Teachers have a vital role in society. They inspire, motivate, encourage and educate learners of all ages and from any background. We recently celebrated the contribution of teachers to education and development through World Teachers’ Day and acknowledged their commitment over the COVID pandemic to adapt classroom delivery to embark on, or improve, an online or hybrid model.
Pedagogy first, technology second
Transformative online learning will always be more than just software tools, it takes educators or teachers who know how to use the tools to create great experiences around their subject matter. This requires educators to develop their digital competence or online pedagogy.
At Moodle, we provide our community of teachers many ways to learn how to teach with Moodle through Moodle Academy, the learning hub for the global Moodle community. Our learning pathways take teachers from their very first steps into teaching with Moodle to being certified as an expert Moodle online educator and instructional designer. These pathways culminate in the Moodle Educator Certification program based on the widely used and accepted European Framework for the Digital Competence for Educators (DigCompEdu).
Understanding DigCompEdu
DigCompEdu is a scientifically sound framework that supports the development of educator-specific digital competences. Developed by The European Commission’s science and knowledge service, DigCompEdu details 22 competences organised in six areas. The focus is not on technical skills. Rather, the framework aims to detail how digital technologies can be used to enhance and innovate education and training.
- Area 1 focuses on the professional environment and how to use digital technologies to enhance communication with learners and their families; and encourage professional collaboration and reflection.
- Area 2 focuses on sourcing, creating and sharing digital resources, in particular modifying and building on existing openly-licensed resources. This area encourages educators to consider the specific learning objective, context, pedagogical approach, and learner group when designing digital resources and planning their use.
- Area 3 concentrates on managing and orchestrating the use of digital tools in teaching and learning. This encourages educators to enhance their interaction with learners, foster collaborative learning and improve the effectiveness of their teaching strategies by experimenting with new pedagogical methods.
- Area 4 covers using digital tools and strategies to enhance formative and summative assessment through a diversity of assessment formats and approaches. This includes using digital technologies to provide targeted and timely feedback to learners and the analysis of evidence on learner performance to inform future teaching strategies.
- Area 5 focuses on the use of digital tools to foster learners’ active and creative engagement with a subject matter including accommodating diverse learning preferences at different levels and speeds, and ensuring accessibility of learning resources and activities.
- Area 6 centres on facilitating the development of learners’ competency in safely accessing and assessing information in digital environments; using technology for communication, collaboration and participation, and expressing themselves through creating digital content in different formats.
Areas 2 to 5 form the pedagogic core of the framework. They detail the competences educators need to possess to foster effective, inclusive and innovative learning strategies, using digital tools.
The DigCompEdu provides a scientifically backed framework for educators who wish to develop their online pedagogy skills and become a more accomplished, effective and engaging online educator or learning and development professional.
If you are a Moodle educator who has experience in teaching or training with Moodle LMS or Moodle Workplace, complete a short quiz and find out more about the Moodle Educator Certification based on the DigCompEdu.
Moodle training is also available if you need it through Moodle Academy, LearnMoodle or one of our Certified Service Providers.
