Assessment of Digital Competencies of University Faculty and Their Conditioning Factors: Case Study in a Technological Adoption Context

Zusammenfassung

The rise of digital technologies and their educational applications increasingly requirethe development of digital skills among university faculty. This study focuses on examining thelevel of digital competencies of university faculty and identifying their conditioning factors. Toachieve this objective, an ex post facto methodological design with surveys is used. A sample of216 university teachers from different regions of Ecuador was used. The non-parametric Chi-squaretest was used to validate the hypothesis of independence of the variables. The results obtained showthat university faculty have a mostly intermediate level of digital skills, which is independent ofgender, but dependent on the generational cohort. In particular, it is found that younger teachers(millennials) have a more advanced level of digital skills, although this relationship is not very strong.On the other hand, we observe the positive influence of the university’s strategic leadership in termsof technological adoption on the development of teachers’ digital skills. Universities with bettertechnological resources and with training plans focused on the pedagogical application of technologyhave teachers with a more advanced level of digital skills. All of this leads to the recommendation thateducation policies should prioritise actions that promote the development of digital competenciesamong university faculty