The Professional Development of Teacher Educators in Digital Pedagogy Amid Change - Comparing Competence During 2018 and 2021

Year 2025, Volume: 14 Issue: 1, 20 - 36, 30.04.2025

Katriina Maaranen , Tuija Corner , Heikki Kynäslahti , Sara Sintonen , Reijo Byman , Riitta Jyrhämä

Abstract

A changing society requires its members to be ready to evolve and absorb new things quickly. One of the biggest drivers of change was the COVID-19 pandemic era, which greatly impacted all sectors of working and learning life. Universities were also forced to transfer to distance education and remote working. This article examines university-based teacher educators’ professional development as an umbrella concept and their conceptions of digital pedagogical competences specifically. The study was conducted as a longitudinal study, with 15 teacher educators participating in an interview in winter 2018, and 14 of the same interviewees participating in a new interview in winter 2021. The data was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. By comparing the data, three themes of digital competence development were produced: generic, pedagogical and didactic, and profession-oriented digital competence. The results are relevant to the more diverse future of teacher education and the digital competences of teacher educators as part of their professional development.

Keywords

professional development , digital competence , teacher education , remote teaching

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