FOSTERING DIGITAL CREATIVITY THROUGH MOBILE COMPUTER SUPPORTED COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

There is a rich body of literature about the integration of ICTs in the EFL classroom, but most of the research works focused on the adoption of digital tools from a pre-digital perspective. The novelty of this research is to examine the technological affinity and digital competence of teacher candidates from the MCSCL (Mobile Computer Supported Collaborative Learning) theoretical framework. A total of 285 undergraduate students enrolled in the subject Integrating Skills in English at the University of Alicante (Spain) participated in this three-month experiment carried out during the COVID-19 lockdown measures in 2020. Different research instruments were used (pre-post-test, collaborative projects, on-line presentations and debates), so the results were based on quantitative and qualitative data. First, all teacher candidates were administered an on-line questionnaire divided into three sections to measure their degree of technological affinity and motivation based on Bourgonjon (2010) and Dahlstrom (2013). Next, students used different authoring tools to create collaboratively four ICT-based projects aimed at teaching English on-line to children and young learners. Then, participants shared their projects and discussed the results based on their self-perceived competence and the integration of technology in their L2 lessons, and finally completed a post-test. The research findings revealed participants lacked any preparation in new ICT-based theoretical models (TPACK, MCSCL, PBL, etc.), although they were moderately confident about their digital competence as students, and demanded more formal training for a meaningful integration of ICTs in L2 learning.