Teachers’ acceptance of an open-source, collaborative, free m-learning app: The predictive role of teachers’ self-approach goals

• Published in: Education and information technologies Vol. 28; no. 12; pp. 16373 - 16401
• Main Authors: Mascret, Nicolas, Marlin, Kane, Laisney, Patrice, Castéra, Jérémy, Brandt-Pomares, Pascale
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.12.2023; Springer; Springer Nature B.V; Springer Verlag
• Subjects: Adoption (Ideas); Collaboration; Computer Appl. in Social and Behavioral Sciences; Computer Attitudes; Computer Oriented Programs; Computer Science; Computer Uses in Education; Computers and Education; Education; Educational Technology; Effect Size; Electronic Learning; Experienced Teachers; Foreign Countries; Humanities; Humanities and Social Sciences; Information Systems Applications (incl.Internet); Learning; Open Source Technology; Preservice Teachers; Science Teachers; Social Sciences; Structural Equation Models; Teacher Attitudes; Teacher Effectiveness; Teacher Motivation; Teaching; Teaching Skills; Technology Acceptance Model; Usability; User Interfaces and Human Computer Interaction; France; Technology adoption; Achievement goals; Mobile learning; Technology Acceptance Model; Pre-service teachers
• ISSN: 1360-2357; 1573-7608
• DOI: 10.1007/s10639-023-11832-3

Based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the aims of the present cross-sectional study were i) to investigate acceptance by teachers of an open-source, collaborative, free m-learning app, named Artefac , ii) to examine whether teachers’ self-approach goals (i.e., the motivation to teach more effectively than before) may be a relevant external variable to include in the TAM, and iii) to investigate potential differences of acceptance between school subjects (humanities and social science teachers vs. science teachers), status (in-service teachers vs. pre-service teachers), and contexts (teachers in schools classified as difficult vs. teachers in schools not so classified). A total of 419 French teachers (277 women, 142 men) took part in the present correlational survey. After reading a text with pictures presenting an open-source, collaborative, free m-learning app, named Artefac , the participants filled out a self-reported questionnaire about its acceptance before use, assessing perceived usefulness for teaching, perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, and intention to use. Teachers’ self-approach goals were also assessed. One-sample t-tests and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data. The results showed that Artefac was rather well accepted by teachers (with middle to strong effect sizes), whatever their school subject, their status, and their teaching context. The results also highlighted that teachers’ self-approach goals positively predicted perceived enjoyment and perceived ease of use but did not predict perceived usefulness for teaching, indicating that the more teachers wanted to increase their teaching skills, the more they found Artefac easy to use and fun to use.