Jonatan Castaño-Muñoz

La transformación digital demanda docentes digitalmente competentes, capaces de integrar herramientas digitales en su enseñanza y de desarrollar la competencia digital en su alumnado. Esta investigación analiza en qué medida la planificación de la formación inicial del profesorado en España, definida en las memorias de verificación de los títulos que habilitan para el ejercicio de la profesión docente, incluye la Competencia Digital Docente (CDD). La investigación se basa en el Marco Europeo para la Competencia Digital de los Educadores (DigCompEdu), referente del Marco de Referencia de la Competencia Digital Docente adoptado en España. Sin embargo, a diferencia de la mayoría de las investigaciones centradas en el autodiagnóstico de los docentes en activo, este estudio analiza la integración de la CDD en los documentos de planificación de la formación inicial del profesorado. En concreto, realizamos un análisis exhaustivo de los planes de estudio de todos los Grados de Educación Infantil (n=75) y Educación Primaria (n=78), así como del Máster en Formación del Profesorado(n=103) inscritos en el RUCT hasta julio de 2023, y determinamos el nivel de integración de las seis áreas definidas en DigCompEdu. Se realizó un análisis descriptivo de la frecuencia de aparición de las áreas y competencias del marco DigCompEdu. Este análisis se complementó con un estudio de la distribución delas áreas en las memorias de verificación y de las competencias dentro de cada área. Por último, también se ha analizado si las áreas están desigualmente distribuidas entre las distintas titulaciones. Los resultados muestran un importante desfase entre las competencias digitales previstas en las memorias de verificación y las requeridas para el ejercicio profesional. Si bien se observa un énfasis en la selección de recursos y la enseñanza, áreas clave como la evaluación, el empoderamiento estudiantil y la pedagogía digital innovadora están menos presentes. Estos resultados muestran que la formación inicial no necesariamente lleva a una adecuada preparación para las demandas del mercado laboral. En consecuencia, indican la necesidad de revisar la planificación de los programas universitarios, así como la legislación que la orienta. El objetivo es asegurar una formación integral que dote a los futuros docentes de las competencias digitales necesarias para su ejercicio profesional.

It is important that higher education institutions equip future school leaders with a holistic view of teachers' digital competence. This qualitative study explores the conceptual understanding of teacher digital competence among future school leaders in Spain, comparing their perspectives with the DigCompEdu framework. A total of 41 students enrolled in a master's programme in school management participated, responding to a single open question about the use of technology in teaching practice. Data were analysed using content analysis, comparing the responses with the 22 competences of the DigCompEdu framework. The findings reveal limitations in their understanding of the full scope of teacher digital competence. While participants acknowledged basic uses of technology in teaching, learning and professional engagement, they demonstrated conceptual gaps in areas such as developing students' digital competence, empowering learners and effective digital assessment. These findings highlight the need for a holistic approach to teacher digital competence in leadership training to ensure that future school leaders are prepared for digital and pedagogical leadership. In practice, this means that school leadership training programmes should be reviewed to ensure that they cover all dimensions of teacher digital competence, thereby preparing future leaders to effectively implement and support the integration of technology in their schools.

This study explores the perceptions, experiences and challenges of schools located in disadvantaged areas regarding the integration of digital technologies in their functioning. Through eight case studies, in which principals, teachers and students were involved, we identified the main challenges that these schools face every day, which were grouped into three areas: a) breaking the hidden digital divide, b) teacher training for culturally responsive teaching, and c) use of technology as a bridge between home and schools. The results show that, in order to prevent digitalisation from increasing the existing divide among schools of different socioeconomic and cultural levels, it is necessary to design inclusive policies for educational digital transformation that take into account the particularities and voices of these schools.

