In-service teachers’ self-perceptions of digital competence and OER use as determined by a xMOOC training course

Abstract

Digital Competence (DC) is considered a driver for educational innovation since its immediate result is the production of new digital media resources for teaching such as Open Educational Resources (OER). This study aims to determine teachers' DC through their participation in a MOOC training course and establish the extent to which DC better enables the production of OER. A group of 863 in-service teachers participated in the study. A 26-item validated questionnaire on DC and the use of OER was delivered to participants, and course facilitators' weekly reports were collected. An ordinal logarithmic regression was conducted to verify whether teachers who hold positive self-perceptions of DC are more prone to using OER in their teaching. Mean differences between traditional teaching and online teaching were also tested. Reports were content analysed using a SWOT matrix. Our model predicts that only in-service teachers that perceive themselves as digital experts can reach an intermediate level in the production of OER. Furthermore, online teaching significantly favours teachers' DC but is highly significant in OER production. The main implication is that training teachers' DC is required to prepare teachers for the use of OER; however, teacher education should first address teachers’ actual level of performance.