Digital Fluency as a Core Competency for Pre-Service Special Education Teachers

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine digital fluency, which is considered one of the key skills of the 21st century, in the context of special education teacher candidates, and to demonstrate whether their levels of digital fluency differ in relation to various demographic variables. The participants of the study consist of 394 teacher candidates enrolled in the undergraduate Special Education Teaching program at a public university in Türkiye during the 2021–2022 academic year. The findings indicate that, in addition to their overall total scores, the teacher candidates reported more than 60% positive responses in the dimensions of awareness, self-efficacy, and affective factors. Furthermore, it was found that age, grade level, and gender are significantly associated with the sub-dimensions of digital fluency, whereas no significant association was found with the daily duration of digital tool use. In conclusion, the findings demonstrate that the digital fluency skills of special education teacher candidates are at a favorable level; nevertheless, the results revealed that demographic variables accounted for differences across certain sub-dimensions.

Keywords

• Digital fluency
• special education teacher candidate
• digital fluency
• technology

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