Page 187 - International Perspectives on Effective Teaching and Learning in Digital Education

University Faculty Digital Literacy and Technology Integration

of dividing teachers into those who are digitally competent and those who are
less digitally competent and suggest that basic training in the use of digital
technology should be provided in teacher training. Some teachers may have
a negative attitude towards this, while for others it is inevitable in their work.
According to a recent study (Čotar Konrad & Štemberger, 3), Slovenian
teachers who teach future teachers are in favour of using digital technologies
in their pedagogical work. They are particularly supportive of learner-centred
teaching, which is supported using digital technology. They also have no
concerns about the use of digital technology for individual and group work,
but they are opposed to the use of digital technology for testing knowledge.
In addition, the surveyed teachers gave a relatively low average rating to their
skills in using digital tools and resources. Teachers are familiar with several
digital tools and are not against using them. What might be holding them
back from incorporating them into their teaching remains to be explored.
In parts of the world where technological equipment of educational insti-
tutions is low, attitudes towards the use of technology in the pedagogical
process are, of course, also different. The kinds of attitude university teach-
ers have towards the use of digital technology or ICT in teaching was also
wondered about in Ethiopia a decade ago (Gebremedhin & Fenta, 15). In
conditions quite different from the University of Primorska, the attitudes
were similar. However, it should be noted that at Adwa College of Education,
where the research was conducted at that time, all departments were not yet
connected to the Internet, and the technical equipment was very modest. Al-
most a fifth of the 7 teachers surveyed did not have the opportunity/ability
to use the Google Chrome browser. However, or perhaps precisely because of
this, the attitude towards the use of ICT in the pedagogical process was posi-
tive. On a five-point Likert scale, the values of the attitude towards individual
factors of ICT use in teaching and learning ranged from 4.8 to 4.79.
A recent Russian study (Vaskov et al., 1, pp. 4–5) reveals that according to
the digital literacy index (based on information, computer, communication,
and media literacy, as well as attitudes towards innovation), digital literacy
of university teachers is relatively high (index 88 out of 1), but attitudes
towards innovation are different from that of young people, who are more
open to embracing new ideas than university teachers. The authors also cite
data from a survey in which one-third of the surveyed university teachers
believed that 4% of their colleagues do not use digital technology or use
it very rarely. However, 85% of the respondents actively used the Internet,
two-thirds were interested in new applications, and around 6% actively
used social networks. The authors conclude that university teachers need to

187