Digital Competencies in Ukrainian Education of the Future: Teaching and Assessment

Abstract

The acquirement of digital competencies in the times of global digitalisation of society is an urgent task for the educational system. Being a part of the globalised world Ukraine needs to further improve the learning process based on digital technologies. The aim of the study was to determine the state of digital competencies in Ukrainian education by analysing the learning and assessing the skills of students. Quantitative and qualitative analysis were used in this paper. 120 students from different educational institutions of Ukraine were involved in the study, representing different professional fields. The students were selected based on pre-developed criteria: a student of a higher education institution, a combination of participants from different specialities and different educational levels, and experience in using digital technologies. A random sample was used in the study. Subsequently, it was stratified based on education levels and age groups in order to ensure proportional representation. The results indicated a high level of awareness of the importance of developing digital competencies for professional growth among modern students. The results showed that modern digitalisation processes have become a factor in the introduction and development of innovative teaching methods. For this reason, it is important to introduce methods of individualised learning using adaptive technologies, the use of virtual and augmented reality to improve learning. Such tools as a PC, laptop, smartphone, interactive whiteboards that have become commonplace for Ukrainian students. The conclusions noted that more than half of the respondents stated that their educational institutions created necessary conditions for digital competencies development. Forty-two percent considered that such conditions were not sufficient, which may be due to insufficient funding, lack of developed technical infrastructure. The implications influence the development of curricula in Ukrainian education, prompting the integration of digital competencies as a core component.