Technological Competence

Ungar et al.'s (2018) findings point out that teachers who have developed pedagogical competence and to-be-developed technological competence have difficulty applying innovative methodologies, presenting gaps between their conceptual approach and their ability to implement it. In addition, teachers with this profile do not allow their students to take control of their learning, as they do not feel safe. The authors identify the importance of teachers' mastery of technological knowledge to implement an innovative pedagogy and integrate ICT in the classroom.

A consensus among researchers is that technical literacy, or technological competence, is important for teachers to develop DTS. Teachers with developed technological competence can successfully perform their professional roles and integrate ICT into teaching to promote changes in teaching methodology by using various techniques, devices, and Internet resources with their students (^{DZHURYLO e SHPAYK, 2019}; ^{HATLEVIK e HATLEVIK , 2018}).

Teacher technological competence includes digital literacy skills, selecting and using software and internet resources as teaching materials to achieve standard curriculum objectives, using ICT to develop and control individual or group plans for students, and designing manuals and ICT lessons. Furthermore, this competence also involves the capacity to use ICT to develop students' knowledge and critical thinking, to support the constant process of thinking, to receive information and communicate with external experts if necessary, and to analyze or find solutions to specific problems. (^{DZHURYLO e SHPAYK, 2019}).

Information Literacy

Information literacy is a vital teaching competency for professional development in teacher education and work success. Information and communication are two concepts that cannot be isolatedly studied, as information can only be conceived when communicated. Likewise, communication is a process in which content is the information (^{BONDARUK, 2017}; ^{ARAÚJO, 2018} ).

In ^{Bondaruk's (2017}) study, teachers had an average level of digital competence concerning the informational area, corroborating previous research that identified a lack of competence in this area. Based on ^{Ferrari's(2013})studies, the author defines information literacy as a set of knowledge, skills and attitudes essential to perform tasks, solve problems, communicate, manage information, collaborate, create, and share content. They also generate adequate and efficient knowledge appropriately, critically, creatively, autonomously, flexibly, ethically, and reflectively for work, leisure, participation, learning, socialization, consumption and training (^{BONDARUK, 2017}).

Information literacy is one of the skills needed for lifelong learning. It is often defined as basic ICT competence, i.e. knowledge required to use computers and to retrieve, evaluate, store, produce, present and exchange information, and communicate. (^{BONDARUK, 2017}; ^{EUROPEAN COMMISSION, 2018}). We can find other terms expressing the same idea, such as “information technology competence”, “information competence", "information competence", or “information and communication competence” (^{ARAÚJO, 2018}; ^{DZHURYLO; SHPAYK, 2019}; ^{HAZAR, 2019}).

^{Dzhurylo and Shpayk (2019}) conclude that the teacher's information and communication competence can be interpreted as the combination of teachers' professional knowledge, skills and experience expressed in their ability to solve pedagogical tasks through modern information and communication technologies. It means knowing how to work beyond problem-solving and selecting the appropriate software. Teachers must be able to use network resources to help students collaborate, receive information and communicate with external experts, if necessary, to analyze or find solutions to specific problems.

López-Belmonte et al. (²⁰¹⁹) identify information literacy as part of DTS, which brings together skills for navigation, research, access, filtering, management, storage, organization, processing, retrieval, analysis, evaluation, comparison, and data interpretation. With these skills, one can generate new, valuable, and helpful information that facilitates critical decision-making and acts in teachers' effective strategic action to improve the quality of teaching and learning processes. In the research, López-Belmonte et al. (²⁰¹⁹) determined the level of skills in each dimension (D) of information literacy. D1 is related to browsing, searching, and filtering information, data, and digital content. D2 refers to the evaluation of information, data and digital content. D3 is connected to storing and retrieving information, data and digital content.

In Brazil, ^{Vitorino and Piantola (2009}, ²⁰¹¹), pioneers in the study of information competence, discuss this category of competence under the dimensions of technique, aesthetics, ethics, and politics. The technical dimension is related to the skills and tools needed to find, evaluate, and appropriately use the information. The aesthetic dimension originates from the subjectivity implicit in the reception and transmission of informational content. Data production, dissemination, and use are closely linked to individuals' involvement in a community; these processes invariably assume an ethical and political character.

