Associations of different types of informal teacher learning with teachers' technology integration intention

This study investigated the associations between different types of informal teacher learning (ITL) activities and teachers' technology integration. Five types of ITL were examined: learning through media, through colleague, stakeholder, and student interactions, and through reflection. Structural equation modelling and bootstrapping were used to analyse 1,881 questionnaire responses from Chinese K-12 teachers. The results revealed that ITL activities were significantly associated with teachers' technology integration. Among the five types of ITL activities, the inner source of ITL, learning through reflection, and the non-interactive social source of ITL, learning through media, exhibited stronger associations with teacher technology integration than did the interactive social sources of ITL. Among the three interactive ITL activities, the effects of learning through student interaction and learning through colleague interaction were significantly associated with teachers' adoption of technology. The effect of learning through student interaction on technology integration was mediated in equal parts by perceived usefulness and self-efficacy beliefs, while the effect of learning through colleague interaction was mediated only by perceived usefulness. Learning through stakeholder interaction was not a significant determinant of teacher technology adoption. The findings call for greater attention to ITL activities in supporting teacher technology integration. The findings also support taking a differentiated approach to understanding the relationship between ITL activities and teacher technology integration, as well as developing ITL-centred professional development initiatives.