YouTube and Instagram are already part of university students’ everyday communication ecosystem and offer new possibilities for expanding interaction, content creation, and collaborative learning.
This study examines which media competencies university teachers need to integrate both platforms effectively into teaching, focusing on three broad domains: knowledge, skills, and attitudes. The research involved 152 university lecturers from Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, and Ecuador and explored six dimensions of media competence: language, technology, interaction, production and dissemination, ideology and values, and aesthetics.
The results show no significant differences among the four countries in levels of media competence, nor according to teachers’ gender or educational attainment. By contrast, age and teaching experience are associated with relevant differences.
Younger lecturers generally show higher levels of knowledge and skills, as well as a more positive attitude towards innovative approaches based on social media, while greater professional experience may support the integration of media tools through accumulated classroom practice.
The study stresses that bringing YouTube and Instagram into higher education is not simply a matter of knowing how to use these platforms technically. It also requires the development of media competence that enables teachers to select, produce, and analyse content critically and in pedagogically meaningful ways.
In this respect, the authors highlight the importance of continuing professional development and of creating spaces where lecturers can share good practices and update their knowledge in a constantly changing digital environment. They also point to the need for longitudinal studies that can track how these competencies evolve as technologies, digital cultures, and the needs of higher education itself continue to change.
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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
