Page 139 - International Perspectives on Effective Teaching and Learning in Digital Education

Digital Competencies of Future Teachers

Table 7 Students’ Self–Assessments of Their Abilities in Protecting Their Digital Identities and
Devices
I can … N M SD MIN MAX U p
… regularly change my passwords 356 3.77 .91 1. 5. 14594.5 .958
and settings of my smart devices and
Internet accounts.
… protect various smart devices and e– 356 3.7 .91 1. 5. 1384.5 .373
accounts using different passwords and
frequently changing them.
… protect myself and others against 356 3.59 .83 1. 5. 116.5 .5
identity theft, harassment, bulling, or
slander.

ious smart devices and e-accounts with different and frequently changed
passwords.

Discussion
Teachers with greater confidence in their digital skills are more motivated to
pursue further education and integrate ICT into their teaching practice. Their
use of ICT is strongly related to the assessment of their own digital compe-
tencies and judgements about the appropriateness of ICT use, making pro-
fessional development in this area crucial (European Commission, 13). In
order to cultivate independence and confidence among future teachers, they
should acquire new skills while they are still engaged in their studies.
Our study shows that students feel most confident in their abilities to
search and find groups on social networks, view content on various smart de-
vices, convert content from one format to another, use digital calendars, and
collaborate with people with the use of ICT. They also feel confident in their
abilities to copy and save screenshots on various smart devices, delete con-
nections on social networks, identify false information and fraud, and protect
their devices.
In contrast, students feel less confident in their abilities to find specific ob-
jects with the use of advanced search criteria, to design or develop a website
and to apply licences to the content they have created. Additionally, they lack
confidence in sharing software and applications on social media, taking and
saving pictures and videos in various formats, and identifying the intellectual
property rights of content they find online. Such uncertainty might be the
result of the complexity of these tasks and the lack of technical skills.
One of the fundamental tasks associated with digital literacy is training
teachers to fully utilize digital technologies to enhance and improve teaching
(Redecker, 17). Considering the highlighted weaknesses related to the use

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