Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of Their Digital Competencies and Ways to Acquire Those through Their Studies and Self-Organized Learning

Rapid digitalization and the fast rise of generative AI tools pose fresh challenges to educational institutions, teachers, and students. Teachers of all subjects are expected to pass on key digital competencies along with subject-related knowledge to facilitate students’ employability and navigation...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Katrin Göltl, Roland Ambros, Dominik Dolezal, Renate Motschnig
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-08-01
Series:Education Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/14/9/951
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850261461553643520
author Katrin Göltl
Roland Ambros
Dominik Dolezal
Renate Motschnig
author_facet Katrin Göltl
Roland Ambros
Dominik Dolezal
Renate Motschnig
author_sort Katrin Göltl
collection DOAJ
description Rapid digitalization and the fast rise of generative AI tools pose fresh challenges to educational institutions, teachers, and students. Teachers of all subjects are expected to pass on key digital competencies along with subject-related knowledge to facilitate students’ employability and navigation in a society characterized by the impact of digital technology in all areas of life. However, several studies have shown that there is still a lack of integration of digital competencies in teacher training programs. Hence, to add to these previous studies, this paper aims to find and explore strategies and measures to equip secondary-level pre-service teachers with digital competencies and support them in professionally promoting their students’ digital skills. This happens by investigating what advanced pre-service teachers at a large European university miss and suggest changing to become more confident in promoting digital competencies at secondary school levels (K5–K12). In this context, the authors deepened a previously conducted university-wide survey among advanced secondary-level pre-service teachers through two focus groups to sharpen insights into challenges and good practices from the perspective of pre-service teachers. A thematic analysis of these focus groups confirmed the presumption that most pre-service teachers are keen on actively acquiring relevant digital competencies and gave insights into how they wish to have digital skills integrated into their studies. Additionally, it became evident that even though pre-service teachers can acquire several digital skills through self-study, they longed for collaboration and guidance to reach a professional level for “teaching” them to their students.
format Article
id doaj-art-2778a6df3d1b4abf826eddcc677ebea6
institution OA Journals
issn 2227-7102
language English
publishDate 2024-08-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Education Sciences
spelling doaj-art-2778a6df3d1b4abf826eddcc677ebea62025-08-20T01:55:26ZengMDPI AGEducation Sciences2227-71022024-08-0114995110.3390/educsci14090951Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of Their Digital Competencies and Ways to Acquire Those through Their Studies and Self-Organized LearningKatrin Göltl0Roland Ambros1Dominik Dolezal2Renate Motschnig3University of Vienna, Faculty of Computer Science, Doctoral School of Computer Science, 1010 Vienna, AustriaUniversity of Vienna, Faculty of Computer Science, Doctoral School of Computer Science, 1010 Vienna, AustriaUniversity of Vienna, Faculty of Computer Science, Doctoral School of Computer Science, 1010 Vienna, AustriaUniversity of Vienna, Faculty of Computer Science, Doctoral School of Computer Science, 1010 Vienna, AustriaRapid digitalization and the fast rise of generative AI tools pose fresh challenges to educational institutions, teachers, and students. Teachers of all subjects are expected to pass on key digital competencies along with subject-related knowledge to facilitate students’ employability and navigation in a society characterized by the impact of digital technology in all areas of life. However, several studies have shown that there is still a lack of integration of digital competencies in teacher training programs. Hence, to add to these previous studies, this paper aims to find and explore strategies and measures to equip secondary-level pre-service teachers with digital competencies and support them in professionally promoting their students’ digital skills. This happens by investigating what advanced pre-service teachers at a large European university miss and suggest changing to become more confident in promoting digital competencies at secondary school levels (K5–K12). In this context, the authors deepened a previously conducted university-wide survey among advanced secondary-level pre-service teachers through two focus groups to sharpen insights into challenges and good practices from the perspective of pre-service teachers. A thematic analysis of these focus groups confirmed the presumption that most pre-service teachers are keen on actively acquiring relevant digital competencies and gave insights into how they wish to have digital skills integrated into their studies. Additionally, it became evident that even though pre-service teachers can acquire several digital skills through self-study, they longed for collaboration and guidance to reach a professional level for “teaching” them to their students.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/14/9/951digital competencedigital skillspre-service teachersteacher educationsecondary educationfocus group
spellingShingle Katrin Göltl
Roland Ambros
Dominik Dolezal
Renate Motschnig
Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of Their Digital Competencies and Ways to Acquire Those through Their Studies and Self-Organized Learning
Education Sciences
digital competence
digital skills
pre-service teachers
teacher education
secondary education
focus group
title Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of Their Digital Competencies and Ways to Acquire Those through Their Studies and Self-Organized Learning
title_full Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of Their Digital Competencies and Ways to Acquire Those through Their Studies and Self-Organized Learning
title_fullStr Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of Their Digital Competencies and Ways to Acquire Those through Their Studies and Self-Organized Learning
title_full_unstemmed Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of Their Digital Competencies and Ways to Acquire Those through Their Studies and Self-Organized Learning
title_short Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of Their Digital Competencies and Ways to Acquire Those through Their Studies and Self-Organized Learning
title_sort pre service teachers perceptions of their digital competencies and ways to acquire those through their studies and self organized learning
topic digital competence
digital skills
pre-service teachers
teacher education
secondary education
focus group
url https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/14/9/951
work_keys_str_mv AT katringoltl preserviceteachersperceptionsoftheirdigitalcompetenciesandwaystoacquirethosethroughtheirstudiesandselforganizedlearning
AT rolandambros preserviceteachersperceptionsoftheirdigitalcompetenciesandwaystoacquirethosethroughtheirstudiesandselforganizedlearning
AT dominikdolezal preserviceteachersperceptionsoftheirdigitalcompetenciesandwaystoacquirethosethroughtheirstudiesandselforganizedlearning
AT renatemotschnig preserviceteachersperceptionsoftheirdigitalcompetenciesandwaystoacquirethosethroughtheirstudiesandselforganizedlearning