Predictors of digital learning engagement in middle school students
Predictors of digital learning engagement in middle school students

Summary/Abstract: Technology enhanced learning (TEL) refers to the process of learning and teaching assisted by technology. Modern educational systems rely on TEL environments and recent large-scale events like the COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the need for implementing such environments. Although its utility is largely undisputed, there is a need of assessing the factors that differentiate the students’ level of engagement in traditional learning and teaching systems from the TEL environments. The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of TEL engagement in middle school students and examine the factors that might predict it, testing in the same time a mediation model that might explain the relationship between TEL engagement and the other factors. The results revealed that of the three predictors included, the only one that significantly predicted the digital learning engagement was internet skills (β = .40, p < .001), with the creative subcomponent of internet skills being the most strongly correlated with this type of learning engagement (r = .49, p < .05). The tested mediation model was found to be explanatory for the results, as internet skills significantly mediate the relationship between digital learning engagement and electronic devices self-efficacy and attitudes. Implications for educational system and possible explanatory psychological mechanisms are discussed.

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