Evidence-based educational innovation model linked to digital information competence in the framework of education 4.0

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Education 4.0 promotes visualizing how teachers¿ traditional digital competencies adopt innovative practices. The present research analyzes the relationship between the perceived digital information competencies (DICs) of university teachers and the implementation of evidence-based, innovative actions (EBEI) in a model that supports innovative practices. The research method applied was the mixed method. In the quantitative phase, the final sample consisted of 271 teachers. The ad hoc digital competency-open educational resource scale (DC-OER) was applied to measure their perception of DIC. In the qualitative phase, 15 teachers were interviewed. The results showed (a) a close relationship between the fulfillment of EBEI and the support of DIC; (b) in quantitative results, in most cases, the means are close to the central value 3, and the standard deviation is close to 1, which indicates higher DIC; (c) the qualitative results indicate that teachers search, select, evaluate information, and produce new knowledge; and (d) the theoretical model of EBEI links DIC to the formation of digital citizenship. The data can be of value to the academic community in relevant environments within the framework of Education 4.0. As a future line of research, we envision analyzing the perceived digital competencies of teachers versus their effective behavior.