Early Childhood Educators’ Attitudes to Internet Self-Efficacy and Internet-Related Instructional Applications: The Mediating Effects of Internet Enjoyment and Professional Support

Abstract

To understand early childhood educators’ attitudes toward internet-related instructional applications, this study examined several factors that influence educators’ practical instructional behaviors and analyzed the mediating effects of internet enjoyment and professional support on their attitudes toward internet-related instructional applications. We conducted a survey in Taiwan and analyzed the original data collected from the questionnaire survey through structural equation modeling. The survey evaluated four factors: internet self-efficacy, internet-related instructional applications, internet enjoyment, and the professional support available via the internet. The results showed that early childhood educators’ attitudes toward integrating the internet into their instruction practices can be measured by these latent constructs. Early childhood educators’ enjoyment of the internet and engagement with internet-based professional support performed partially mediating effects on the relationship between their attitudes toward internet self-efficacy and internet-related instructional applications. Furthermore, early childhood educators’ attitudes toward internet-related instructional applications were influenced by their perceptions of the friendliness of interfaces and their enjoyment of the internet. The platform of community interaction provided by the internet and the atmosphere of cooperative support educators found appraisal of the internet’s broader implications for instructional and professional performance in their field.