Italian in-training teachers: What influences their acceptance of Distance Education?

The willingness of educators to introduce opportunities for Distance Education (DE) remains uncertain despite the substantial use of such approaches during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the study is to identify which factors may influence DE acceptance in a sample of Italian pre-service teachers from different subjects. Following the General Extended Technology Acceptance Model for E-learning (GETAMEL), we hypothesized that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness may predict intention of future use of DE, which is an indicator of DE acceptance. We also hypothesized that a social factor (such as subjective norm) and a contextual factor (such as facilitating conditions) could influence perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. One hundred and fifty pre-service teachers (F = 139; average age 37.11 years) completed the Teacher’s Acceptance of Distance Education Scale (TADES) and its factor structure was verified by a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Results emerging from a Path Analysis confirmed our hypotheses in part. Implications to promote future use of DE in higher education are discussed.