Lessons Learned 2, 2 (2022)

Submitted: 21.10.2022
Accepted: 20.12.2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.25369/ll.v2i2.66
ISSN: 2749-1293 (print); 2749-1307 (online).

Digital Mindset as the Most Important Prerequisite

for Learning and Teaching in the Future

Further development of student digital literacy:

An interdisciplinary perspective

M. Krohn and A. Jantos

1
ZiLL - Center for Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching, TU Dresden

Abstract

In order to successfully integrate new, digital teaching and learning formats into university teach-
ing, not only technical, financial, and structural prerequisites must be created, but also compe-
tence-related prerequisites that enable students to deal with the new formats. In an interdisci-
plinary project, we derive 64 relevant digital competencies from interviews and a questionnaire
study, considering the perspectives of teachers and students. As a result, a pronounced digital
mindset emerges as the most important component.

In order to successfully integrate new, digital teaching and learning formats into university teach-
ing, not only technical, financial, and structural prerequisites must be created, but also compe-
tence-related prerequisites that enable students to deal with the new formats. In an interdisci-
plinary project, we derive 64 relevant digital competencies from interviews and a questionnaire
study, considering the perspectives of teachers and students. As a result, a distinctive digital
mindset emerges as the most important component.

*Corresponding author: [email protected] This article was originally submitted in German.

Lessons Learned | Volume 2 (2022) | Issue 2 2-2/13-1

M. Krohn & A. Jantos - Digital Mindset as the Most Important Prerequisite for Learning and Teaching in the Future

1. Motivation that enable people to navigate and actively

participate in a digitized environment" as de-
What digital skills do students need when deal- fined by the Stifterverband [3]. The European
ing with new, digital teaching/learning for- Reference Framework for Digital Competences
mats? This question is being researched in the (DigComp) 2017 describes digital competences
sub-project "sTUDents - student-oriented digi- as "understanding information and data; com-
tal learning and teaching", one of a total of munication and collaboration; creating digital
eight sub-projects in the interdisciplinary joint content; security of devices, personal data and
project "virTUos - virtual teaching and learning the environment when using digital technolo-
at the TU Dresden in an open source context", gies; problem solving strategies" [4]. However,
in which innovative teaching/learning formats according to Kerres (2017), these are not addi-
are being developed using gamification, VR tional competencies, but pervasive skills of the
technology and robotics, among other things, previous learning world [5]. Consequently,
in order to be introduced into everyday univer- "digital competence[s] ... are the ability[s] to
sity life after a successful trial phase. use digital media, to develop them in a produc-
To this end, agile and interdisciplinary innova- tive way, to use them for one's own life, and to
tion teams from the departments of medicine, understand reflectively, critically, and analyti-
mechanical engineering, economics, and hu- cally their mode of action in relation to the in-
manities will initially test the novel virtual and dividual and society as a whole, as well as
hybrid teaching/learning scenarios and then knowledge about the potentials and limita-
disseminate them to other departments. The tions of digital media and their modes of ac-
central goal is the development of a common tion." [6].
strategy for digitally supported learning and In the context of the project, we take the defi-
teaching at the TU Dresden. For this purpose, nitional approaches listed here as a basis for
all prerequisites that are necessary for the suc- exploring the competencies needed by stu-
cessful establishment of the new formats in dents in the university environment of the fu-
the university context are analyzed, including ture.
technical, financial and structural prerequi- The question of the necessary digital compe-
sites. sTUDents approaches the objective from tencies is inevitably followed by the question
a further perspective and examines the com- of their concrete training and further develop-
petence-oriented prerequisites that are neces- ment. Since this is significantly influenced by
sary on the part of the students in order to be the needs of students as the central target
able to benefit maximally from the new for- group, it is essential to involve students al-
mats in the learning process. ready in the development of the competence
In recent years, the training of digital skills in development formats.
the university context has become increasingly
important in order to prepare learners for the
2. Procedure
future challenges in everyday working life, so
that universities are increasingly creating cor- In order to approach the question of the nec-
responding offerings [1,2]. This process was essary digital competencies, interviews were
accelerated by the pandemic in order to be conducted with academic and student employ-
able to continue to use the digitalization ef- ees from all subprojects to collect the digital
forts that have been initiated in the long term. competencies that are considered necessary
Within the framework of virTUos, we want to for the successful integration of the developed
contribute to researching the current need for formats into everyday teaching.
student digital competencies in order to ena- In the next step, the results were critically re-
ble learners and teachers to perceive digitally flected on the basis of the above-mentioned
supported teaching as an opportunity and not definitions and those competencies that can-
as a hurdle in the long term. not be specifically classified as digital compe-
In this context, it is also important to delineate tencies as well as duplications were removed.
which competencies are actually digital com- In this way, the total of 90 mentions was re-
petencies. Digital competencies are "... Skills duced to 64 items. In order to be able to struc-

