An Assessment of Digital Literacy Skills Among Secondary School Teachers Using the Digcomp Tool
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Date
2024
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POTRAZ/RCZ
Abstract
The International elecommunications Union’s (ITU) Digital Skills Assessment Guidebook and the Digital Competence Framework for Citizens (DigComp) were used to conduct the national assessment. The study used a mixed methods approach.The latest version of DigComp (2.2) was selected for assessing secondary school teachers. Data was collected from 2,263 conveniently selected secondary school teachers from 150 purposively selected secondary schools spread over 10 provinces in Zimbabwe. The selection included private, public,
boarding, day, night, urban, peri-urban, rural schools, boys only and girls only and mixed sex schools. An ICT facility assessment was conducted at each school, 30 in-depth interviews ere held with teachers, and 15 focus group discussions with secondary school learners from each province. Qualitative data was analysed in MaxQDA 24 for themes, while quantitative
data was analysed in SPSS 27 for statistical inferences. It was found that the Zimbabwean secondary school teachers have Intermediate digital literacy. Most of the digital skills were on Information and Data Literacy, Communication and Collaboration, Digital Content Creation, Problem Solving and Safety. There were differences in the way that males and females ompleted the questionnaire, especially on the Communication and Collaboration dimension. The absence of school learning management systems had led teachers to rely heavily on social media to conduct flipped classroom teaching and learning. However, learners saw the shortage of devices and restrictive school device policies as a challenge to integrate ICTs tools in classroom and when learning is flipped. Policymakers are encouraged to support teachers with adequate ICTs devices, supportive infrastructure and supportive policies that encourage the development of digital competences within this sector.
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Citation
Dabengwa, I.M. et al. 2024. An Assessment of Digital Literacy Skills Among Secondary School Teachers Using the Digcomp Tool. Harare: POTRAZ/RCZ