Assessment of digital teaching competence: instruments, results and proposals. Systematic literature review

Abstract

Teaching digital competency challenges the professional field of teachers. It also is an identified problem in the research attempting to answer particular questions. Specifically, the evaluation of digital competency in teaching (DCT) is crucial for making decisions regarding teacher training and future lines of research. Taking this challenge as a focus, this article aims to provide an updated overview of the tools used in teachers’ digital competency evaluation processes. Our investigation focused on the research design, indexed in the Web of Science and Scopus, in which the DCT was evaluated. The results showed medium and low levels of diagnosed DCT and offered evidence that assessing DCT improves its effectiveness. Likewise, the results showed that researchers worldwide follow the European DIGCOMPEDU framework and the Spanish framework proposed by INTEF. However, it is common for researchers to develop their instrument to assess DCT with a self-assessment questionnaire in most studies. However, many recommended complementing the DCT with other qualitative tools to assess its actual and perceived levels. The conclusions were that researchers agreed on two fundamental aspects: to increase teacher training in digital competency and to progress in research designs that allow verifying how the DCT level improves through training proposals contextualized in specific educational stages or types of teaching.