Special issue: Digital Competence for Teachers. Perspectives and foresights for a new school

bkengen on 25. september 2019

Vol. XXVII, n. 61, 4th quarter, October 1 2019

https://www.revistacomunicar.com/index.php?contenido=revista&numero=61

Thematic Editors
Dr. Juan Carlos Colomer Rubio – Universidad de Valencia – España
Dr. Héctor Hernández Gassó – Universidad de Valencia – España
Dr. Bård Ketil Engen – Universidad Metropolitana de Oslo – Noruega

This special issue is presented as a contribution to the analysis and discussion of both the theoretical and practical aspects related to TDC, its impact on teacher training and the future challenges and difficulties that it presents. To this end, this monographic reflects on the need for technology in future teachers’ initial and ongoing training from different perspectives. Such reflection will surely allows the different models for handling TDC that have been developed in recent years to be considered in more depth and, in addition, it propose specific experiences that could be applied in different educational contexts.

Understanding social and cultural aspects of teachers’ digital competencies

bkengen on 10. september 2019

Bård Ketil Engen

ABSTRACT

Many European governments, including Norway, have ambitious educational policies regarding digitalisation. Many businesses and policymakers pay great attention to the use of digital technologies in education in order to meet the future demands for a competent and qualified workforce. Among researchers and policymakers, there is a general consensus that the professional teacher is a key figure for the successful implementation of digital technologies in schools. Many expectations have been placed upon professional teachers regarding the implementation and use of digital technologies. The professional teacher is, to a certain degree, supposed to independently decide how digital technologies should be used in the classroom. This paper discusses what the concept of a ‘professional digitally competent teacher’ may mean in the context of schools. It also argues the need for a greater understanding of professional digital competence, one which takes into consideration various social and cultural aspects with regard to technology, schools and the teaching profession. In unpacking the social and cultural conditions for implementing technology in a professional teaching context, I will draw on concepts from the constructivist understanding of technology, namely, the ‘domestication of technology’.