Investigation of digital competence of elementary school teacher in West Nusa Tenggara: A cross-section survey study

Abstract

As educational facilitators, teachers should have good digital competence to successfully integrate technology into the learning process. This cross-sectional survey research method was conducted on the needs of digital elementary teachers in West Nusa Tenggara. Respondents were 213 primary school teachers from 10 districts in West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. The data collection process is conducted online and is anonymous to maintain the privacy of respondents using the Google Form platform. The data analysis used was the Mann-Whitney U test, as we wanted to compare the competencies of male and female teachers. Moreover, the researchers also conducted FGDs with Heads of Education Bureau in 10 districts of NTB to verify the results in this area. The results of this study show that the digital competence primary school teachers either man or woman teachers are still low. In addition, the teacher's skills in using computers, the Internet, and software in the classroom are minimal. The opportunities for teachers to use the Internet are quite high, but teachers do not use it for classroom learning. Teachers believe that technology can help them withhold concepts or knowledge from students. However, teachers also fear the negative effects if children interact with Technology too often.