Considering the Professional Digital Competence teachers need in the generative AI world

The COVID-19 pandemic forced teachers to reconceptualize their teaching for remote modes. In many contexts, teachers adopted synchronous online technologies (e.g. Zoom) to teach remotely. Practitioners and scholars soon realized that specific professional digital competence (PDC) – the skills and knowledge to use technology in the professional work of a teacher – were needed for synchronous online teaching (e.g. Moorhouse, Walsh, Li & Wong, 2022). However, just as the pandemic required us to consider the PDC teachers need for synchronous online teaching, the release of ChatGPT, and other generative AI tools, mean, we need to consider the PDC teachers need in the generative AI world.

In this talk, I will present a conceptualization of the PDC teachers need to successfully engage in their professional work in a world with generative AI tools (P-AI-C). A P-AI-C framework will be presented that consists of five domains: technological proficiency; pedagogical compatibility; risk, wellbeing and ethical awareness; developing learners’ AI competencies; and the professional work of teachers. Suggestions on how a teacher’s P-AI-C can be developed, will be presented.