Conference Agenda

Integrating educational technologies and digital literacy into the classroom has become imperative to enhance teaching and learning experiences (Garza-Montemayor et al., 2019). When exploring the relationship between teachers and technology, Prestridge (2017) found that teachers beliefs, lack of confidence, lack of pedagogical and technological competence are key aspects for the use of technologies in the classroom. Further examination of the problem suggests that teacher education programmes provide growing, but limited preparation (Starkey, 2020) and, in cases, inadequate focus on pedagogical applications of digital technology in schools (Heitink et al., 2016).

This research proposal explores the intended pedagogical use of technologies by pre-service teachers enrolled in the ITE programmes of University of Glasgow and current use by in-service primary school teachers within Glasgow Local Authority. This study follows a mixed method, concurrent-parallel design where quantitative and qualitative data will be collected simultaneously and merged to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon (Creswell and Plano Clark, 2017). The quantitative study will follow a descriptive-exploratory design based on the application of an online adapted version of the teachers’ digital competence (DigCompEdu) instrument. The qualitative data will be collected in the same instrument via five open-ended questions that aims to collect pre-service and in-service teachers’ perceptions on the pedagogical use of digital technologies in classrooms.

The findings will provide insights and greater understanding of diigtal teaching practices, and aim to contribute to the ongoing discourse around teacher education for a digital world, as well as gaining insight into the current state-of-the-question in Scotland and establish a baseline for further improvements to digital literacy in teacher education and career-long professional development.

Creating effective learning environments remains a critical challenge in education, particularly in addressing the persistent inequalities in student outcomes. Despite the potential of teacher professional development (PD) programs to enhance classroom instruction and student achievement, traditional one-off PD workshops often yield limited effects. This study aims to evaluate an innovative approach to PD through the ‘High Touch High Tech’ (HTHT) model, combining technology-driven personalized learning with teacher-facilitated, project-based classroom experiences.

The study draws on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to explain the adoption and use of the HTHT approach by teachers and students. TAM posits that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness are key factors that drive the acceptance and effective integration of technology, and this research explores how these factors influenced teachers’ engagement with digital adaptive learning tools and how students benefited from the personalized learning experience.

Using a clustered randomized controlled trial in Uruguay, we assess the HTHT model’s impact on teacher effectiveness and both cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes. Our study involved 99 schools, 114 teachers, and 2,002 5^th-grade students across treatment and control groups.

Findings show a significant increase (47%) in individualized use of the digital learning platform among students in the HTHT intervention. Students in the treatment group demonstrated improved math performance (0.33 SD, p < 0.001), with gains linked to higher completion rates of episodes in the digital platform. Importantly, students benefitted equally from the HTHT interventions, regardless of their individual student characteristics (initial achievement, gender, father’s education) and school characteristics (school types, school quintile).

This study contributes to the discourse on how technology and innovative teaching practices can improve educational outcomes, highlighting the synergistic value of integrating technology with active learning strategies. The potential of HTHT as a scalable model for improving student outcomes in diverse contexts will be discussed.