Digital Competence and Continuous Professional Development of Teacher Educators in Odisha: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between digital competence and continuing professional development (CPD) of teacher educators in Odisha. Specifically, it aims to assess their level of digital competence, explore its correlation with CPD, and analyse the extent to which digital competence serves as a predictor of professional development in the context of increasing digitalisation in education. This study adopted a correlational research design, and a total of 100 teacher educators were selected as the sample through a multi-stage sampling technique. The data was collected using a structured questionnaire, and the collected data was analysed using Mean, Standard Deviation, Independent sample t-test, Pearson Correlation, and Linear Regression. The results of the study revealed that the teacher educator demonstrates a moderate to high level of digital competence. While there is a strong positive correlation was found between digital competence and continuous professional development, which is statistically significant (r = 0.942, p < 0.0001). The regression equations find that digital competence is a significant and strong predictor of continuous professional development, and accounts for 88.7% of the variance. The correlations and regression equations demonstrate that an effective digital competence training course could be incorporated into teacher education methods subjects, which could facilitate continuous professional development. This study provides important insights into the role of digital skills in teacher education and emphasizes the need to focus on professional development in under-researched areas such as Odisha.