One main goal of the STUDICODE project is to increase digital teaching competence among dementia educators. In order to advance the project groups’ digital competencies, a series of Learning-Teaching-Training activities accompanied the project. The skills acquired through these activities were put to use for jointly developing an online learning course about dementia.
In order to quantify the increase of digital teaching skills, the Digital Competence Framework for Educators (DigCompEdu) was administered once prior to the STUDICODE intervention and once after finishing the implementation of the online course. Both times, the STUDICODE educators were asked to answer the DigCompEdu questionnaire which is a self-assessment in the fields of professional engagement, digital resources, assessments, teaching & learning, empowering learners as well as facilitating learners’ digital competence. Each of the six areas is divided into knowledge levels from A1 (newcomer) to C2 (pioneer).
The comparison of pre and post intervention assessment demonstrates that educators experienced a high increase of their skills in the field of “professional engagement” which relates to the efficient and appropriate use of technologies for communication and collaboration with students. Another area where educators indicated great skills advancement was in regards to using digital resources which includes the selection, creation and modification of digital educational resources. The evaluation summary is featured below.