Digital Competence Learning Hub
Digital Competence Learning Hub is the main ADVICE output – an online platform consisting of:
1) Competence Self-Assessment Tool (CAT) helping to track gaps in digital competences of the academic teachers
2) Online Resource Database (OReD), which will be a multi-variate directory providing learning tools and resources to enhance digital skills.
The platform is aimed at upskilling academics and higher education teachers aimed at all levels of competency to allow academics to conduct their first blended learning session and those looking to build digital spaces for their students to get something out of it.
There are six short questionnaires, at the end of which higher education teacher receives recommendations on the learning resources in one of the other selected languages useful for the development digital competencies of higher education teachers (Greek, Italian, Polish).
The teachers need to know:
1) what they want to achieve within the teaching process,
2) how to achieve it,
3) be aware of their competence condition and competence-gaps.
In sum, they should be provided with flexible and effective support in the upskilling process. This will condition their ability to deliver the knowledge and skills to students in an equal, high standard and convenient way. The necessity of a more integrated approach to digital competencedevelopment is apparent – assessmenttoolsandonline tools and resourcesshould becombined in a simple and flexible way toprovidean optimal level ofcompetency knowledge of higher education educators.
TARGET GROUPS: Higher education teachers.
The gaps were identified with the lense provided bythe European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators (DigCompEdu), updated to the post-COViD 19 global situation.
Recommendations for Stakeholders and Decision Makers
These recommendations for stakeholders of higher education system, decision-makers and students have been created with a special focus on building the capacity of higher education systems for more inclusive online education with particular attention paid to the teaching competencies.
Our recommendations are based on the qualitative study conducted by the members of the ADVICE Project. The study helped understand the situation of particular Partner institutions, yet was also aimed at providing more general insight valuable to stakeholders internationally. ADVICE, as a project was aimed at supporting the development of digital competencies of higher education teachers.
The recommendations result from experiences of the global COVID-19 outbreak in the spring of 2020, which forced unprecedented conversion of the vast part of higher education institutions around the globe into online teaching mode almost overnight. In many countries, most teachers and students stayed separated, sometimes many miles away. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools, colleges, and universities needed to shift from stationary to online teaching. The internet and the available online tools enabled the chance of remaining in contact.
We were learning “on the go,” unprepared for such a radical shift. This learning has been a revolution for many higher education institutions and individual teachers. Moreover, the revolution continues, even more stimulated by “artificial intelligence.”
Therefore there is a pressing need for action in digital competence development.
We want to contribute to the debate regarding the development of digital competencies of higher education teachers by focusing on a single question:
How should we support the development of higher education teachers?