Today, individuals interact with digital technologies in a plethora of ways requiring a range of digital skills, knowledge and attitudes—a combination that forms digital competence. Traditional digital skills measurements are often lengthy and complex, hindering real-world applications. Therefore, this study addresses the need for efficient digital competence measurement tools by developing and validating two concise instruments aligned with the Digital Competence Framework for Citizens (DigComp). Mini-21 offers an instrument that covers all 21 competences and a nano-6 version captures the five core areas of the framework. These instruments enable quick and concise digital competence assessments in various settings; for initial screening, diagnostic of low-skilled individuals for targeted educational interventions, and integration into broader surveys. Psychometric analyses (confirmatory factor analysis, item response theory methods, measurement invariance, internal consistency and concurrent validity) of 460 respondents from Latvia and Spain confirm their high validity and reliability. Furthermore, by comparing psychometric models, the study demonstrates the superiority of tools integrating the three attributes of competence: knowledge, skills, and attitudes. The alignment of our findings with the European Union's DigComp framework guarantees their grounding in an established theory. It offers practical benefits promoting their immediate application in education and training settings, especially where DigComp has been adopted.

Teachers are the evaluators of academic merit. Identifying if their assessments are fair or biased by student-ascribed status is critical for equal opportunity but empirically challenging, with mixed previous findings. We test status characteristics beliefs, statistical discrimination, and cultural capital theories with a pre-registered factorial experiment on a large sample of Spanish pre-service teachers (n = 1, 717). This design causally identifies, net of ability, the impact of student-ascribed characteristics on teacher short- and long-term assessments, improving prior studies' theory testing, confounding, and power. Findings unveil teacher bias in an essay grading task favoring girls and highbrow cultural capital, aligning with status characteristics and cultural capital theories. Results on teachers' long-term expectations indicate statistical discrimination against boys, migrant origin, and working-class students under uncertain information. Unexpectedly, ethnic discrimination changes from teachers favoring native origin in long-term expectations to migrant origin in short-term evaluations, suggesting compensatory grading. We discuss the complex roots of discrimination in teacher assessments as an educational (in)equality mechanism.

El concepto de ‘Entorno Personal de Aprendizaje’ ha generado niveles atención considerables en el ámbito de la tecnología educativa. Familiarizar a estudiantes y docentes con dicho concepto es algo que puede ayudar a las instituciones de educación superior a que sus comunidades tomen decisiones mejor informadas en cuanto los recursos que emplean para el desarrollo de su actividad académica. Asimismo, es algo que puede ayudar a los estudiantes a mejorar su autonomía para la autorregulación de sus procesos de aprendizaje y mejorar su agencia para el aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida. Este artículo forma parte de un estudio que analiza la presencia de dicho concepto en los dominios web de universidades y otras instituciones de educación superior en España, un país que ha destacado por la cantidad de investigación que ha generado en torno a esta temática. El artículo presenta los resultados de la primera fase del estudio y concluye que el concepto de entorno personal de aprendizaje está establecido en el sistema de educación superior español. No obstante, la presencia del término está distribuida de manera irregular en el sector, ya que ha tenido mayor alcance entre universidades públicas e instituciones dedicadas a la educación a distancia.

This paper explores the relationship between students’ digital competence acquisition, teaching practices, and teacher professional learning activities. We analysed insights provided by 59,452 teachers through SELFIE, an online self-reflection tool for schools’ digital capacity. Using ordinary least squares regressions with school fixed effects, we focus on students’ digital competence and find that the use of digital technologies in cross-curricular projects is the teaching practice most related to the acquisition of students’ digital competence. On the other hand, we also find that teachers’ participation in teacher networks is highly correlated with the implementation of cross-curricular projects with digital technologies. The results further suggest that the use of digital technologies for teacher collaboration (in professional learning activities and in implementing cross-curricular projects) can have great potential and importance in the digital age, both for teachers and learners.

MOOCs are promising opportunities for lifelong learning, but as promising as these learning opportunities seem, many learners do not succeed in pursuing their personal learning goals. Barriers to learning are the main reason for not finishing the intended (parts of the) MOOCs. This study addressed the question whether the factors age, gender, educational level, and online learning experience affect barriers faced while learning in MOOCs. The results show that it is challenging to combine work and family life with lifelong (online) learning activities, especially for learners in their early adulthood and mid-life. However, more experience with online learning positively affects individuals’ ability to cope with these challenges. Also, learners with a lower educational level may experience a lack of knowledge or difficulties with the course content. These findings may serve as input to inform potentially vulnerable learners about these issues and support them in successfully achieving their personal learning goals.