PROMOTING DIGITAL COMPETENCE IN SPANISH SECONDARY SCHOOL: INDICATOR FOR ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT

Yusuf Suleiman, Ph.D, Tiffany Ivey, Hameed O. Bolaji, Ph.D, Semiu O. Makinde, Ph.D,

Abstract

Digital competency for academic performance lies at the heart in the modern
curriculum and syllabus across the world. Several countries within the European Union
(EU) and the United States of America (US) have adopted new learning systems which
empower digital competence. Digital competency is a field which calls for teacher and
student training for good results to be yielded. In view of the foregoing, the current
study examines the digital competence and developments done by the Spanish Ministry
of Education (SME) as well as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) which offers the guidelines as well as the pillars which are
required in setting up a digitalized competency for students’ academic performance
towards achieving a sustainable goal in the educational field. To this end, concept of
digital literacy in education, TPACK model and strategies and position of OECD on
digital competency in schools were examined. The impacts of digital life in schools and
how it can improve students’ academic performance were looked into. Based on the
foregoing, the study concludes that a student that is acquitted with digital literate will
be extremely functional, literate and numerate across the broad with lifelong skills and
that there is need for stronger competence based learning and thematic approach
pedagogy that will be geared towards students’ competence improvement. The study
recommends that school administrators and other stakeholders in education should
create conducive environment where application of technology can be implemented to
with a view to improve students’ academic performance