Investigating Factors Influencing Faculty Members’ Digital Competence for Capacity Building on Open and Distance Education in HEIs

SECTION	FOCUS AREA	DETAILS	SCALE/MEASURE
Demographic Data	Demographic information	Included four questions on age, gender, prior teaching experience, and digital experience.
Technology Access	Technology access and university support	Included six questions on digital technology integration, technical infrastructure, devices, reliable internet, and technical support.	5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree)
Perceptions	Faculty perceptions of distance education	Included six questions on motivation, perceived quality of online education, and stress levels.
Self-Efficacy	Faculty self-efficacy in technology use	Included five questions on the use of computers, the Internet, and new apps/programs.	5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree)
Error Management	Error management culture	Included seven questions using an error management culture measure derived from an instrument by van Dyck et al. (2005).
Digital Competence	Digital competence based on the DigiCompEdu framework	Included twenty-four questions covering six competence areas: Professional Engagement, Digital Resources, Teaching and Learning, Assessment, Empowering Learners, and Facilitating Learners’ Digital Competence (Vuorikari et al., 2022).	Total or separate score for each competence area based on the framework.

Table 2

Distribution of the DigiCompEdu scores based on the demographic data.

DigiComp LEVEL	INTEGRATOR B1		EXPERT B2		LEADER C1		PIONEER C2		TOTAL
DigiComp LEVEL	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Gender
Female	7	33.3	35	46.1	47	50.5	56	68.3	145	53.3
Male	14	66.7	41	53.9	46	49.5	26	31.7	127	46.7
Age
[39 or below]	7	33.3	22	28.9	29	31.2	35	42.7	93	34.2
[40–49]	7	33.3	26	34.2	35	37.6	31	37.8	99	36.4
[50 or more]	7	33.3	28	36.8	29	31.2	16	19.5	80	29.4
Teaching Experience
[5 or less]	2	9.5	13	17.1	10	10.8	14	17.1	39	14.3
[6–9]	4	19.0	13	17.1	16	17.2	16	19.5	49	18.0
[10–14]	5	23.8	16	21.1	24	25.8	23	28.0	68	25.0
[15 or more]	10	47.6	34	44.7	43	46.2	29	35.4	116	42.6
Digital Experience
[Less than three years]	15	71.4	29	38.2	21	22.6	18	22.0	83	30.5
[4–9 years]	2	9.5	27	35.5	30	32.3	33	40.2	92	33.8
[10 years or more]	4	19.0	20	26.3	42	45.2	31	37.8	97	35.7

Table 3

Descriptive of digital competence level/area of faculties.

		NEWCOMER A1		EXPLORER A2		INTEGRATOR B1		EXPERT B2		LEADER C1		PIONEER C2
		n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Digital Competence Level of Faculties	Female					7	2.6 %	35	12.9 %	47	17.3 %	56	20.6 %
Digital Competence Level of Faculties	Male					14	5.1 %	41	15.1 %	46	16.9 %	26	9.6 %
Area 1: Professional Engagement	Female			5	1.8 %	20	7.4 %			39	14.3 %	81	29.8 %
Area 1: Professional Engagement	Male			4	1.5 %	30	11.0 %			47	17.3 %	46	16.9 %
Area 2: Digital Resources	Female	1	0.4%	4	1.5 %	8	2.9 %	22	8.1 %	53	19.5 %	57	21.0 %
Area 2: Digital Resources	Male			4	1.5 %	13	4.8 %	30	11.0 %	47	17.3 %	33	12.1 %
Area 3: Teaching and Learning	Female			4	1.5 %	19	7.0 %			48	17.6 %	74	27.2 %
Area 3: Teaching and Learning	Male			14	5.1 %	23	8.5 %			48	17.6 %	42	15.4 %
Area 4: Assessment	Female			4	1.5 %	19	7.0 %	42	15.4 %	34	12.5 %	46	16.9 %
Area 4: Assessment	Male			4	1.5 %	29	10.7 %	39	14.3 %	32	11.8 %	23	8.5 %
Area 5: Empowering Learners	Female	1	0.4%	10	3.7 %	23	8.5 %	35	12.9 %	38	14.0 %	39	14.3 %
Area 5: Empowering Learners	Male			9	3.3 %	35	12.9 %	40	14.7 %	21	7.7 %	21	7.7 %
Area 6: Facilitating Learners’ Digital Competence	Female	2	0.7%	5	1.8 %	18	6.6 %	50	18.4 %	38	14.0 %	32	11.8 %
Area 6: Facilitating Learners’ Digital Competence	Male	3	1.1%	6	2.2 %	34	12.5 %	41	15.1 %	26	9.6 %	17	6.3 %

Table 4

Descriptive of the faculty members’ access to technology and support, their perception of distance education, self-efficacy, error eversion, error management, and digital competence points of faculties.

DESCRIPTIVE	n		MEAN		STANDARD DEVIATION
DESCRIPTIVE	FEMALE	MALE	FEMALE	MALE	FEMALE	MALE
Access to technology and support	145	127	3.92	3.89	0.91	0.80
Perception of distance education	145	127	3.35	3.13	0.88	0.88
Self-efficacy	145	127	4.33	4.42	0.65	0.58
Error management	145	127	3.58	3.52	0.69	0.70
Digital competence points	145	127	74.00	67.50	15.10	14.50

Table 5

Correlations between measures.

		DIGITAL COMPETENCE	ERROR MANAGEMENT CULTURE	ACCESS TO TECHNOLOGY AND SUPPORT	PERCEPTION OF DISTANCE EDUCATION	SELF-EFFICACY
Digital Competence	Pearson’s r	—
Digital Competence	p-value	—
Error Management	Pearson’s r	0.177**	—
Error Management	p-value	0.003	—
Access to Technology and Support	Pearson’s r	0.088	0.451***	—
Access to Technology and Support	p-value	0.148	< .001	—
Perception of Distance Education	Pearson’s r	0.395***	0.181**	0.311***	—
Perception of Distance Education	p-value	< .001	0.003	< .001	—
Self-Efficacy	Pearson’s r	0.478***	0.149*	0.238***	0.375***	—
Self-Efficacy	p-value	< .001	0.014	< .001	< .001	—

[i] Note. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.55982/openpraxis.17.2.775 | Journal eISSN: 2304-070X

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Language: English

Page range: 363 - 375

Submitted on: Oct 14, 2024

Accepted on: Dec 30, 2024

Published on: Jul 10, 2025

Published by: International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE)

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

digital competence,

faculty,

DigiCompEdu,

access to technology and support,

perception towards distance education,

self-efficacy,

error management

© 2025 Özlem Ozan, Yasin Özarslan, published by International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE)
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 17 (2025): Issue 2

Investigating Factors Influencing Faculty Members’ Digital Competence for Capacity Building on Open and Distance Education in HEIs

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