Page 192 - International Perspectives on Effective Teaching and Learning in Digital Education

Stanko Pelc

Recognizing that only digitally competent university teachers can effec-
tively equip students with digital skills, we sought to understand the percep-
tions of ‘digitalisation’ in their studies among students enrolled in the teacher
training program.
At the beginning of the spring semester 3/4, 46 out of 58 students en-
rolled in the study program Primary School Teaching were answering eight
closed questions, and the key findings that we can make based on their an-
swers are as follows:

− Perceived Digitalisation: Two-thirds of the respondentsbelieve their
studies are more digitally supported than their high school education.
− Varying Digitalisation: Students perceive significant differences in digi-
tal technology use among instructors.
− Digital Competence of Teaching Assistants: Students are divided on
whether younger teaching assistants use digital tools more frequently
than older professors.
− Moodle Use: Most study materials are distributed through the Moodle
learning management system.
− Digital Assessments: Quiz-based assessments are less common.
− MS PowerPoint Use: MS PowerPoint is widely used for presentations
across most subjects.
− Social media and Study: YouTube is the most popular social media plat-
form for study purposes. Facebook Messenger and Instagram are also
used for communication and information sharing among students.

The presented short study provides insights into student perceptions of
digitalisation in teacher training and indicates that the university should con-
tinue to support faculty and staff in effectively integrating digital technolo-
gies into teaching and learning.
A follow-up study was conducted on February 19–, 4, to gather the
opinions of third-year students in the same program. This study used five
open-ended questions posted in a Moodle forum. Out of the 58 actively par-
ticipating students in the relevant course, slightly less than half (3) only pro-
vided their responses, all the others also commented on the responses of two
of their classmates. The average student response length was 3 words (95
words for the initial response and 16 words for each comment).
The first question addressed the use of modern digital technologies in
teaching: Only two student responses did not mention the leading role of MS
PowerPoint. However, some students interpreted its use as modern digital

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