Information is a constituent element of a group's culture and must relate to politics and ethics. As a political activity, it assumes a pedagogical role when it transforms men/women into citizens. In addition to access to informational content, this competence also develops the ability to interpret reality and build individual and collective meanings. Hence, the authors argue that information competence restricted to the technical sense, disconnected from other dimensions, is impoverished. Therefore, it must be tied to its ethical and political characteristics (^{VITORINO; PIANTOLA, 2011}).

Competence in Communication

Despite having different evidence, information literacy is related to communication competency, also called communicative or communicational competency (^{ARAÚJO, 2018}). When educational policies and schools promote online communication with teachers, students and parents, they assist in developing the e-communication or communication competence of teachers and students (^{BLAU; SHAMIR-INBAL, 2017}). One form of communication competence is related to the concept of digital citizenship, which ^{Xu et al. (2019)} define it as ethical concerns or behavioral norms associated with the use of technology, which describe the integration of technology in society.

Competence in interpersonal communication indicates the teacher's ability to convey information and interpret the non-verbal cues that demonstrate students' opinions and understandings. With the increasing frequency of technology use, new inappropriate behaviors of digital citizenship also appear in communication mediated by ICTs that sometimes conflict with established rules, such as cyberbullying, which represents the irrational or abusive use of ICTs (^{Xu et al. al., 2019}).

Many interpersonal and communication skills were highlighted as essential for success in 21st-century economies, such as the importance of complex communication tasks that technology cannot accomplish alone. However, aspects of this century's digital skills are not clearly defined. The survey results indicate that individuals with higher levels of interpersonal communication skills also have higher or adequate levels of digital citizenship. Empirical data also reveal that the four interpersonal communication competence skills (environmental control, empathy, interaction management and proximity) are most influential for the digital citizenship of pre-service teachers (^{Xu et al., 2019}).

Adequate communication is understood as positive between communicators and such adequacy may vary between individuals or different environments. Digital environments present new complexities in which individuals are more widely interconnected. The authors test hypotheses of the relationships between digital citizenship and competence in interpersonal communication, made up of 10 skills: self-disclosure, empathy, social relaxation, assertiveness, alterocentrism, interaction management, expressiveness, support, immediacy, and environmental control (Xu et al., 2019).

^{Helleve, Grov Almås and Bjørkelo (2019}) study teachers' digital skills for communicating with students using social networks. They conclude that becoming a professional teacher in a digital world includes more than being able to design pedagogical learning activities supported by technology. It is necessary to consider how technologies interfere with professional practices and use them according to the characteristics of each school discipline. Awareness of how to handle your students' communication is also needed.

Pedagogical Competence

Pedagogical competencies characterize a DTS category that articulates DICT with the curriculum focused on teaching activities. In a case study based on the integration of ICT in the classroom, taking into account teachers' perceptions about digital competence and media education, ^{Rivallo and Martín (2017}) state that the difference between the didactic and educational dimensions is not well established. Their research with technically competent teachers identified that teachers generally prepare some digital material for their classes but do not usually share their work as open educational resources (OER) in digital environments and/or virtual communities for collaboration in teaching. Teachers, the objects and the subjects of the study, do not believe they have the digital skills needed to adapt their methodology and teaching practice to the demands of society and teaching systems. However, they think that, in the educational dimension, the didactic dimension and the use of ICT can be included in the teaching-learning processes.

^{Abio (2017}) uses the term semi-pedagogical competence to express teachers' awareness of the semiotic possibilities or potentials offered by technological means and the skills needed to prepare appropriate tasks mediated by ICT. The author also reports three primary skills the teacher must show: evaluation of the available means of communication, evaluation of methods (modes), and task design (^{ABIO, 2017}, p. 43). ^{Hrytsenchuk et al. (2018}) identify teachers' characteristics of ICT competencies when they can assess the use of ICT and link skills and educational content, pedagogical approaches, teaching methods and technologies.

^{Dzhurylo and Shpayk (2019}) comment that trends for ICT skills are characterized by a shift in emphasis from technological-level tasks (related to learning specific tools and specific software products) to pedagogical-level tasks. The teacher must be aware of the professional requirements, implement ICT in the education process, create their methodology, and develop research and professional-pedagogical training throughout life. In addition, teachers must analyze pedagogical situations to identify problems when formulating teaching tasks and find the best ways to solve them, with the maximum use of ICT opportunities. These characteristics are grouped into two skill patterns: a) those related to the development of knowledge, skills and competencies in the field of ICT; b) those teachers need when preparing students to live in an information society.

