Digital Wisdom Development and Self-reflection of Teacher Candidates

Abstract

Being digitally wise allows today’s students not only to strengthen their natural abilities through existing technologies, but also to respond appropriately to learning networks that are increasingly complex. As a result, it is crucial that teachers and educators continually update and expand their professional knowledge base and improve their practices in order to meet the learning needs of their increasingly diverse students. The research has been conducted during the academic year 2021–2022 with the participation of 1173 teacher trainees enrolled in the Primary Education Degree Program at the University of Palermo. The trainees carried out their activities through digital tools. Brown and Green’sWisdom Development Scale (2006) tool was used to measure eight factors of wisdom development - across 79 sevenpoint Likert-type scale items: self-knowledge, emotional management. Altruism, judgement, inspirational engagement, life knowledge, life skills and willingness to learn. In addition, some items were selected from the SELFIE for Teachers Tool to help student teachers to review and get feedback on how they are currently using digital tools and technologies for their future profession.