Spanish validation perceived ease of ICT among future early childhood education and primary school teachers

Abstract

AbstractThe use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has been increasing in education. Despite its benefits, not everyone perceives its use with the same ease. This raises the need to observe the perceived ease of use (PEOU) of ICT among future teachers, which requires a valid and reliable instrument to measure this variable for the Spanish population. The aim of this study is to validate PEOU among trainee early childhood education and primary education teachers studying at Spanish universities and observe the factorial invariance across gender. Two studies were conducted: the first study consisted of an Exploratory Factor Analysis with 474 students (Mage = 21.17; SD = 4.03), while the second study tested the scale based on 796 students (Mage = 21.25; SD = 3.99). The results found that PEOU is a valid and reliable measurement scale consisting of two factors (FI. Difficulty [α = 0.89] and FII. Ease [α = 0.81], and that there are no gender differences. In conclusion, it provides a scale to assess PEOU of ICT among the Spanish adult population.