EFFECTIVENESS OF IN-SERVICE TEACHER TRAINING FOR DEVELOPING NECESSARY DIGITAL COMPETENCIES IN MODERN EDUCATION
EFFECTIVENESS OF IN-SERVICE TEACHER TRAINING FOR DEVELOPING NECESSARY DIGITAL COMPETENCIES IN MODERN EDUCATION

Summary/Abstract: In-service teacher professional development in the area of fostering and empowering digital competencies should be systematically and institutionally organized, within a clearly defined legal and ethical framework. Program designers of professional development must be familiar with the theoretical foundations of digital competence, as well as with various models of training. The focus of this study was to examine the effects of a hybrid professional development workshop on teachers’ digital competencies and pedagogical knowledge in the use of educational robots in teaching. The aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Bee-Bot robot workshop and determine the extent to which the training contributes to building teachers’ theoretical and practical knowledge, as well as their readiness to achieve learning outcomes among students, particularly in the area of algorithmic thinking. The sample consisted of 150 primary school in-service teachers, including both classroom and subject teachers. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and one-way analysis of variance (One-Way ANOVA) with a post-hoc test (Tukey HSD). Although more than half of the participants had no prior knowledge of this technology, the results indicate that the training significantly contributed to the development of teachers’ knowledge and digital competencies, with an average of 7.69 correct answers. Teachers’ years of professional experience had no statistically significant effect on achievement, suggesting that the hybrid training model is equally effective for all teachers, regardless of the length of their professional experience. These findings confirm the effectiveness of hybrid training programs that combine different instructional modalities and highlight the need for broader inclusion of in-service teachers in future professional development initiatives.

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