The purpose of this study was to investigate the distance education experience of early childhood teachers, the meaning of technology use, and the direction of appropriate teacher support. This reflects the fact that the use of technology can act as a...
The purpose of this study was to investigate the distance education experience of early childhood teachers, the meaning of technology use, and the direction of appropriate teacher support. This reflects the fact that the use of technology can act as an important factor in the social change in which the development of technology is rapidly changing and early childhood education. The influence and mediating effect of variables related to distance education experience and early childhood teachers were investigated with a focus on ‘technology’.
For this purpose, the research questions set in this study are as follows.
1. What is the correlation between early childhood teachers' distance education experience and TPACK, TUA, BI, TE, and CSE?
2. Are there multiple parallel mediating effects of TE and CSE on the effects of early childhood teachers' distance education experience on TPACK, TUA, and BI?
This study used the results of a survey of 217 teachers working in kindergartens and daycare centers in Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, and Incheon for a total of 30 days from March 22, 2021 to April 20, 2021 as research data. Data were collected by surveying teachers using the scales of distance education experience, TPACK, TUA, BI, TE, and CSE scales. To investigate the general trends of variables of the SPSS Statistics 26 program, distance education experience, and teachers using the collected data, descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation coefficient were calculated. The significance of inter-variable influence was verified with SPSS PROCESS macro 4.0 program Model 4. Finally, the significance of the indirect effect and multiple parallel mediating effects according to the path were identified by the bootstrap technique.
The main results of the early childhood teacher's distance education experience, the trends and influences of the early childhood teacher-related variables derived through this process, and the multiple parallel mediation effects are summarized as follows.
First, the average of early childhood teachers' distance education experience, TPACK, TUA, BI, TE, and CSE showed the highest average of CSE.
Second, the correlations among early childhood teachers' distance education experience, TPACK, TUA, BI, TE, and CSE were all statistically significant and showed a positive correlation.
Third, the multiple parallel mediating effects of TE and CSE on TPACK, TUA, and BI of early childhood teachers' distance education experience are as follows. As a result of the total effect and direct effect verification, the early childhood teacher's distance education experience had a direct positive effect on TPACK and TUA, but the early childhood teacher's distance education experience did not directly affect the BI. In addition, TE and CSE had a statistically significant effect on TPACK, TUA, and BI. As a result of verifying the significance of the indirect effect of TE and CSE, the indirect effect of TE and CSE was significant in all pathways, indicating that there is a multiple parallel mediating effect of TE and CSE.
In conclusion, although the distance education experience of early childhood teachers did not directly affect BI, the indirect effects of TE and CSE were significant and had a direct influence and correlation between each teacher-related variable, except that they had a fully mediated effect. Therefore, it is necessary to identify various variables and contextual factors rather than considering only a single aspect of early childhood teachers' use of technology. In particular, it is necessary to consider the effect mediated by the teacher's sense of efficacy and provide support based on this. This suggests that it is necessary to reflect and support the fact that the influence of various aspects of teachers can also affect the direction of early childhood technology use. These results are expected to be used as basic data for future research to improve the appropriateness and direction for early childhood distance education and the use of technology.