The closure of schools as a result of COVID-19 has been a critical global incident from which to rethink how education works in all our countries. Among the many changes generated by this crisis, all teaching became mediated by digital technologies. This paper intends to analyze the activities carried out during this time through digital technologies and the conceptions of teaching and learning that they reflect. We designed a Likert-type online questionnaire to measure the frequency of teaching activities. It was answered by 1,403 teachers from Spain (734 primary and 669 secondary education teachers). The proposed activities varied depending on the learning promoted (reproductive or constructive), the learning outcomes (verbal, procedural, or attitudinal), the type of assessment to which the activities were directed, and the presence of cooperative activities. The major result of this study was that teachers used reproductive activities more frequently than constructive ones. We also found that most activities were those favoring verbal and attitudinal learning. The cooperative activities were the least frequent. Finally, through a cluster analysis, we identified four teaching profiles depending on the frequency and type of digital technologies use: Passive, Active, Reproductive, and Interpretative. The variable that produced the most consistent differences was previous digital technologies use These results show that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) uses are reproductive rather than constructive, which impedes effective digital technologies integration into the curriculum so that students gain 21st-century competencies.

Introduction: The growing presence of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in our society, particularly in the educational field, is undeniable. This fact has led to various studies on its implications for learning and teaching. However, as with other technological resources, these implications will depend on how teachers use GenAI. Therefore, it is essential to identify teachers’ beliefs regarding the use of GenAI for teaching and learning.Methods: To this end, a questionnaire was designed and completed by 321 university teachers. This questionnaire consisted of two parts. The first included questions about the participants’ demographic information and a Likert scale on teachers’ pedagogical beliefs. The second part consisted of a 32-item Likert scale that evaluated teachers’ beliefs about the impact of GenAI on their students’ learning and their own teaching. These aspects were reflected through items that considered GenAI as either an educational opportunity or a threat.Results: The results showed that, of all the variables analyzed, only pedagogical beliefs and the frequency of previous GenAI use influenced beliefs about GenAI usage. Specifically, teachers with constructivist beliefs saw greater potential in GenAI compared to others. Similarly, teachers who regularly used these technologies had more positive beliefs about their educational use than those who used them sporadically or not at all. Lastly, it was also observed that while teachers valued the positive effects of GenAI on their teaching work, they also considered that its use could be detrimental to the learning processes of their students, making them more superficial.Discussion: These findings underline the importance of providing teachers with training focused on constructive approaches that enable them to maximize the potential of GenAI in education. In particular, it is crucial to promote teaching practices that, through student-centered GenAI use, foster active and reflective processes in students, aligned with the competencies demanded by today’s society.

The COVID-19 lockdown in education institutions required music teachers to use ICTto continue teaching. This research study, with the use of a Likert type online questionnaire, analyses the ICT activities carried out during this period and the learning conceptions they reflect. The questionnaire consisted of the description of activities which varied, depending on the learning promoted (reproductive or constructive), the learning outcomes (verbal, procedural, or attitudinal), the type of assessment to which the activities were directed, and the presence of cooperative activities. The teachers had to indicate the frequency with which they carried out these activities. The questionnaire was completed by 254 instrumental music teachers from different types of institutions and different levels. The main study outcome was that teachers used reproductive activities more frequently than constructive ones. We also found that most activities were those favouring verbal learning and assessment. The cooperative activities were the least frequent. Finally, through a cluster analysis, we identified three teaching profiles depending on the frequency and type of ICT used: Passive, Active, and Interpretative. The variable that produced the most consistent differences was previous ICT use.

Although video games are increasing their presence in teens/children's private entertainment and there is ample evidence to support their educational possibilities, they are seldom introduced in classrooms. One of the least studied factors relative to the insertion of video games in curricula is teachers' conceptions on their effectiveness to foster learning. In this study, we investigate how teachers conceive of the educational usage of video games, considering their reported value and which video game dimensions are reflected to be of importance, as well as personal traits linked to them (gender, educational level, area of knowledge, teaching experience, behavioral intention ...). We designed a Likert questionnaire with three main dimensions: pragmatic play, epistemic play, and learning outcomes (verbal information, skills, and attitudes). 595 Spanish teachers answered the questionnaire online. We applied ANOVA and multiple regression techniques, which revealed a broad acceptance of video games as educational media. The most relevant analyzed factors turned out to be the intention to use video games in classrooms, and the private use of video games. Teachers believe that video games promote more learning when played with an epistemic goal, mediated by scaffolding and especially under the teacher's guidance, compared to pragmatic play related to completion and success in the game. They also consider video games to mainly promote verbal information learning, procedural learning, and finally attitude learning, with the latter being less probable. We suggest the need to strengthen not only teacher training programs in the educational use of video games but also research on relationships between teachers' beliefs and practices in order to convert these favorable beliefs into actual real practices.

One of the factors associated with the educational use of video games is the conception that teachers and students have about their educative usefulness. However, there are no studies that identify what aspects are considered more effective to learn with video games and what kind of learning is more accessible using them. This study aims at identifying pre-service teachers’ conceptions regarding video game use for learning and specifically to know what aspects and learning they consider are more feasible. Likewise, we analyzed the pedagogical training effect of these conceptions for three groups of university students: primary pre-service teachers (who received general pedagogical training), secondary pre-service teachers (who received pedagogical training in only one area of knowledge) and other university students without pedagogical training. We applied a questionnaire to a sample of 422 university students. This questionnaire had two dimensions that differentiated between the pragmatic and epistemic uses of video games for learning and three dimensions about the different verbal, procedural and attitudinal learning which can be achieved with them. The results showed wide acceptance of video games as a learning resource in university students, but in particular secondary pre-service teachers pointed out higher possibilities of achieving learning with video games than primary pre-service teachers. On the other hand, university students pointed out more learning when video games were used in an epistemic way. In addition, they considered video games favor more verbal and procedural learnings than attitudinal ones. In conclusion, despite the positive conceptions of the students about learning with video games, we observed a less positive pattern in pre-service teachers with general pedagogical training. These results suggest that video game incorporation in schools is not being carried out fruitfully by education faculties. Therefore, we advocated for 21st-century training that optimized new conceptions and uses of video games.