Abstract:

The prominence of policy and practice initiatives related to Teacher Digital Competence (TDC) is largely motivated by the increasing demands placed on faculty, connected to the velocity of digital transformations across all aspects of professional life, including the duty to support students in becoming digitally competent. The current global pandemic has exacerbated the need for educators to function productively and (often) remotely using a range of digital tools. How higher education institutions (HEIs) respond to the significant shift to models of hybrid or blended learning will become a central challenge and consistent debate for years to come.

The purpose of this study is to better understand how institutional culture might help or hinder TDC development. We aim to examine the role of universities in the development of Digital Competence to enhance the links between policy, organizational infrastructures, strategic leadership, and teachers and teaching practices.

The study will present two phases of a broader study on TDC. The first, phase involved carrying out a systematic overview, in order to critically appraise and synthesize existing knowledge amidst an abundance of research. Then, a qualitative descriptive design was adopted, informed by recommendations of our overview, analysing TDC development using Tierney and Lanford’s (2018) institutional culture in higher education framework. Data collection included semi-structured interviews with digital competence researchers or educational leaders in Spain.

Results reveal a significant interest in TDC in Spain, conducted by researchers in the field of educational technology concerned with teacher training and teacher professional development. Salient themes generated in our study can promote changes in our understanding of institutional culture as a factor which can enable or hinder teacher readiness for online education.

The current study reveals areas of interest for better understanding the role of institutional culture in fostering TDC, such as:
(a) developing more participatory forms of strategic planning integrating teacher perspectives,
(b) recognizing the impact of developing both formal and informal pedagogical leadership for fostering TDC and
(c) developing recognised approaches for both valuing and certifying teacher digital competence through HE quality agencies. 

Keywords:

Institutional culture, teacher digital competence, systematic review, educational technology.