Read, Watch, Do: Developing Digital Competence for University Educators

Abstract

The paper presents and discusses the pilot experience of the EduHack course as it was developed in Spain by the Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR) in the first half of 2019. The EduHack course is proposing an active, participative and open approach to university teachers training in the use of digital approaches, that lets teachers experiment with ICT for learning strategies. Following an online learning phase, where participants were exposed to a set of ICT-enhanced teaching strategies and tools, a number of ideas on how to practically implement those strategies were collected among participants. Then, through the organisation of an EduHackathon, a hackathon targeted to university educators, participants had the chance to work in interdisciplinary groups to practically develop those ideas. The pilot experience of the course within UNIR has demonstrated that such an approach can be a valid complement to traditional teachers’ training activities in the field of learning innovation and ICT for learning. Participants have actively contributed to all phases of the course, evaluating positively the course approach. Also, the teams formed during the EduHackathon have confirmed their commitment to keep on working on their ideas in the future.