Today, more than ever, the role of educational technology in teaching is of great importance because of the use of information and communication technologies. With the help of various applications for distance education, the Internet, teachers, and students themselves, they see the advantage of educational technology. The question is whether schools and teachers themselves are ready for the use of technology in education and whether they are aware of its benefits? In this paper, we try to give an overview of the importance and use of educational technology in the classroom.

The study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the digital competencies of teachers and the educational achievements of students, focusing on Serbia and comparisons with other countries. For this study, a survey was conducted in three phases, completed by teachers. The time periods during which the surveys were filled out are characteristic because they correspond to specific points in time (June 2019, June 2022, and May 2023). The aim of the first study, conducted in June 2019, was for every school in the Republic of Serbia to explore teachers’ digital competencies as a recommendation of the Ministry of Education. Later, this survey took on a different purpose with the onset of the pandemic. The pandemic exposed challenges such as insufficient teacher preparation for online teaching, educational inequalities affecting students from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and varying levels of adaptability among students. The hypothesis of this research is as follows: Teachers demonstrate a significantly higher level of digital literacy after the crisis caused by the COVID-19 virus than before the crisis. The findings reveal improvements in teachers’ digital skills after the crisis situation, particularly in hardware, software, and internet use, alongside a shift in the primary purpose of digital tools from entertainment to education. The study emphasizes the importance of continuous professional development, standardized e-learning devices, and improved digital infrastructure to enhance the quality of education. The research found that teachers in Serbia showed a significantly higher level of digital competencies after the crisis situation. Key recommendations include integrating digital skills into teacher training, fostering innovative pedagogical practices, and addressing the digital divide to ensure equitable access to education in the future.

The expansion of new digital media and the development of information technology give even bigger importance to media and information literacy, which is recognized as one of the key skills in the educational system almost everywhere in the world. The concept of media and information literacy in this paper is considered from the pedagogical aspect, i.e., the aspect of the educational needs of the teacher in learning and applying digital technologies in the teaching process.The aim of this paper is to determine the level of the teachers’ interest in the application of certain digital technologies in the teaching process on the one hand, and to determine similarities and differences in their needs for learning and applying digital technologies in the teaching process according to their gender and work experience, on the other hand.The conclusion is that teachers who participated in the survey showed high interest in learning and applying digital technologies in the teaching process. The use of the computer and the Internet appeared to be the biggest need teachers have. Key words: digital technologies; educational needs; information literacy; media literacy; teaching process.---SažetakEkspanzija novih digitalnih medija i napredak informacijske tehnologije uvjetuju sve veću važnost medijske i informacijske pismenosti, koja se priznaje kao jedna od ključnih vještina u obrazovnom sustavu gotovo u cijelom svijetu. Koncept medijske i informacijske pismenosti u ovom se radu promatra s pedagoškog aspekta, odnosno s aspekta obrazovnih potreba nastavnika za poznavanjem i primjenom digitalnih tehnologija u nastavnom procesu. Cilj rada jest utvrditi kolika je zainteresiranost nastavnika za primjenu pojedinih digitalnih tehnologija u nastavi, kao i utvrditi sličnosti i razlike u njihovim potrebama za upoznavanjem i primjenom digitalnih tehnologija u nastavi u odnosu na spol i radno iskustvo nastavnika. Zaključak je da su nastavnici očitovali visoku zainteresiranost za upoznavanje i primjenu digitalnih tehnologija u nastavi. Kao najveća potreba nastavnika pokazala se primjena računala i interneta.Ključne riječi: digitalne tehnologije; obrazovne potrebe; informacijska pismenost; medijska pismenost; nastavni proces.

Span>It is well known that the application of ICT in education helps us to develop skills for competent and efficient problem solving in the field of professional activities. This paper aims to examine the attitudes of students towards the use of ICT as a source of education. The methodology adopted was that of original research, with a qualitative and quantitative approach. This study included 175 students from Serbia and Bulgaria. The variables of this study were gender and the years of study. In order to assess the attitudes of students towards the use of ICT in education a five-point Likert scale was used across forty-five statements. The results of the research show that students are very interested in using ICT as a source of education. Thus, it is evident that information and communication technologies have become very important pedagogical resources in approaching the teaching and learning processes in an innovative way.