Digital Competence of Preservice Primary School Teachers: The Role of Digital Material Development Experience and Self-Assessed Artificial Intelligence Use Competence

This study aimed to determine the digital competence levels of preservice primary school teachers, examine whether their competence differed according to personal and experiential variables, and investigate the relationship between self-assessed artificial intelligence (AI) use competence and digital competence. The study employed descriptive and correlational survey designs with 119 preservice teachers enrolled in primary school teacher education programs at five universities. Data were collected through a Personal Information Form, which included a single-item self-assessment of AI use competence, and the 25-item, five-dimensional Teacher Digital Competence Scale. Descriptive statistics, independent-samples t-tests, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson correlation, and simple linear regression were used. Overall digital competence was high. Scores did not differ significantly by gender, age, year of study, previous digital technology training, or previous AI training. Participants with digital material development experience had significantly higher competence (Hedges’ g = 0.76). Self-assessed AI use competence was strongly and positively associated with overall digital competence (r = .646) and accounted for 41.7% of its variance. The findings suggest that active digital production and AI-supported material development experiences are associated with stronger digital competence and deserve attention in teacher education.