2-2/13-2 Lessons Learned | Volume 2 (2022) | Issue 2

M. Krohn & A. Jantos - Digital Mindset as the Most Important Prerequisite for Learning and Teaching in the Future

ture the future offerings for competence trans- texts. In contrast to the first survey, which was
fer thematically in a meaningful way, the items carried out on a subproject-specific basis, it
were finally clustered and classified into the was now also possible to consider responses
four categories: "Digital Mindset and Reflec- from other subprojects. After quantitative
tion", "Technical Knowledge", "Digital Teach- evaluation of the feedback, a ranking was fi-
ing", and "Virtual Communication and Collabo- nally produced. An overview of the methodo-
ration", whereby there is no claim to selectivity logical procedure is shown again in Figure 1.
between the individual categories. The core of the sTUDents subproject then be-
For capacity reasons, the remaining high num- gins by involving students from the outset in
ber of 64 items necessitated prioritization, the development of the innovative formats as
which will be used to guide the successive de- well as the formats for the necessary compe-
velopment of the competency development tence development in accordance with the
formats in the future. To this end, project staff "Students as Partners" approach, in addition to
were invited to select from all the digital com- teachers and university didacticians, and thus
petencies identified up to this point those that creating offers that are suitable for the target
are relevant in their individual project con- group [7].

Fig. 1: Methodical procedure

3. Results

First of all, the interviews revealed how diverse Quantitatively, the majority of the mentions
and complex the field of digital competencies from the interviews could be assigned to the
is and how they differ from those competen- category "Digital Mindset and Reflection" (see
cies that do not relate specifically to digital as- Fig. 2) and were confirmed once again by the
pects. While proficient use of a learning plat- contributors to the subprojects as the most
form or mastery of a programming language relevant aspects in their areas of expertise dur-
can be clearly assigned to digital competen- ing the questionnaire study.
cies, self-organization, communication skills, This category includes competencies such as
and conflict management are competencies "acceptance of digital formats", "self-efficacy in
that were already important in traditional digital learning processes" and "media resili-
learning settings but are increasingly shifting ence". The explicit naming of these competen-
to the digital realm.
cies is surprising, as they are common to the
In the in-depth analysis of digital skills, it be- so-called "digital natives," a generation, who
comes clear that about two-thirds are soft has grown up in a digital world are often as-
skills and about one-third are hard skills. cribed as a matter of course [8,9].

Lessons Learned | Volume 2 (2022) | Issue 2 2-2/13-3

M. Krohn & A. Jantos - Digital Mindset as the Most Important Prerequisite for Learning and Teaching in the Future

Based on the surveys in the departments and cies in their entirety are regarded as the core
fields of action of virTUos, it can be deduced competencies in future everyday learning and
that a digital mindset and reflection competen- work.

Fig. 2: Categorization of digital competencies

technological stressors, reducing the risk of re-

4. Implications duced work and learning performance, lower
From the insights gained, we derive the mis- job satisfaction, and higher dropout rates [11].
sion to support students in particular in devel- As current research findings show, forming the
oping a digital and reflective mindset. It can be digital mindset is a top-down process [12].
assumed that students who have competen- Accordingly, university administrators and
cies such as flexibility and openness in dealing teachers should set a good example by acting
with digital innovations will find it easier to ac- sustainably and reflectively with digital media
cess more specific competencies. The digital and enriching their teaching methods with
transformation imperatively requires the ac- open science and open education efforts.
quisition of new technological skills, for which For these reasons and the expected positive
an open-minded inner attitude and the per- effects, the sTUDents subproject is taking on
ception of new possibilities of digitalization are the challenge of equipping learners and, as a
fundamental. Companies increasingly need consequence, teachers with an open digital
professionals who understand digital technol- mindset and motivating them to actively par-
ogies, use digital tools to solve problems and ticipate in the digitization of university teach-
act flexibly. In the next few years ing and to act as role models in order to jointly
cultivating a digital mindset will continue to be achieve efficient ways of working with the sup-
a major challenge, but one that holds a lot of port of digital media. For this purpose, existing
potential: students benefit from acquiring artifacts will be collected as well as new arti-
transferable skills when they enter the work- facts will be created that address and educate
force. In addition to higher productivity and this mindset. In doing so, we initially focus on
satisfaction, studies highlight the positive im- the needs and priorities of the subprojects and
pact on resilience [10]. Individuals with a increasingly expand them to other subject ar-
strong digital mind set are less responsive to eas. The developed formats will be succes-

