions of the twenty-first century. Faced with this panorama, the objective of this study is to examine and compare the degree of digital competence of Higher Education educators from different fields of knowledge and different age ranges according to the DigCompEdu framework. A non-probabilistic ex post facto sampling was utilized with 2180 university professors from Andalusia (Spain). The main results of the study provide evidence of an intermediate level of digital competence, for men and women. More specifically, the male professors in Architecture and Judicial & Social Sciences, younger and older than 40, possessed a higher level, as compared to the other fields. For the female professors, the highest level was found once again in Judicial and Social Sciences, in this case for both age ranges, without a clear trend found for the rest of the fields. For each dimension of the DigCompEdu instrument, the level of competence follows the same trend with respect to the overall level. More research is recommended to validate these preliminary results, as well as the development of training lines of action that are specific and adapted to each field of knowledge.

Soft Skills of American University Teachers: Self-Concept

“…Regarding the area of knowledge, soft skills are usually studied as being linked to digital competencies. In this sense, some studies place technical education teachers as more gifted than the rest in soft skills, due to greater technological knowledge and greater practice with digital materials [29]. However, studies that focus on analyzing self-concepts about soft skills tend to show a better assessment of teachers of humanistic-social areas [28].…”

“…Nevertheless, the soft skills self-concept of university teachers located in countries with a low level of digital development and the impact of the country's development index on teachers' soft skills has been analyzed in previous studies [28]. Similarly, some studies identify some sociological or academic aspects that influence certain soft skills linked to digital competence in university teachers (specifically, the area of knowledge [29] and age [30]).…”

Level of Digital Teaching Competence on the Verge of the Post Pandemic

“…When mentioning digital competencies there is a clear significant influence on teaching-learning that was in charge of ICT with which modeling and factorial analysis were performed to understand the use of digital learning such as self-efficacy, anxiety, satisfaction and digital acceptance in students [22], with the arrival of Covid-19 the formation of digital competence was a challenge for teachers as they had to face the current situation in their daily work, achieving a low level in creation, management and problem solving, these results were seen more in older teachers due to the lack of digital training and empathy of the trainers [23] and not only that, but also because of the digital demands that must pass by the arrival of the XXI century, it was necessary to measure the digital competence whose result showed an intermediate level for both sexes; only teachers under 40 years old had a higher level (careers such as Architecture, Social Sciences and Judiciary) [24]. Thus, the use of devices such as cell phones, laptops and others increased their sales in just two years, being these a primary need at home to have a virtual education in the development of teaching-learning, the use of these devices significantly affected the academic performance of students as they have access to quality information and in abundance [25], forcing the teacher to do more research on the subject to be treated in the classroom [19].…”

The Role of Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube Frequency of Use in University Students’ Digital Skills Components

“…UN-ESCO [33] describes digital skills on three levels: (i) basic functional digital skills to use digital devices and access information and resources; (ii) generic digital skills including information literacy, communication and collaboration, digital content creation, digital safety, and digital rights; and (iii) higher-level skills including computer programming (coding) and computational thinking. Furthermore, the European Union Framework of Digital Competence of Educators-DigCompEdu [47]-has been applied by several researchers [48] on the teacher populations since their digital competences are essential to guarantee the efficient transition of knowledge to their students and encourage teaching and learning innovation [49].…”