Towards Digitalization in Early Childhood Education: Pre-Service Teachers’ Acceptance of Using Digital Storytelling, Comics, and Infographics in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Despite the promise of digital technology to enhance the teaching–learning process, integrating it into early childhood education remains a challenge. Recent literature shows that novice teachers do not fully utilize the potential of digital technology to promote student learning. Therefore, this study aims to investigate early childhood pre-service teachers’ intentions to use three digital technology applications—Digital storytelling, digital comics, and digital infographics—As teaching tools, which critically contribute to their acceptance into and actual use in their future classrooms. A descriptive correlational approach was used to investigate the factors affecting the use intentions of pre-service teachers through the technological acceptance model (TAM). This research study seeks to contribute to the literature on digital technology integration in early childhood education in general and in the Saudi Arabian early childhood context in particular. The study results showed that how pre-service teachers perceived the ease of use of the three digital applications was significantly the major predictor of their attitudes toward using them. The study also found that pre-service teachers’ attitudes were significantly the major predictors of their behavioral intentions to use digital storytelling and comics in their future classrooms. However, attitude and perceived usefulness were equally valid predictors of pre-service teachers’ intentions to use infographics with young children. Important implications for training and teacher education programs were suggested by the findings.