Teachers’ perceptions of educational apps use: Psychometric properties of a new instrument (PEAU-t), validation, and measurement invariance

Abstract

Modern digital technologies have radically changed communication and learning, especially for young children who, from a very young age, get familiar with a variety of educational apps. These technologies pose a challenge among parents and teachers in regards of deciding about the values and suitability of these applications because of the multiple criteria involved, both positive and negative aspects. The rise of educational apps as formal or informal learning aids decisively depends on teachers’ perceptions and beliefs about their appropriateness and their function, while research in the field needs and presupposes valid means for assessing those perceptions. The present endeavor contributes by developing and validating a new instrument, PEAU-t (Perceptions about Educational Apps Use-teachers). Data were collected from preschool and primary education teachers (N = 756) via an online survey and analyzed with exploratory and confirmatory procedures to study the psychometric properties of PEAU-t. Principal Axis Factoring extracted four factors that explained 51.1% of the total variance, namely Worthiness, Skill Acquisition, Worries, and Enjoyment, with eigenvalues of 5.46, 4.15, 4.10, and 2.80, respectively, while the corresponding portions of variance explained were 16.6%, 12.6%, 12.4%, 8.5%, respectively. Reliability analysis showed satisfactory values of internal consistency measured by McDonald's omega και Cronbach's alpha (ω = 0.835 to 0.893, α = 0.837 to 0.884). Exploratory and confirmatory Factor Analysis suggested that PEAU-t is a valid instrument that can be used to assess teachers’ perceptions about educational apps use, while the measurement invariance assumption holds for the variables tested.