Reinterpreting DigCompEdu in Higher Education

Ethical Challenges of Generative Artificial Intelligence

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25749/sis.45276

Keywords:

DigCompEdu, higher education, generative artificial intelligence, digital competence, ethics

Abstract

The rapid expansion of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is reshaping higher education and challenging established conceptions of educators’ digital competence. This article examines the European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators (DigCompEdu) and its adaptation to higher education, analysing its capacity to address the ethical, pedagogical, and professional implications of GenAI. Adopting a competence-based analytical approach, the study critically explores how generative technologies intersect with the six DigCompEdu competence areas, with particular attention to data protection, human agency, academic integrity, equity, transparency, and sustainability. Drawing on international policy frameworks and scientific literature, the analysis highlights emerging gaps between existing digital competence models and the stochastic, opaque, and transformative nature of GenAI systems. The article argues for a human-centred and ethically grounded reinterpretation of DigCompEdu, capable of supporting responsible, inclusive, and accountable AI integration in higher education teaching and professional practice.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Patrícia Pereira, Instituto Politécnico de Santarém, Escola Superior de Educação, Centro de Investigação em Qualidade de Vida (CIEQV), Portugal

Holds a PhD in Education, specializing in Information and Communication Technologies in Education, and a Master’s degree in Education and Training, with a specialization in e-Learning and Distance Education, from the University of Lisbon. She is currently an Invited Assistant Professor at the School of Education of the Polytechnic Institute of Santarém. She is also a member of the Distance Learning and Pedagogical Innovation Unit and an integrated researcher at the Research Centre for Quality of Life. Her research focuses on Educational Technologies, particularly e-learning, distance education, instructional design, active learning methodologies and digital educational resources.

Ana Loureiro, Instituto Politécnico de Santarém, Escola Superior de Educação, Centro de Investigação em Qualidade de Vida (CIEQV), Portugal

Associate Professor at Santarém Polytechnic University, serving as Vice-Dean of the School of Education and coordinator of the Distance Learning and Innovation in Pedagogical Practices Unit. She holds a PhD in Multimedia in Education (University of Aveiro) and is an integrated researcher at the Life Quality Research Center (CIEQV). Ana leads numerous funded research projects, serves on the board of the journal Interacções, and frequently contributes to scientific committees. Her research interests focus on distance and technology-enhanced learning, digital competences, open science, open educational resources, information literacy, and collaborative lifelong learning environments.

References

Bekiaridis, G., & Attwell, G. (Eds.). (2023). Supplement to the DigCompEDU framework: Outlining the skills and competences of educators related to AI in education. AI Pioneers. https://aipioneers.org/supplement-to-the-digcompedu-framework/

Bender, E. M., Gebru, T., McMillan-Major, A., & Shmitchell, S. (2021). On the dangers of stochastic parrots: Can language models be too big? In Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (pp. 610-623). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3442188.3445922

Bennis, I., & Mouwafaq, S. (2025). Advancing AI-driven thematic analysis in qualitative research: A comparative study of nine generative models. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 25(124). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12911-025-02961-5

Bittle, K., & El-Gayar, O. (2025). Generative AI and Academic Integrity in Higher Education: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda. Information, 16(4), 296. https://doi.org/10.3390/info16040296

Bozkurt, A. (2024). GenAI et al.: Cocreation, Authorship, Ownership, Academic Ethics and Integrity in a Time of Generative AI. Open Praxis, 16(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.55982/openpraxis.16.1.654

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2022). Thematic analysis: A practical guide. SAGE.

Castañeda, L., Vanaclocha, N., Velasco, J. R., Ruiz, P., Hartillo, M. I., Pereira, E., & Ruiz, A. (2023). Marco de competencia digital docente universitario: Creación y validación. Universidad de Murcia.

Cevik, A. A., & Abu-Zidan, F. M. (2025). Utilizing AI-powered thematic analysis: Methodology, implementation, and lessons learned. Cureus, 17(6), e85338. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.85338

European Commission. (2022). Ethical guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and data in teaching and learning for educators. Publications Office of the European Union. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/153756

García-López, I. M., & Trujillo-Liñán, L. (2025). Ethical and regulatory challenges of Generative AI in education: a systematic review. Frontiers in Education, 10, 1565938 https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1565938

Giannini, S. (2023). Generative AI and the future of education. UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000385877

Jenkins, D. M., Cleverley-Thompson, S., Erikson, D., Blankenbaker, A., & Brown-Saracino, B. (2025). Prompting for meaning: Exploring generative AI tools for qualitative data analysis in leadership research. Journal of Leadership Studies, 19(3), e70014. https://doi.org/10.1002/jls.70014

Naeem, M., Smith, T., & Thomas, L. (2025). Thematic analysis and artificial intelligence: A step-by-step process for using ChatGPT in thematic analysis. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 24. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069251333886

OECD. (2023). Artificial intelligence in science: Challenges, opportunities, and the future of research. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/a8d820bd-en

Peterson, S. (2025). Addressing Student Use of Generative AI in Schools and Universities through Academic Integrity Reporting. Frontiers in Education, 10, 1610836. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1610836

Redecker, C. (2017). European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators: DigCompEdu (Y. Punie, Ed.). Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2760/159770

Shor, R., Greene, E. A., Sumberg, L., & Weingrad, A. B. (2025). AI Tools in Academia: Evaluating NotebookLM as a Tool for Conducting Literature Reviews. Psychiatry, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1080/00332747.2025.2541531

UNESCO. (2021). Recommendation on the ethics of artificial intelligence. UNESCO. https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/recommendation-ethics-artificial-intelligence

UNESCO. (2023a). Guidance for generative AI in education and research. UNESCO. https://doi.org/10.54675/EWZM9535

UNESCO. (2023b). Harnessing the era of artificial intelligence in higher education: A primer for higher education stakeholders. UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000386670

UNESCO. (2024). AI competency framework for teachers. UNESCO. https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/ai-competency-framework-teachers

Downloads

Published

2026-06-30

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 2 (2026): Educators’ Digital Competence in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Reconfigurations of Pedagogical Practice

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Sisyphus — Journal of Education

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Copyright (c) belongs to Sisyphus - Journal of Education. However, we encourage issued articles to be published elsewhere, provided that Sisyphus authorization is asked for and that authors integrate our original source citation and a link to our website.

Author Self-Archiving Policy
Author(s) are permitted to self-archive the final published version in institutional or thematic repositories, and in their personal or institutional websites.

DORA Signer
The Instituto de Educação da Universidade de Lisboa, Sisyphus' Publisher, is a San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment signer.