The Early Childhood Educators’ Attitudes Towards Innovative Instructional Applications about Digital Learning Activities for Young Children

Abstract

The innovative value and practices of digital learning activities assist early childhood educators in employing effective instruction to improve young children's performance as well as advance their own professional autonomy to implement digital learning activities for young children. This study examined the factors and relationships about early childhood educators' attitudes towards the integration and behavioral intention of digital learning tools into young children's innovative pedagogical activities using a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire consisted of five factors, including digital innovative value (DIV), digital innovative practices (DIP), perception of instructional use (PIU), instructional professional autonomy (IPA), and behavioral intention to use (BIU). The researcher used structural equation modeling to analyze the survey data. The results showed that early childhood educators' perceptions about innovative value and applications of digital learning activities play a key role in the success of young children's performance and competence in preschool. The early childhood educators with positive attitudes towards the innovative consideration and practical instructional applications of digital learning activities had more behavioral intention to plan and design instructional activities with innovative applications of digital learning tools.