Call for Papers: Special Issue
Innovative competencies and methodologies for digital education
- Albert Sangrà, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, España
- Montse Guitert, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, España
- Patricia Behar, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil
1. Introduction
"Just when we thought we had all the answers, suddenly all the questions changed". Thus, poetically, it seems that Mario Benedetti had imagined how we would feel when facing a pandemic like the one we are experiencing. The COVID-19 has threatened with totally interrupting education for millions of people, at all levels of the educational systems.
This unexpected situation has challenged our educational systems and the ability of educational institutions and the teachers involved. Any forecast, even intuition, has been largely surpassed by the reality of events. Those who had convincingly stated that the university would never be completely online have found themselves having to adapt unexpectedly to a different modality from the one they had experienced along their teaching trajectory. And not exactly by choice.
The pandemic has opened our eyes to our real situation regarding the competencies that university teachers have to deal with the incorporation of digital technologies in education with the aim of improving our educational systems. According to a study carried out by the CRUE (The Council of Spanish Universities Presidents) and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, only 59% of teachers consider that their digital competence is, at least, sufficient. Therefore, there is 41% of the university teaching staff in Spain that do not reach the minimum that the teachers themselves consider necessary.
Although having an advanced level of digital teaching competence is necessary in our time (Prendes et al., 2018), and having more specific competences for online education is also necessary (González-Sanmamed et al., 2014; Maile Cutri & Mena, 2020), it is not less important to be aware of the potential of digital technologies to improve our teaching practices and benefit student learning.
Recently, the question of how we had to deal with full lockdowns first, and partial lockdowns a little later, to minimize the time students had to interrupt their learning process, has generated considerable stress among the faculty, but also among students. We have faced this by embracing what we all have called online education. However, any observer -not necessarily a very smart one- will have been able to verify how behind the label of online education very diverse practices could be found, which were sometimes very effective and motivating, and others made feeling the teaching and learning experience as a failure.
All the above means that we cannot name everything we have experienced these days online education. Hodges et al. (2020) came closest to the concept of solutions that we have provided when they named the teaching practice at the university during the pandemic as "emergency remote teaching". We should not, therefore, confuse ourselves or confuse others, naming it "online education" and, even less, making value judgments about whether online education works or not, because this was not.
However, many universities have carried out novel practices, entering the field in which we are allowed to model space and time in a different way, and have taken the opportunity to explore unusual –sometimes innovative- methodologies in the tradition of university classrooms. Beyond "zoomification" of classes, what most of us did, some teaching staff have redesigned their courses, adapting them to a very different reality -we must not forget it- to that of face-to-face classes: activity-based designs; collaborative activities that maximize interaction between students and teachers; use of learning resources in different digital media supports; distribution of teaching in a more asynchronous way; development of the students’ self-regulation capacity; experimentation with new feedback formats, etc. (Sangrà, 2020)
In many cases, new and interesting possibilities have been found out. Some of them may be consolidated as methodological innovations in university teaching once they return to the desired new normal. Because, even if we return to normality, will we do exactly the same as before? The concept of a hybrid (or blended) model of teaching and learning (Vaughan et al., 2013) is beginning to gain popularity, as it allows greater flexibility and personalization of university teaching and learning. However, this model goes far beyond a simple application of what we know as flipped-classroom. Methodologies that develop different schemes from those applied until now are being experimented with (Armellini & Padilla Rodríguez, 2021). The value of in-presence teaching and learning is not questioned at all, but it is necessary to advance methodologically to make more appropriate use of technology, which contributes to redefining educational practice in the digital dimension.
Needless to say that the increase in the acquisition and development of digital competence by teachers, and the appropriation of innovative methodological initiatives for digital education, is not a task only for teachers. Institutions must lead and transmit a vision in which faculty and students can see themselves reflected in a better educational future. We are at the intersection between politics, pedagogy, and practice (Johnston et al., 2018). The voices of all will be necessary to draw the digital future of university higher education.
This Special Issue aims to collect research-based works, whether quantitative, qualitative or mixed, that provide empirical evidence that contributes to the generation of new knowledge and discussion about the competencies and methodologies that are needed and that can be put into practice in higher education. The submitted papers have to try to respond, wholly or in part, to the questions that you will find below. This list of issues is not exhaustive and should serve as a guide.
2. Topics to be discussed/Questions to be answered
- To what extent has the level of teaching digital competence in universities been perceived as sufficient during the pandemic?
- How do we define and assess the teaching digital competence? And what about the students’ one?
- What strategies are being carried out to increase the digital competence of teachers and students?
- What are the methodologies that are currently used in digital education and that we could name as “innovative”? What practical experiences with results are known?
- What does digital education challenge us regarding the methodologies that should be developed in the immediate future? What evidence based on the research can we observe?
- What educational practices have made us to reconsider the application of digital technologies and what new ones have emerged?
- What types of leadership are needed to foster innovation in digital education?
- What characteristics do the so-called “disruptive” methodologies in education have? What evidence do we have on their effectiveness?
- What have we learned? Have we been able to put different methodologies into practice challenging time and space? What have been the experiences that have let us go beyond a simple replica of the face-to-face lessons through a screen?
- What blended or hybrid experiences are being carried out? Do we have empirical evidence, or are they mere intuitions conditioned by "what we see"?
- What policies and strategies are supporting the development of digital teaching competence and the design and application of innovative methodologies for digital education?
- What role are the most emerging technologies playing in this transition towards models more in line with the digital society?
3. Key dates
- Submissions: up to 6th June 2022
- Special Issue Publication: January 2023
4. Requirements for the authors. Fully comply with:
- The objectives of the Special Issue, as stated above.
- The Author Guidelines, Requirements and Evaluation Criteria, Priorities for publication and template for submissions.
References
Armellini, A., & Padilla Rodríguez, B.C. (2021). Active Blended Learning: Definition, Literature Review, and a Framework for Implementation. IGI Global.
González-Sanmamed, M.; Muñoz-Carril, P.C., & Sangrà, A. (2014). Level of proficiency and professional development needs in peripheral online teaching roles. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (IRRODL), 15(6), 163-187. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v15i6.1771
Johnston, B., MacNeill, S., & Smyth, K. (2018). Conceptualising the Digital University: The Intersection of Policy, Pedagogy and Practice. Palgrave Macmillan.
Hodges, C., Moore, S., Lockee, B., Trust, T., & Bond, A. (2020). The Difference Between Emergency Remote Teaching and Online Learning. EDUCAUSE Review (March 27, 2020). https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/3/the-difference-between-emergency-remote-teaching-and-online-learning
Maile Cutri, R., & Mena, J. (2020). A critical reconceptualization of faculty readiness for online teaching. Distance Education, 41(3), 361-380. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2020.1763167
Prendes, M.P., Gutiérrez, I., & Martínez, F. (2018). Competencia digital: una necesidad del profesorado universitario en el siglo XXI. RED. Revista de Educación a Distancia, 56(7). https://doi.org/10.6018/red/56/7
Sangrà, A. (Coord.) (2020). Decálogo para la mejora de la docencia online. Editorial UOC. Acceso abierto: http://openaccess.uoc.edu/webapps/o2/handle/10609/122307
Vaughan, N., Cleveland-Innes, M., & Garrison, R. (2013). Teaching in Blended Environments. AU Press.
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(1) https://www.crue.org/2021/07/encuesta-competencias-digitales-profesorado-universitario-2