Teachers with a high level of ICT competence are prepared to create content using them to develop their professional activities and expand the informational environment of the learning process. That is, organizing the learning process in a way that combines information and new pedagogical technologies for activities that involve emotion and information, besides promoting educational cooperation and collaboration among students (^{DZHURYLO e SHPAYK, 2019}).

The teacher's level of ICT competence involves the ability to: a) find, assess, select, and display information from digital educational resources (e.g., use of materials from e-books and other digital and Internet guides) according to the educational tasks; b) install programs on a demonstration computer, use projection techniques, develop methods to create their electronic didactic material; c) effectively modify and present information to solve educational tasks, compile their teaching material from accessible sources, generalize, compare, contrast, update large volumes of data; d) select and use software (text and table editors, handouts, websites, presentation software such as Power Point and Flash) to better demonstrate the different materials needed for the learning process (lesson materials, thematic planning, monitoring, various reports, etc); e) effectively apply student educational activity organization tools (test programs, electronic workbooks, student class activity organization systems, etc.); f) form a digital and a paper portfolio; g) choose how to provide information to competently students, parents, colleagues, and school administration (school network, email, social network, website/section of the website, forum, etc.); and h) organize students' work within the framework of network communication projects (contests, competitions, quizzes), supporting the educational process remotely, if necessary (^{DZHURYLO e SHPAYK, 2019}).

^{Olofsson, Fransson and Lindberg (2019}) discuss pedagogical competence to understand the notion of "adequate digital competence". Digital resources used in teaching must be appropriate and result in the effective use of technology. In addition to access to digital tools, teachers must also be competent in choosing the correct method and tools and know how to use them. Still, using digital learning resources can contribute to students' knowledge acquisition. Digital learning resources must be of high pedagogical, interactive, visual and scientific quality, meeting the stated availability requirements.

Axiological Competence

Another category identified in the literature refers to the self-efficacy of ICT for instructional purposes. This concept was measured with questions about how teachers could better perform specific tasks using ICT related to their teaching practice (monitoring students' progress, preparing lessons using ICT and assessing their learning). The results show that collaboration between teachers positively affects ICT use in their teaching practice (^{HATLEVIK; HATLEVIK, 2018}). The perceptions of newly graduated teachers are also seen at the beginning of their profession. The collaboration process depends on the will and predisposition to learn and develop. This question is linked to values and represents the axiological competence related to self-efficacy (^{GUDMUNDSDOTTIR; HATLEVIK, 2018}).

On teachers' intentionality and predisposition to develop digitally, ^{Tomczyk (2019a}) comments that the challenge for teachers to transform and/or improve their digital literacy is permanent. A passive attitude prevents them from understanding young people's reality and producing educational activities using ICT. The author considers teachers' use of ICT associated with information processing, self-education (axiological), and communication.

The author also classifies teachers according to their attitudes towards the electronic medium: techno-optimists (accepting all ICT solutions openly and uncritically); techno-ignorant (not interested in new media, considering the analogue didactic media and solutions sufficient); techno-pessimists (who see the implementation of ICT in the educational process as a disturbance in effective teaching and learning); and techno-realists (the ideal attitude of a balanced assessment of the positive and negative consequences of the ICT implementation in the education process). The ideal is to have more teachers in this last group (^{TOMCZYK, 2019b}).

According to ^{Engen (2019}), there is a consensus in the research community and among policymakers that teachers' digital competence refers to their skills, knowledge, and attitudes towards digital technology. These questions are essential for understanding how technology is adapted and used in schools. Furthermore, a teacher's competence in translating digital technology across different contexts also considers digital technology's social and cultural aspects.

Sociocultural competence

Advantages and criticisms are identified concerning ICT integration in teaching and teacher training, especially in studies that refer to society. The critical factors that interfere with the use of technology for the development of 21st-century skills are: a) inadequate education, teacher training and resources; b) limited teachers' awareness and self-confidence; c) limited content coverage; and d) longer preparation time. Teachers' skills are knowing how to design a program, model, or strategies to improve student's quality of learning and developing skills based on the vision and objectives of social studies, based on the philosophical and pedagogical foundations of constructivism (^{FARISI, 2016}).

