Abstract

This research and development study developed and evaluated a smartphone-compatible blended training platform intended to strengthen teachers’ digital competence and support student learning. The study comprised four phases. An exploratory needs assessment used 30 returned teacher questionnaires; five experts reviewed the platform; 42 teachers participated in one-to-one, small-group, and field efficiency trials; 250 teachers joined the main single-group pretest-posttest implementation; and trained teachers provided ratings concerning 2,500 students. Instruments included current-and-desired-state questionnaires, an expert review form, a teacher knowledge test, teacher self-rating scales, teacher-completed student rating scales, and satisfaction questionnaires. The needs questionnaire had a Cronbach’s alpha of .93, and reported item-objective congruence indices ranged from 0.80 to 1.00. The current-state mean was 2.47 (SD = 0.50), the desired-state mean was 4.61 (SD = 0.49), and PNI_modified was 0.87. Experts rated the platform highly (M = 4.83, SD = 0.32), and the field trial achieved an E1/E2 efficiency of 89.27/88.53. Teachers’ knowledge scores rose from 18.63 to 26.91, t(249) = 49.68, p < .001. Descriptively, teachers’ mean self-rated digital competence changed from 3.37 to 4.75, and mean teacher ratings of students changed from 3.16 to 4.72. Teacher and student satisfaction were high. Because the needs sample was small, the implementation lacked a control group, and competence outcomes relied on rating scales—including student ratings completed by trained teachers—the findings indicate feasibility and within-project change rather than causal effectiveness. Larger controlled studies using independent, performance-based measures are needed.

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