Page 131 - International Perspectives on Effective Teaching and Learning in Digital Education

Digital Competencies of Future Teachers

this raises the question of whether these courses are sufficient for cultivating
the necessary competencies. Future teachers should integrate digital tech-
nologies into their pedagogical approaches to accomplish learning objec-
tives and assist students in cultivating necessary digital competencies. These
competencies can only be developed through targeted educational activities
(Kiryakova, 3).
Research indicates that teachers often perceive themselves as lacking ade-
quate skills in digital literacy (Garzón-Artacho et al., 1; Hall et al., 14). This
situation is concerning, especially considering that Juvan et al. (16, p. 3)
emphasize the importance of teachers as influential role models. The extent
of teachers' knowledge of and attitudes towards technology significantly in-
fluence how students develop their ICT skills and digital competencies. Given
that the development of digital competencies is closely associated with how
(future) teachers perceive these competencies (Sartor Harada et al., ), we
focused our research on exploring this issue.

Methodology
Sample
The research was conducted on a convenience sample of 356 students en-
rolled in elementary education or preschool education study programmes

Table 1 Structure of the Sample of Students
N %
Gender Male 31 8.7
Female 34 91.
Other 1 .3
Prefer not to disclose  .
Age M = 1.49, SD = 1.81, MIN = 19., MAX = 7.
Study programme Preschool education 19 36.
Elementary education 7 63.8
Degree and year of study 1 degree 3 84.8
st
st
1 year 79 .
nd
 year 93 6.1
rd
3 year 8 3.
4 year 48 13.5
th
 degree 54 15.
nd
1 year 54 15.
st
Average grade for the winter M = 8.55, SD = .8, MIN = 5., MAX = 1.
semester of the academic year
3/4
Total 356 1.
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