Digital skills development: MOOCs as a tool for teacher training

Abstract

Digital skills are an important element in the educational environment, their development and integration should be a priority in order to address modern society demands. Therefore, the objective of this research was to identify how a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for teachers influences the development of their digital skills. This paper is part of the project “Estudio comparativo del desarrollo de competencias digitales en el marco del programa Mi Compu.Mx”, an initiative by the Ministry of Public Education (SEP), which gave 240,000 computers to children in fifth and sixth grade in Colima, Sonora and Tabasco (Mexico) during the 2013-2014 school year. 5th and 6th grade teachers participating in the program took a MOOC to develop didactic-digital skills to integrate the resources and tools available in the program to their teaching practices. Data was collected through a pre-test (self-administered questionnaire) and a post-test to know the self-concept that teachers had about their digital skills before and after the course. We also interviewed some participants to know about their experience during training. We employed a mixed methods approach with an explanatory sequential design (QUAN→qual), in which quantitative data was used to measure training’s impact on teachers’ digital skills development, and qualitative data allowed us to explain the problems that arose during training and the perceived benefits. Results show that MOOCs have the potential to develop digital skills to use OER and to solve information problems (especially the ones related to communication and project planning); and visualizing a practical application of course content increases participants’ overall satisfaction.