The academic paper titled "The Impact of COVID-19 on Digital Competence: A Case Study of Preservice Teacher Education Students in the Sultanate of Oman" focuses on how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the digital competence of preservice teacher education students. The study investigates the students' digital profiles across five specific areas: information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, digital content creation, safety, and problem-solving. The primary research question is how online learning during the pandemic affected these students' self-assessed digital competencies.
The purpose of the study is to evaluate the changes in digital competence among preservice teacher students in Oman due to the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The study aims to provide insights into students' perceptions of their digital skills before and after the pandemic and to understand how these perceptions relate to their actual digital competence.
The study employed a survey method to collect data from 32 undergraduate students at Dhofar University, utilizing the European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens (DigComp) as a self-assessment tool. The data were analyzed using statistical methods, including a paired-samples test, to compare the students' perceived competencies before and after the pandemic.
The key findings reveal that the majority of the students rated their digital competence at Level 3 (Intermediate) across the five areas tested. The highest scores were in digital content creation, while the lowest were in problem-solving. The study also found that the students perceived a significant improvement in their digital competence as a result of the online learning necessitated by the pandemic. Additionally, there was a strong correlation between the number of years students reported actively using ICT in their daily lives and their overall digital competence scores.
The study concludes that the shift to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly enhanced the digital competence of preservice teacher education students in Oman. It highlights the importance of continuous digital skills development for future educators, particularly in integrating technology into classroom practices. The findings suggest that increased exposure to and use of ICT can lead to higher self-assessed digital competence, which in turn, may influence teaching practices. The study also calls for future research to include performance-based assessments to measure actual digital competence and suggests the need for digital assessment tools that are more contextually relevant to the Arab region.