DIGITAL COMPETENCIES FOR DIGITAL IN-SERVICE TEACHERS

Abstract

The broad diversification of media products, the increasing digitization and globalization of the media with the value-and ethical issues that it raises, proposes and confirms the reasons why media education is to be considered as an indispensable task for anyone involved in education. The media competence enhances teachers’ ability to creatively modify learning spaces and to design a variety of stimulating activities in order to promote their pupils’ independent and aware work. Teachers play a decisive role in the uptake and use of technology in classrooms, and experience from teacher education programs is a crucial factor influencing new teachers’ use of technology (Drent & Meelissen, 2008). Teacher education programs are, however, criticized for their failure to provide teachers with the necessary experiences related to the use of technology in teaching practices (Instefjord & Munthe, 2016). Competences in using ICT in teachers’ professional work and learning constitute one of the main drivers of change when creating powerful learning environments and applying new approaches to teaching. This research takes the form of an exploratory survey carried out by the Instant DCA (Digital Competence Assessment) by Calvani, Fini and Ranieri (2011) for the survey of the digital competences of in-service teachers. This paper describes the research for the exploration of the types of digital competence possessed by the teachers of the sample. The survey was carried out in Sicily in the Academic Year 2014/2015 with 91 in-service teachers.