Impact of Teachers’ Digital Skills on Student Engagement and Learning Outcomes in the 21st Century

Abstract

The accelerated frequency of digital technologies development has transformed the process of education and learning and challenged the digital competence of the educators to the emerging requirements. The given paper aims at discussing the role of digital competency of teachers in the 21 st century in terms of student learning and student engagement in the classroom and the role played by technology competency in classroom design, interactivity and classroom learning. The research design was not the other research design, which is the mixed-methods research design, but the two teachers and the students of a secondary school were researched by mixed methods where data collected through the use of structured questionnaires, classroom observations, and achievement tests. The quantitative analysis was carried out using T-tests, regression and ANOVA in order to establish the correlation between the digital literacy, digital pedagogy, and integration of technology, student engagement and learning outcomes by the teachers. The qualitative data also revealed that teachers, who had high level of digital competency, were more effective in planning interactive lessons, differentiating, and supporting active learning, using multimedia, simulations, digital assessment tools. The results indicated that there was a strong positive relationship between teacher digital skills and engagement of children with digital pedagogy potentially described as the most powerful predictor of learning outcomes.The paper provides some causes that define the virtual learning environment that are teacher attitude to the technology, organizational support, information technology infrastructure, and prior experience of the students with the learning technology. The findings prove that the teacher-training courses are needed, which can prepare the high-tech skills in the framework of the contemporary paradigms of pedagogy. The paper summarizes that the digital skills are inexpensive and rather a necessity in effective teaching in the new millennial classroom. It suggests ongoing professional learning, orderly certification of digital competencies, better technological infrastructure in schools and implementation of digital pedagogy in the teacher training programs.

Keywords: Digital Skills, Student Engagement, Learning Outcomes, Digital Pedagogy, ICT Integration, 21st-Century Classroom, Educational Technology