Teachers' digital competences in the online classes modality: A case study in a health crisis context

Abstract

This article presents the main results of research carried out in an institution of higher education located at Monterrey, Mexico in the current COVID-19’s pandemic in the first academic semester of 2020. Its main objective is to understand the full scope of the online academic continuance process and its relationship with the teacher’s digital competences improvement. A qualitative and interpretive research approach was followed based on case study. Semi-structured interviews, nonparticipant observations and focus groups were the main research techniques and methods used for data collection. Research findings demonstrated that adapting the unanticipated change in the online classes favored the development of teachers’ digital competences through an emerging process of self-training which contributed to the fulfillment of the criteria for ensuring educational quality in the health crisis context.