Competences and attitudes for the use of ICT in Galician students of the degree of teaching

Abstract

Competence in the use of ICTs is a necessary element in the teacher professional performance, and decisions on the quality of initial teacher education need to be informed about whether or not it is appropriate at the present time. Throughout decades of national and international studies, it has been observed that it is necessary to improve the level of training in this field, taking into account the constants generated by technology and innovation in education. The aim was to describe the ICT competences, attitudes and uses that the students of the Degree in Teaching have and to contrast in what way the interaction between these factors allows to explain the use that the students make of the technologies. We use a sample constituted by 526 university students of the Degree in Teaching of the University of Santiago de Compostela. Descriptive analyses were used to describe the sample and the variables analyzed in the study. A principal component analysis was carried out to check how the items of the questionnaires were grouped (competences and attitudes) and non-parametric analysis were used to perform statistical tests. Participants reported an average level of digital competences, with the technical domain being greater than the domain for learning. The higher the level of technical competence, the greater the use of ICT for learning and to get information; also, the higher level of competence in the use of ICT for learning, the more they use it for this purpose. The participants showed positive attitudes towards ICT, and we also identified that the higher the score in positive attitudes, the greater the use of ICT for learning. Men reported a higher level of digital competences. This work showed that the digital competences of future teachers have influence in the use that these students make of them to learn. This aspect must be taken into account both by educational institutions of higher education and by other educational agents.