2-2/13-4 Lessons Learned | Volume 2 (2022) | Issue 2

M. Krohn & A. Jantos - Digital Mindset as the Most Important Prerequisite for Learning and Teaching in the Future

sively compiled in the OPAL course "Driver's Li- of data, algorithms, and AI. In Harvard Business Re-
view https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publica-
cense Digital Competencies" as well as ad-
tion%20Files/Developing%20a%20Digital%20Mind-
dressed to students in workshops and subse- set_81f3f69d-e28d-483e-8d1e-ce0ee159c0bb.pdf
quently made available for sustainable use as [11] Valta, M.; Hildebrand, Y.; Maier, C. (2022). Reducing
OER. The entire development process is largely Technostress: The Role of the Digital Mindset In
shaped by students themselves and is based AMCIS 2022
https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2022/sig_adit/sig_adit/
on studies on teaching/learning formats that
11/.
have been proven to be conducive to learning
[12] Akbari, T.T.; Pratomo, R.R. (2022). Higher education
or preferred by students in the context of uni- digital transformation implementation in Indonesia
versity teaching [13,14]. during the COVID-19 pandemic In Jurnal Kajian
Komunikasi, Volume 10, No. 1, June 2022, pages 52-
65, https://doi.org/10.24198/jkk.v10i1.38052
Acknowledgement [13] Marczuk, A.; Multrus, F.; Lörz, M. (2022). The study
situation in the Corona pandemic. Effects of digitali-
The virTUos project is funded by the Innova- zation on students' learning and contact situation,
tion in University Teaching Foundation as part URL: https://doi.org/10.34878/2021.01.dzhw_brief,
of the "Strengthening University Teaching Stand: 27.05.2022.
through Digitization" call for proposals (project [14] Leinung, S., Lüdtke, A. & Pohl-Patalong, U. (2020).
Digital teaching formats in corona semester - in-
duration: 01.08.2022 - 31.07.2024).
sights into a cartography. Theo-Web, 19(2), 5-17;
URL: https://www.theo-web.de/ausgaben/2020/19-
jahrgang-2020-heft-2/news/digitale-lehrformate-im-
Literature
corona-semester-einblicke-in-eine-kartographie, as
[1] Le Thi, T. V., & Zinger, B. (2021). Promoting digital of 27.05.2022.
competencies in higher education. A practical report
on the DigKom university certificate for digital com-
petencies at Nuremberg University of Technology. In
Competencies for the digital transformation 2020
(pp. 229-244). Springer Vieweg, Berlin, Heidelberg.
[2] Bader, R. (2001). Learning communities on the Inter-
net. Acquiring net competencies as collaborative
practice. A case study in continuing educational
training. LIT Verlag, Münster 2001.
[3] Stifterverband https://www.stifterverband.org/fu-
tureskills/framework
[4] European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Car-
retero, S., Vuorikari, R., Punie, Y., DigComp 2.1 : the
digital competence framework for citizens with eight
proficiency levels and examples of use, Publications
Office, 2018, https://data.eu-
ropa.eu/doi/10.2760/38842
[5] Kerres, Prof. Dr. Michael (2017): Education digital -
what do we need to know for tomorrow? Impulse lec-
ture on digital educational work of the future. Lec-
ture. Karlsruhe Chamber of Industry and Commerce:
21.11.2017.
[6] Ehlers, U. https://nextskills.org/wp content/up-
loads/2020/04/2019 11 18 Skills Cards short.pdf.
[7] Healey, M., Flint, A., & Harrington, K. (2016). Students
as partners: reflections on a conceptual model.
Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 4(2), 8-20.
[8] Deutsch, K. L., & Kuhn, S. (2019). The digital natives'
fairy tale: Collaborative work as a method for acquir-
ing digital competencies. MedienPädagogik: Zeitschrift
für Theorie und Praxis der Medienbildung, 36, 37-47.
[9] Röwert, R. (2016). Digital native does not equal digital
ready. Synergy, 1, 24-27.
[10] Neely, T.; Leonardi, P. (2022). Developing a Digital
Mindset How to lead your organization into the age

Lessons Learned | Volume 2 (2022) | Issue 2 2-2/13-5