Factors Influencing Pre-service Teachers' Intention to Use Digital Learning Materials: A Study Conducted During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany.

Jennifer Paetsch,Barbara Drechsel

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.733830

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated an abrupt change in university teacher education, in that most face-to-face courses were replaced by online education, which had a profound impact on students. Pandemic distance learning required students to possess a high degree of self-regulation concerning their learning environment and to find new ways of communicating with their peers and instructors. At the same time, the novel situation offered opportunities to experience new educational applications. To learn more about the possible benefits of distance learning, this study examines how the first online semester during the pandemic contributed to pre-service teachers' intentions to use digital learning materials in the future. Pre-service teachers enrolled in a German university (n = 348) answered an online questionnaire at the end of the summer term of 2020. Findings from structural equation modeling showed that the perceived quality of teacher training during the online semester and self-reported improvements in digital skills predicted significantly students' intentions to use digital learning materials for future teaching. Moreover, results revealed that attentional regulation predicted perceived quality of teacher training and self-reported improvements in digital skills during distance learning. Thus, attentional regulation had a significant indirect effect on pre-service teachers' behavioral intentions. The indirect effects of other resource management strategies (effort and time management) and intrinsic motivation were not significant. Our results show that the quality of online instruction was an important factor in student teachers' learning processes during the pandemic. Based on our results, we discuss implications for the promotion of pre-service teachers' intentions to use digital learning materials for teaching in schools.

Highlights

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated a range of measures to restrict social contact
These findings reveal that the perceived quality of teacher training during the online semester (β = 0.25, p < 0.05) and self-reported digital skills (β = 0.16, p < 0.05) were significant predictors of students’ intention to use digital learning materials for teaching
Against the backdrop of the switch to distance education necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the present study aimed to shed light on pre-service teachers’ experiences during the challenging situation and to identify key factors in students’ intentions to use digital learning materials in their future teaching profession

Summary

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated a range of measures to restrict social contact. One of these has been the widespread introduction of distance learning in schools, colleges, and universities (UNICEF, 2020). In higher education (HE), this move has had a profound impact, with most face-to-face courses replaced by online education and only laboratory work in subjects such as medicine and chemistry remaining unaffected (Crawford et al, 2020). The extent to which HE has been digitalized was revealed by the first IAU—COVID-19 Global Impact Survey, which found that 85% of European institutions had replaced classroom teaching with remote instruction, while 15% had suspended or canceled teaching activities altogether (Marinoni et al, 2020). At the same time, reduced access to the support systems and fixed structures that typify campus instruction has demanded higher levels of autonomy, self-regulation, and intrinsic motivation from students (Naujoks et al, 2021; Pelikan et al, 2021)

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