Diagnostic and educational self-assessment of the digital competence of university teachers

Abstract

The importance of promoting digital transformation processes in higher education has been increasing over in the last decade. Recently, the impact of the health crisis experienced in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic on educational activity has further accelerated this transformation. In order to take advantage of the potential of digital tools in educational processes, as well as to manage these new learning situations, it is essential for university faculties to have an adequate level of digital teaching competence (DTC). This article aims to explore this competence in depth, by analysing the self-perceived level of DTC of university teaching staff and their assessment in each of the areas that comprise it. The research was carried out in a Spanish public university with a sample of 61 university teaching staff, following the methodological approach of educational design research (EDR), through quantitative and qualitative instruments for collecting information from a sample of key informants and potential users. The results suggest that the questionnaire has validity for its function, and detects those areas of digital competence in which participants need to improve, and those in which their level of competence is optimal. As for the evaluation of the university faculty, the results show a medium-to-high level of competence, and when evaluating the tool, they have highlighted its usefulness. In conclusion, the need to have DTC assessment tools in higher education that allow faculties to reflect on their own digital competence is essential today, in order to carry out quality teaching and learning processes adapted to the needs of students. Copyright © 2021 Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY-NC 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)