This competence also considers that society is undergoing a profound socio-cultural change and technological evolution. In the discourse around knowledge, skills, and digitization, education plays an entirely new role in the "knowledge society", different from the previous industrial society. The context of the knowledge society presented by ^{Engen (2019}), p. 10) refers to the changes and innovations of a society "characterized by a profound sociocultural change, not just a technological change. In the discourse around knowledge, skills and digitization, education is highlighted as one of the most important premises for the development of society" (^{ENGEN, 2019}, p. 10). The author considers the ideological foundations that understand knowledge as a productive force, which has, on the one hand, rationalization and, on the other, innovation, new products, new services and new cultures. Therefore, to understand social structures, whether at a micro level with the use of digital technology in the classroom, or a macro level in the global economy or political and cultural institutions, digital competence plays an important role, including a political one, reflecting the beliefs and assumptions about the types of skills needed by societies (^{ENGEN, 2019}).

Schools or educational institutions are expected to adapt and use technology at the same pace they are introduced to the consumer market, which always entails a cultural delay. Therefore, technology design and implementation encompasses organizational, political, economic, and cultural factors. Literacy areas cannot be separated from the social and educational needs to which the educational system must respond (^{CERVERA e CANTABRANA, 2015}; ^{ENGEN, 2019}). In this context, professional digital skills require practical abilities to use digital tools for teaching, which requires transferring them from the personal level to the professional practice, i.e., the ability to transfer technologies to different domains (ENGEN, 2019).

Hence, ^{Engen (2019}) states that DC, understood as knowledge and skills, is not suitable for all situations without a reference to a specific domain or context. The term "professional digital competence" must be closely linked to concrete situations and uses. It is no longer possible to speak of just one type of digital competence but several interconnected digital competencies. Developing teachers' professional DC is much more than developing competencies based on instrumental skills. It is to expand the conceptual knowledge of social and cultural aspects of digital technologies' role and transformative potential in modern society. The social role of technology comprises becoming aware of how to use technology in the classroom and its context, differing from neoliberal notions or the perspective of knowledge and skills as commodities in the job market (^{ENGEN, 2019}).

In their research, ^{Serafín, Depešová and Bánesz (2019}) used five groups to determine the level of digital competence, including areas such as technical skills, media and information literacy, engagement, critical attitude and their influences on literacy levels, as well as the relationships between some variables, as media relations, Internet use, globalization and psychological problems. The results show a positive correlation between Internet use and levels of digital culture and confirm that variables such as the use of technology and Internet users' self-confidence can provide the necessary skills to move in the virtual world. Therefore, these are skills needed to guide students in this world, using online networking, communication, collaboration, and critical views of both the positive and negative phenomena associated with the Internet.

In a sociocultural approach, learning is an interactive process between the subject and the context to understand social and cultural aspects. This approach, introduced by the European Framework of Reference - DigCompEdu, promotes the transfer of digital competencies from teacher to student. Through social interaction, the teacher can create the ideal scenario for technological learning. Accordingly, the teacher becomes critical to developing students' digital skills (^{COLÁS-BRAVO; CONDE-JIMÉNEZ; REYES-DE-CÓZAR, 2019}).

To identify DC in a sociocultural approach, the authors define the instrumental and strategic levels and appropriation of digital culture. At the instrumental level, teachers need to include, in their teaching activities, practices that allow their students to use digital tools at a basic and technical standard. The strategic and operational level, connected to the activation of digital competence for problem-solving, includes the development of skills and strategies that can establish new uses, spaces, and practices through ICT. It promotes the transfer of cultural artifacts from one context to another and can expand individual and social capital through technologies, generating social impact (^{COLÁS-BRAVO; CONDE-JIMÉNEZ; REYES-DE-CÓZAR, 2019}).

Thus, at the level of appropriation of digital culture, people assume the rules, identify the characteristics and are part of this digital society. Therefore, there is a need for skills that show peoples' interpretation of reality through ICT, to build meanings and internalize narratives. In this context, teachers must ensure that students take ownership of digital culture, providing spaces and scenarios that include digital technologies and positive emotional aspects for their use in the learning environment (^{COLÁS-BRAVO et. Al., 2019}). Colás-Bravo, Conde-Jiménez and Reyes-De-Cózar's (2019) study presents the sociocultural approach as a theoretical perspective that serves as a basis for generating innovative models for the development of teachers' digital skills due to the potential for transfer and operationalization of its constructions.