Digital competence. Post-pandemic comparative analysis of teachers from both urban and rural educational institutions

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. After a period of almost two years of confinement and restrictions due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, where classes were offered virtually and remotely at all educational levels. And after the use of programs, technological tools and educational platforms, it is important to investigate the levels of digital competence of teachers of Regular Education from both rural and urban geographical areas in search of differences and similarities that allow optimal performance and quality of education. METHOD. The study had a quantitative approach, non-experimental design, descriptive-comparative and cross-sectional type, with a sample of 436 teachers from 71 institutions, 174 of which work in rural schools and 262 in urban ones, were administered the DigCompEdu Check-in questionnaire in the six areas (Cabero-Almenara y Palacios-Rodríguez, 2020). RESULTS. Results were obtained with the statistical software RStudio Version 4.2.1 applying descriptive and inferential statistics. The hypothesis was tested using the Mann-Whitney test to compare two independent groups, where teachers from the urban and rural areas are mostly located in the initial levels of novice and explorer. DISCUSSION. We found no significant differences (p=0.767 > 0.05) in digital skills between the teachers of both geographical areas; however, it is important to mention that no teacher has reached the optimal levels of pioneer and leader that would allow them to innovate and propose wide-ranging strategies. This shows that, despite the different conditions of their contexts, teachers in rural areas managed to overcome their limitations and be almost at the same level as teachers in urban areas, with the novice and explorer levels being more prevalent (Process of including ICTs in the classroom), followed by the integrator and expert levels (Reflect on the application of ICTs with creativity and confidence).