Digital skills and metacognitive awareness: professional development perspectives of new university professors

Abstract

There has been a forced innovation towards
learning environments which was characterized
by intensive use of technology determined by the
pandemic crisis. As a result, improving
advanced training has become a crucial concern
in higher education. For this reason, university
professors’ training and professionalization on
the pedagogic, didactic and assessment areas
imply a relevant action with potential impact on
the university system. This research mainly
focuses on the role of teachers’ metacognitive
competence with particular attention to the use of
technologies, educational evidence-informed
strategies and innovative assessment methods.
To this end, a questionnaire with three sections
had been administered to 119 newly recruited
university professors: TPACK, Didactic and
evaluation strategies and MAI. Data analysis
allowed to identify some useful factors to design
faculty development initiatives for newly recruited
professors and for improving the quality of
university teaching.