From rural teaching practices to digital teaching competencies: An exploratory study

Abstract

This paper shows the results of a qualitative research project developed with teachers in the highlands of Morazán. Its objective is to investigate how the teaching practices of teachers working in rural areas are transformed by including digital didactic competencies through a training plan. The research methodology is qualitative, with an action research approach, with a sample of twenty teachers from the municipalities of Jocoaitique, Torola and San Fernando. The activities developed were virtual and asynchronous. We started with a diagnosis that allowed us to have a general idea of the teachers’ attitudes towards the topic to be investigated, then the action plan was proposed, which was developed with the teachers who belonged to the sample, and one cycle of the participatory action research was completed, and the action plan was proposed for the second cycle. As a result of the research, it is evident that the practices of rural teachers in the use of technology can be transformed using methodologies that go beyond the transmission of knowledge, as collaborative learning spaces, where they can, in safe environments, develop digital didactic competencies according to their needs.