Abstract
Online education has become a major reaction to the COVID-19 epidemic, which requires preschool teachers to quickly adapt to online education and accept educational technology. In this emergency background, research on the preschool teachers’ technology acceptance provides clues to improve preschool teachers’ intention to use educational technology. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is widely used to examine the process of individuals’ technology acceptance in the previous literature. Therefore, this study seeks to examine preschool teachers’ technology acceptance with the adapted TAM and their determinant factors. The proposed model was empirically validated by using survey data from 1,568 preschool teachers during the COVID-19. Results indicate that preschool teachers’ behavioral intention was moderate to high level. Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are direct significant predictors of preschool teachers’ behavioral intention. Perceived usefulness is affected by perceived ease of use and job relevance. Computer self-efficacy and perceptions of external control are the positive factors toward perceived ease of use. Our findings present powerful evidence for the applicability of the adapted TAM in a sample of Chinese preschool teachers under emergency circumstances. These results highlighted some potential avenues for interventions aimed at improving preschool teachers’ acceptance toward educational technology.
Highlights
During the COVID-19, the shift from the offline education to emergency distance teaching has made teachers feel unprecedented pressure to use technology (Ferdig et al, 2020; Knig et al, 2020; Quezada et al, 2020)
Motivated by the call of technology into early childhood education, the current study aims to explore preschool teachers’ acceptance intention and its determinant factors toward educational technology based on the adapted Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)
We evaluated the fit of the model by the following indicators: The Chi-Square statistic (χ2), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), Root-Mean-Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA), and Standardized Root-Mean-Square Residual (SRMR)
Summary
During the COVID-19, the shift from the offline education to emergency distance teaching has made teachers feel unprecedented pressure to use technology (Ferdig et al, 2020; Knig et al, 2020; Quezada et al, 2020). Technology Acceptance During the COVID-19 the COVID-19, aims to reduce face-to-face courses and enforce social distancing. Such expectations come to nothing if preschool teachers lack behavioral intention to use technology, because any technology or system’s success depends on how it is used by its target users (Granicand Marangunic, 2019). Based on the TAM, our study’s main purpose is to explore preschool teachers’ acceptance toward computer-mediated educational technology and key determinant factors during the COVID-19. The present study would be guided by the two research questions: How is the preschool teachers’ acceptance intention to educational technology during the COVID-19? The present study would be guided by the two research questions: How is the preschool teachers’ acceptance intention to educational technology during the COVID-19? What are relationships between preschool teachers’ technology acceptance intention and its determinant factors during the COVID-19?
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