Critical Digital Competencies in Teacher Educators: A Pilot Study on Deficit Areas and Implications for Initial Teacher Education in Chile Data
Description
This dataset originates from a pilot study examining Chilean teacher educators’ self-perceived digital competencies using an adapted DigComp 2.2 framework. The research hypothesis proposed that Digital Content Creation and Digital Security would be the weakest competency areas, based on international evidence. The dataset includes responses from 62 teacher educators collected via an online questionnaire comprising 21 items distributed across five domains: Information and Digital Literacy, Communication and Collaboration, Digital Content Creation, Security, and Problem Solving. Each item used an 8-point progressive scale corresponding to DigComp proficiency levels. The data reveal a pronounced asymmetry between digital consumption and production skills: while participants scored highly in Information and Digital Literacy (82.26% medium–high levels), performance in Security (37.10%), Content Creation (43.55%), and Problem Solving (41.94%) was significantly lower (p < .001, r = .78–.80). Cronbach’s α = .969 indicates excellent internal consistency of the instrument. Chi-square analyses (V = .45–.78) show strong interdependence among the weakest domains, suggesting that deficits cluster rather than appear independently. The dataset therefore provides early evidence of an interconnected deficit profile where low performance in one critical area predicts weakness in others. These findings can be interpreted as indicators of limited technological autonomy and creative digital agency among teacher educators. The data are valuable for researchers and policymakers aiming to design integrated professional development programs that address multiple digital competencies simultaneously. All data were gathered anonymously with informed consent. They can be reused for replication studies, cross-cultural comparisons, or instrument validation in other higher education contexts.