Digital Transformation in Early Childhood Education: Teachers’ Self-regulated Model for Digital Learning

Abstract

—The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the world of education, especially for lower levels of education such as early childhood education. It has changed its teaching pattern into innovation by implementing online learning. Therefore, teachers need to have a good self-regulated strategy to achieve the online learning goals. This study aims to describe a conceptual model for representing the self-regulated strategy of early childhood teachers in digital learning using a quantitative survey approach. The data collection involved 100 early childhood teachers in Indonesia with a focus on the analysis of three aspects of teachers’ behavior in a digital learning environment: 1) IT experience, 2) IT motivation, and 3) online self-regulated strategy. The study proposed a conceptual model for teachers’ self-regulated strategy to implement digital learning. The study also noted that based on the technology perspective, both IT experience and IT motivation play a critical role in affecting teachers’ self-regulated strategy for digital learning. The main contribution of this study was to provide an understanding of the importance of a self-regulated strategy for teachers toward innovation in early childhood education in a digital learning environment. In doing so, the results of this study can be regarded as a starting point for incentive future research for the successful implementation of digital transformation in early childhood education.