A Quantitative Research on the Key Influencing Factors of Pre-Service Teachers' Digital Literacy Based on K-Means Algorithm

Abstract

The explosion of the digital era has introduced major changes to higher education, in which digitalisation and innovation have transformed teaching and learning. Digital technology and innovations impact higher education through the engagement of digitally literate pre-service teachers in the classrooms. These literate pre-service teachers will be the primary contributors to the traditional education systems in addition to their essential role in establishing the new educational ecosystem. Many prior studies in the field of pre-service teachers' digital literacy development tended to adopt qualitative or subjective methods as a focus of only one factor. In this study, we attempt to solve such problems with a quantitative method named the K-Means clustering based on survey data collected with 302 pre-service teachers by the questionnaire. The analysis results are clear that digital literacy requires: a) organised programs on digital skills, b) institutional policy backing, and c) basic technological infrastructure at school. In these results, the need for ideal, contextualised teacher training programs has been specified, as well as policy and resources. The use of K-Means algorithm could give us a data-based perspective on the phenomenon that these factors impact on preservice teachers' digital literacy, wich can also give some guiding approaches for teacher professional preparation programs. Our results join the wider debate of the improvement of digital literacy in the teaching community and point out the importance of the improved non-prescriptive approach that focuses on specific interventions targeted to pre-service teachers' heterogeneous profiles across the digital literacy maturation.