Page 188 - International Perspectives on Effective Teaching and Learning in Digital Education

Stanko Pelc

be trained for a more effective use of digital technology in the pedagogical
process. To address this need, a special professional development program
has already been developed by one university. This program can be imple-
mented to provide the necessary training.
Systematic improvement of digital literacy of university teachers is un-
doubtedly a necessity, especially considering the arguments presented in
the literature (Saltos-Rivas et al., 3, p. 1677), ranging from the notion that
digitally literate teachers can better support the development of digital com-
petencies in their students, to the assertion that effective ICT-based learning
is impossible without adequately digitally-literate teachers.
After a systematic mapping study of the literature published until 1 in
journals indexed by Scopus and Web of Science (WOS) (53 primary studies),
Saltos-Rivas et al. (3, pp. 16797–16799) concluded:

− There is a growing number of contributions aimed at understanding
the acquisition of digital skills, especially from external factors.
− European, and more specifically Spanish, university professors from
multiple disciplines are the most studied population.
− Most studies adopted quantitative approaches to explain, but not pro-
ve causality.
− There is a great heterogeneity of relationships and results that explain
the digital competencies of university professors.

The authors emphasize that digital competence is an imperative for uni-
versity teachers today, and therefore it is important to understand the fac-
tors that contribute to the acquisition of these competencies. The reviewed
literature consisted predominantly of quantitative studies, which have not
provided definitive answers to the question of which factors are decisive for
the acquisition of digital competence by university teachers. The authors also
point out that the issue should be approached in the future with in-depth
studies focusing on several factors. They highlight that the digital compe-
tence of university teachers can be explained based on their general digital
competence and their personality characteristics.

The Needs of University of Primorska's Teachers in the Field
of Development of (Pedagogical) Digital Competences
The University of Primorska is one out of three public universities in Slovenia,
with about 5 researchers and university teachers at 6 different faculties, as
well as one research institute.

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