Assessment of Digital Competencies of University Faculty and Their Conditioning Factors: Case Study in a Technological Adoption Context

The rise of digital technologies and their educational applications increasingly require the development of digital skills among university faculty. This study focuses on examining the level of digital competencies of university faculty and identifying their conditioning factors. To achieve this obj...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Education sciences 2021-10, Vol.11 (10), p.637
Main Authors: Jorge-Vázquez, Javier, Náñez Alonso, Sergio Luis, Fierro Saltos, Washington Raúl, Pacheco Mendoza, Silvia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adoption (Ideas)
Age Differences
College Faculty
Colleges & universities
Communication
Communications technology
Connectivity
Curricula
digital competences
Digital literacy
digital skills
Digital technology
Educational Environment
Educational Policy
Faculty Development
Foreign Countries
higher education
Hypotheses
Information literacy
Knowledge Level
Learning
Learning Processes
Pedagogy
Professional practice
Public Colleges
Skill Development
Skills
Society
Strategic Planning
Teacher education
teacher training
Teaching
Teaching Methods
Technological Literacy
technology adoption
Technology Integration
University faculty
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Summary:The rise of digital technologies and their educational applications increasingly require the development of digital skills among university faculty. This study focuses on examining the level of digital competencies of university faculty and identifying their conditioning factors. To achieve this objective, an ex post facto methodological design with surveys is used. A sample of 216 university teachers from different regions of Ecuador was used. The non-parametric Chi-square test was used to validate the hypothesis of independence of the variables. The results obtained show that university faculty have a mostly intermediate level of digital skills, which is independent of gender, but dependent on the generational cohort. In particular, it is found that younger teachers (millennials) have a more advanced level of digital skills, although this relationship is not very strong. On the other hand, we observe the positive influence of the university’s strategic leadership in terms of technological adoption on the development of teachers’ digital skills. Universities with better technological resources and with training plans focused on the pedagogical application of technology have teachers with a more advanced level of digital skills. All of this leads to the recommendation that education policies should prioritise actions that promote the development of digital competencies among university faculty
ISSN:2227-7102
2227-7102
DOI:10.3390/educsci11100637