Digital competencies in Latin American university teaching staff: a review of trends and gaps
Keywords:
digital competences; university teachers; higher education; Latin America; systematic reviewAbstract
Introduction: Despite the proliferation of literature on digital competences among Latin American university faculty, the empirical corpus suffers from profound instrumental and conceptual dispersion. Objective: This systematic review is aimed at mapping epistemic trends and structuring the research gaps within the literature produced between 2016 and 2026. Methods: Adhering to PRISMA guidelines, 21 peer-reviewed manuscripts were retrieved from Scopus, SciELO, Redalyc, and Latindex. Methodological robustness was ensured via CASP appraisals, consolidating the findings through a thematic synthesis utilizing mixed coding. Results: Evidence demonstrates faculty stagnation at basic and intermediate strata, establishing an aggregated competence deficit of 84.7%. While the adoption of European frameworks prevails (DigCompEdu, DigComp, and COMDID), it is critical to note that nine investigations deployed self-developed metrics lacking ecological validation. The most severe formative shortcomings gravitated around interactive resource creation, techno-pedagogical assessment, and cybersecurity; a scenario that simultaneously exposes profound theoretical, methodological, and contextual fractures within the field. Conclusions: These findings challenge the viability of importing foreign metrics and provide an empirical foundation for redesigning teacher training policies. There is an urgent call to transition toward endogenous reference frameworks and to redirect the scientific agenda to overcome the documented asymmetries.
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