Přehled o publikaci

ICT is increasingly becoming part of every aspect of our life, and developing digital skills becomes a personalized experience, from school training to independent practice. Using Uri Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems theoretical framework, this study researches the usefulness of digital tools in teaching in higher education to emphasize its complex developmental process. The study is based on quantitative and qualitative data collected in three classes of 16-31 students, with a total of 34 students involved in the final examination. In the three classes both conservative and digital teaching tools were used. Questionnaires measuring the students’ digital skills (DS), seminar assignments assessing student’s ISTE-MM digital capabilities, and semi-structured interviews with 11 students were used to investigate the impact of ICT tools in teaching on the students’ accumulation of knowledge and performance in class. The findings suggest that the students’ value ICT and non-ICT-based class activities, and for their class performance both their DS competences and teacher’s skills matter, but differently for each course, depending on the type and number of ICT-tools used, and on the students’ strengths and gaps in DS. Micro-, meso-, exo- and macro-system factors contribute to their understanding, such as student’s motivation to learn, the school’s digital infrastructure, the provided access to digital study sources, the consistent use of digital channels used in communication, and the teacher’s ability to blend different teaching methods and structure the material in an easily comprehensive manner, including non-ICT activities, are recognized by students as important factors in comprehension.