Measuring the digital competence of future primary school teachers

Abstract

Reforming the education system in Ukraine dictates changes in the training of future primary school teachers. This is particularly relevant when the formation of the digital competence of future educators is considered. The research highlights the results of theoretical and empirical study concerning the diagnostics and measurement of students’ digital competence: the definition of criteria, indicators and description of levels of its formation. The author identifies digital competence as a crucial component of the professional competence that combines the ability to use digital technologies to create effective teaching and learning process, critically evaluate digital resources in terms of expediency of their application in professional activities, and acquire technological innovations. In view of this, four groups of criteria and indicators have been established regarding the acquisition of digital technology ability: the development of students’ cognitive skills; the development of students’ creative skills; the development of student’s communicative skills; the development of students’ collaborative skills. Based on these developed criteria and indicators, the author characterizes the three levels of the formation of the digital competence of the future primary school teacher as: high (student strives for self-development, creatively solves the tasks, organizes a mutual work, helps other participants), adequate (student uses the offered digital technologies and improves the ability to work with already known tools, solves the tasks using the given recommendations, follows ethical principals in the course of network communication, responsibly treats a group work), low (student does not feel an inner need for self-development via the usage of digital technologies, has no own ideas, has few or none participation in mutual work, strives to do the work separately from the group).