The relation between teachers’ emphasis on the development of students’ digital information and communication skills and computer self-efficacy: the moderating roles of age and gender

Abstract

The role and use of information and communication technology (ICT) in education has changed profoundly over the last decade. This change is evident at many levels in Abstract Teachers' integration of information and communication technology (ICT) has been widely studied, given that digital competence is considered to be a crucial outcome of twenty first century education. In this context, research highlighted teachers' computer self-efficacy (CSE) as one of the most important determinants of their ICT integration into teaching practices. Whereas previous research mainly focused on the relation between CSE and ICT integration from a frequency-based point of view, recent research suggests to investigate this relation using more qualitative measures of ICT integration such as the degree to which teachers emphasize developing students' digital information and communication skills (TEDDICS). Consequently, the present study investigates the relations between these two constructs: teachers' emphasis on developing students' digital skills and their computer self-efficacy, taking into account the moderating roles of age and gender. We used a representative sample of 1071 Norwegian secondary school teachers who participated in the international computer and information literacy study (ICILS) in 2013. Our results provide evidence on the positive relation between CSE and TEDDICS. Furthermore, age positively moderated this relation between some factors of the two constructs, indicating that computer self-efficacy plays an even more important role for teachers of higher age in the context of emphasizing ICT skills in classrooms. The unique effect of gender was present for one correlation between CSE and TEDDICS, indicating that moderation by gender was apparent to a limited extent, and related to use of computers for instructional purposes. The interaction between age and gender did not reveal significant moderation effects. We discuss these results in light of the potential consequences for teacher training. Siddiq and Scherer Large-scale Assess Educ (2016) -scale Assess Educ (2016) 4:17 education, for instance, with respect to the availability of ICT resources at schools, the access to internet, and the transition from paper-and-pencil to computer-based exams (Scherer and Siddiq 2015a; Scheuermann and Pedró 2009). Furthermore, students' digital competence has gained substantial attention and is considered to be an important twenty first century skill (Griffin et al. 2012). As a consequence, a first line of research studied the determinants of teachers' integration of ICT into classroom activities (Tondeur et al. 2008), given that the teachers play a key role in developing students' digital skills (Schibeci et al. 2008). Specifically, teachers' computer self-efficacy (CSE) has been identified as one of the most important determinants for teachers' integration of ICT in teaching and learning practices (Kreijns et al. 2013;Mumtaz 2000). Existing research identified positive relations between teachers' CSE and their use ...

Teachers' Self-efficacy for Using Information and Communication Technology: The Interaction Effect of Gender and Age

“…More precisely, there was no statistically significant effect of age for basic and web-based applications, only for media-related skills in favour of the younger teachers aged 20-30 years. Interestingly, the interaction effect of age and gender on ICT self-efficacy was not identified, which supports the previously mentioned findings by Siddiq and Scherer (2016). Some researchers associate the impact of age on ICT self-efficacy with emotional attitude towards ICT use, pointing to a positive relation between age and computer anxiety (Chaffin and Harlow, 2005;Czaja et al, 2006;Turner et al, 2007).…”

“…More precisely, gender differences are practically nonexistent among the youngest teachers (Figure 1). Similarly, studies carried out by Sarfo et al (2017) and Siddiq and Scherer (2016) also found effects of gender and age on teachers' computer or ICT self-efficacy. Their research indicates that the effects of gender and age on teachers' ICT self-efficacy vary depending on the teachers` computer operational skills (Siddiq and Scherer, 2016) and the type of computer programme they use (Sarfo et al 2017).…”

“…In summary, the review of the studies shows that a considerable attention has been attributed to the research on teachers' ICT issues in general, but not to gender differences in ICT selfefficacy, especially with respect to age, as noted by Siddiq and Scherer (2016) and Sarfo et al (2017). The cited studies confirm that individual effects of age and gender, as well as their interaction effect on gender differences in teachers` self-efficacy, exist in different educational contexts and societies.…”

“…In Siddiq and Scherer's (2016) research on the relationship between the teachers' emphasis on the development of students' ICT skills and computer self-efficacy, gender and age were investigated as moderators. The findings show that, contrary to age, the moderation effect of gender was limited, relating only to the use of computers for instructional purposes.…”

Autoeficacia de Profesores en Formación Inicial en el Uso de Tecnología para Enseñar Matemáticas

“…Por lo tanto, el reconocer la especificidad de la autoeficacia en profesores de matemáticas permitió evidenciar información estadística para el análisis funcional específico(BANDURA, 2006(BANDURA, , 2012PRIETO, 2005PRIETO, , 2018, al definir la relación teórica y metodológica tanto para el curso como el cuestionario(FINK, 2003).En segundo lugar, se brindó evidencia estadística que informa la autoeficacia de los futuros profesores es más fuerte en el uso de diferentes tecnologías que en el uso de tecnología en diferentes temáticas; este resultado sugiere que en los cursos se debe diversificar la integración de tecnología según la temática y evitar sesgos al concentrar las discusiones en solo una. En tercer lugar, la evidencia corroboró lo informado por Siddiq y Scherer (2016), quienes hallaron las creencias de capacidad en el uso de tecnología con fines educativos, como prerrequisito para iniciar reflexiones más elaboradas en sus usos pedagógicos e integración en actividades del aula.En cuarto lugar, se señala la necesidad de apoyar, desde las instituciones, la formación de sus futuros profesores en cursos específicos que trasciendan la adquisición de habilidades técnicas para la manipulación de recursos tecnológicos a una integración eficiente y consciente en los procesos educativos (ABBITT;KLETT, 2007;KIILI, 2016;SIDDIQ;SCHERER, 2016). Este resultado se corresponde con los planteamientosde Byker et al (2018), quienes informan los cursos que simultáneamente discuten el conocimiento en…”