Investigating Pre-service Elementary Teachers’ Competencies in Utilizing Digital Media and EdTech for English Instruction

The present study implemented Project-Based Learning (PBL) to enhance pre-service teachers’ competencies in using EdTech, focusing on learning and practicing various digital tools for elementary English instruction. Throughout a six-week PBL course, 65 pre-service teachers participated in activities such as creating digital storybooks using text-to-speech (TTS) tools, developing AI chatbots, and designing interactive experiences in the metaverse. Despite the limited timeframe, pre-service teachers effectively developed a strong understanding of new EdTech tools and their classroom applications. Participants self-evaluated their EdTech application skills through preand post-surveys, revealing a meaningful increase in their self-evaluation scores after the course. The results suggest that the digital competence development program experienced through this study significantly improved the participants’ perceived abilities to utilize EdTech in their teaching practices. Additionally, the AI chatbots, metaverse spaces, and digital storybooks produced by the pre-service teachers were deemed suitable for elementary English classes, displaying a high level of completeness.