Digital Skills are Essential in Education – New Round of Study Modules Start in Spring 2022
“The course was very well designed. It offered a valuable opportunity to practice my skills in more practice-oriented tasks and in a collaborative way.”
That was Martina Stacy-Lenz, describing her experience studying on Digitally Competent Educators, the short learning programme for educators who want to develop their digital pedagogical competence and use of ICT in education.
Digitally Competent Educators, or DCE, comprises three study modules. The flexible, fully online studies are developed and implemented jointly by the Ģֱ (Finland), FernUniversität in Hagen (Germany), Universidade Aberta (Portugal) and Anadolu University (Turkey).
DCE study modules are available through the . The courses are suitable for educators working on any level of education.
The Open University is open to all regardless of age, location or educational background. Studies are offered mainly online, so they can be completed through distance learning.
Digital competences benefit all education professionals
Martina is a Master’s degree student in eEducation, from the Ruhr region in Germany. She is originally trained as a nurse.
“I have a Bachelor’s degree in Educational Science from the FernUniveristät, and now I'm doing my Master’s studies. I also work as a full-time nurse on an intensive care ward and I’m responsible for nursing training," says Martina.
I have been interested in improving education and training within the nursing environment for a long time. I run virtual classrooms for the hospital and for a nursing training academy, teaching online and face to face.
Martina completed Module 1 of DCE in spring 2021, and Module 2 in the autumn. She is now looking forward to studying the final one, Module 3, starting in April 2022.
The DCE modules (at 5 ECTS each) allow educators to increase their knowledge and practical know-how of digital pedagogical solutions, including themes of online motivation, managing digital resources, and assessment. The coursework consists of both independent and group work.
Practical skills through engaging digital courses
“I have gained a lot of practical experience in applying and using digital tools, both previously familiar and new to me, as well as designing inclusive and engaging digital courses. To me these studies are like a blueprint for a well-designed digital course, all course work individually and collaboratively has worked extremely well for me”, Martina says.
“The exchange with fellow students gave me the opportunity to gain a lot of new perspectives and information from various professional and cultural backgrounds. I really enjoyed the collaborative exercises, seeing things from different perspectives provides a more rounded and in-depth view”, Martina explains.
Who would Martina recommend DCE studies to?
“I recommend DCE study modules to people who have a bit of previous experience with digital courses, as a student yourself or as a teacher. These studies benefit you if you would like to gain more knowledge and practical experience in incorporating digital learning experiences into your practice. Even if you don’t have any previous experience or theoretical knowledge, the courses are doable but probably more time consuming.”
Student surveys show satisfaction with DCE
Digitally Competent Educators was developed 2019–2020 in connection with the E-SLP project (European Short Learning Programmes). Given that DCE is still a fairly new short learning programme, JYUOpen has been keen to gather student feedback on how well the courses meet the needs of their intended audience: educators in different countries.
Anonymous feedback data from the initial round of DCE courses was reviewed in the article “Analysing students’ rating of the SLP Digitally Competent Educators”, produced jointly by researchers from the four partner universities. The research was presented at the Innovating Higher Education Conference in Bari, Italy in early November 2021.
The students' feedback was mostly positive and encouraging. This was especially the case when the students were asked to give their opinions on the structure, contents and activities of the modules on a scale of 1 to 5 (not at all – perfectly), with the results averaging by and large above 4. For instance, Module 3 was viewed as very important in both personal (4.29) and professional (4.31) terms.
In open-ended questions, students praised the courses, with many indicating that the courses were valuable to them and that their digital competences increased. Participants also voiced their ideas for further improving the course, though opinions varied greatly from one respondent to the next: some wished for less groupwork, others for more. Some requested more clarity in how assignments were given, or more latitude in how assignments could be completed. Generally, participants were satisfied with their experience studying DCE modules.
All three Digitally Competent Educators modules will be available for study once more in spring 2022. You can already sign up for them all!