A study of preservice teachers’ digital competence development: Exploring the role of direct instruction, integrated practice, and modeling

As technology rapidly transforms educational landscapes, the imperative for teachers to possess digital competence becomes increasingly vital. This paper explores the effectiveness of different approaches employed by teacher education programs in equipping preservice teachers with digital competence. The study categorizes these approaches into three main groups: direct, integrated, and modeling. Through an analysis based on the DigCompEdu framework, the study aims to explore the relationship between teacher training approaches and the development of preservice teachers' digital competences. A mixed-methods approach, including surveys and document analyses, was utilized, involving 399 preservice teachers and 84 teacher educators from various Lebanese teacher training programs. The results indicate that teacher educators’ modeling plays a pivotal role in influencing preservice teachers' overall digital competence, surpassing the impact of both direct and integrated approaches. Recommendations include prioritizing digital professional development for teacher educators, revising curricula, addressing course design effectiveness, and enhancing both direct and integrated approaches. These insights aim to inform the design and improvement of teacher training programs to meet the evolving demands of digital education.