It is no coincidence that spaces once dominated by informal interaction and entertainment (YouTube and Instagram) have now become arenas for teaching and learning in higher education.
The study by Andrade-Vargas et al. (2024) provides evidence that university professors, regardless of country, gender, or educational level, have developed comparable levels of media competence on these platforms.
However, the research reveals a significant nuance: age and teaching experience shape different modes of technological appropriation, opening up a field of reflection on continuing education and the design of intergenerational strategies in academic practice.
This finding directly challenges educational institutions: how can they create professional development programs that recognize both accumulated experience and openness to innovation?
Faculty members with longer trajectories demonstrate the ability to integrate tools from a critical and reflective perspective, while younger professors show an eagerness to explore audiovisual languages and emerging forms of communication. The complementarity of these profiles should not be seen as a gap but as an opportunity for pedagogical synergy in the production of content and the management of digital environments.
For researchers and educators alike, this study does more than document the current state of affairs; it suggests a practical horizon. Media competencies cannot be reduced to technical proficiency alone; they must also encompass critical and ethical dimensions in relation to platforms governed by algorithms and commercial logics.
The invitation, therefore, is to conceive of YouTube and Instagram as pedagogical laboratories that expand the boundaries of the classroom while simultaneously cultivating responsible digital citizenship. This perspective opens up future avenues of work around collaborative creation, teacher training in media competencies, and the consolidation of an academic culture capable of engaging effectively with the contemporary digital ecosystem.
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How to Cite: Andrade-Vargas, L., Portugal, R., Sandoval-Romero, Y., & Labanda-Jumbo, C. (2024). Youtube and Instagram in higher education: media competencies of university teachers. RIED-Revista Iberoamericana de Educación a Distancia, 27(2), 339–356. https://doi.org/10.5944/ried.27.2.39080
