A LIVE WEBINAR ABOUT DIGITAL COMPETENCE FOR TEACHERS

Translator

Hi everyone!

      How are you? I bring a lot of interesting and fresh information about the digital competence so let me explain all this in detail. I've just attended my first live webinar, which is a neologism composed by the words "web" and "seminar", offered by an University of Barcelona, the Institut de Formació Contínua-IL3, click here for further information.

      Well, I followed some simple steps to attend this online seminar called "Learning online and educational digital competence": firstly I signed up in this link, then I received a confirmation email and later on another one including all the needed information (the date, time, a  direct link to access to the webinar and some easy instructions). As you can see,  only a computer and  internet connection is required.Webinars are used by professionals to share their knowledge and to connect with their audiences wherever they are. In this case, the webinar was given by my ICTs teacher in Rey Juan Carlos University, Mª Jesús García San Martín who is an expert from INTEF (Instituto Nacional de Tecnologías Educativas y de Formación del Profesorado). She explained to us why digital competence is essential for current and future teachers and how to improve our digital skills through different tools offered by this public organization.By the way, here you are Mª Jesús' Twitter, take a look at it because it's full of useful information about ICTs and education.

      We, as teachers, are aware of the importance of using ICTs in our daily classes and its valuable teaching potential, as we have learnt along the previous posts. Sometimes we think that we are not good enough at digital matters but, let me say that I have been able to do things that I would  have never imagined just four months ago. This is extremely rewarding because apart from the educational aspects, I have gained a lot of confidence in my abilities.  But, let's get to the point, this is the most relevant content of the seminar:

      What is the digital competence portfolio for teachers ?

The digital competence portfolio for teachers is a digital service designed by the Ministry of Education to recognise and improve the digital competence for teachers. The site by the MECD for all this is AprendeINTEF, which is a project developed by INTEF

      As usual, you have to create an account, sign up and start browsing.This portfolio is based on the Common Digital Competence Framework for Teachers (CDCFT) that is the reference framework to identify and enhance the digital competence for teachers. So portfolio is already a digital instrument of level recognition and it will soon be a digital instrument for official certification. The levels established are the same as those of the CEFR,  I'm sure that they sound familiar to you:  A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2. In  the website you'll find a toolkit which explains the five areas of the CDCFT, each area is formed by 21 descriptors.

      How to use the portfolio?

Once you have signed up, you self-assess your level in the five areas and according to the results, a training offer is recomended.Then, you can start working and improving your digital  competence level. If you want to certificate your level, you need to substantiate it by evidences like badges, certificates or projects.It is important to link your evidences to the different levels, areas or competences, you should also take into account that an evidence can be valid for several levels or competences at the same time.The website includes a dossier in which you can upload all your evidences and it will indicate your level. Your  dossier, your training offer and your level will be updated automatically as you upload new evidences.

      And what about training courses?

INTEF also offers us a wide variety of online courses to improve our digital competence in a free way. When you complete a course, you'll get a digital badge. The following courses are called "double oo" and everybody can take part in them:

• Edupills: these courses can only be done through mobiles and their main advantage is that it just takes seven minutes at most to fulfill it. They are convenient if it's your first time or you are very busy. Due to their short length, they are not intended for advanced levels.Thus,the main purpose of edupills is to inspire, give ideas and  foster curiosity.

• Noocintef: three hours are required to accomplish an objective. These courses are  more specific than edupills and social interaction and motivation are encouraged through them. A facilitator will support you and perform an online session in order to get a more human atmosphere.All the materials remain so that you can access to them whenever you need.

• Moocintef: these courses are longer than the previous ones, it takes around five weeks to complete one course. Furthermore, a coordinator, a facilitator  and two more people will help you to reach your aims.

• Spoocintef: these courses are based on self-learning so you will need a higher degree of autonomy than in the previous ones. They remain openso that you can keep working whenever you can. They are suitable for people with little free time.

      All of them, except for edupills can be done through computers, tablets or mobiles and you can join in facebook groups to exchange experiences and ideas.

      As you  can see, AprendeINTEF provided us an exceptional opportunity not only to identify our digital competence's level and reflect about it, but also to improve it. We can learn, enhance and certificate our digital competence in an easy and comfortable way since there are courses which cater for different needs and learning styles.

      Undoubtedly, we live in a digital era so we, as educators, must teach our students how to use the most useful educational resources and how to surf the internet safely. But first, we need to be well trained. The point is that ICTs are constanly changing and that's why we must update our knowledge and be constantly training to offer our students what they really need to be well prepared for this increasingly competitive world.

      Taking all this into account, the portfolio digital is a priceless resource for teachers, especially useful and suitable for newcomers like me. The portfolio digital is easy to use and offers you different resources to improve your digitalskills such as self-assessment and a training itinerary depending on your needs.Moreover, you can do online courses to acquire new digital skills and enhance your existing ones. We cannot forget that self-learning, peer learning and collaborative one are essential to keep improving as teachers and learners. APRENDEintef gives us the opportunity to put them into practice and get in touch with educators from different places, what is always an enriching and motivating experience.

      Personally, I need to keep working and building my recently acquired digital competence.I consider this aspect extremely important since I must evolve at the same pace ICTs do. As we know, learning must be seen as a lifelong experience so I'll go for it!

      Good night, guys! I hope you find all this information useful.