RESEARCH ARTICLE
Digital Proficiency and Educational Technology Use as Predictors of Elementary and Secondary Teachers’ AI-TPACK
Soyeon Kim1, Jung-ho Byeon2*
1Yeoul Primary School
2Kangwon National University
Correspondence to Jung-ho Byeon, jhbyeon@kangwon.ac.kr
Brain, Digital, & Learning. Volume 16, Number 3, 215–226, September 2026. https://doi.org/10.31216/BDL.2026.16.3.1
Received on August 03, 2026, Revised on September 19, 2026, Accepted on September 21, 2026, Published on September 30, 2026.
Copyright © 2026 Institute of Brain·AI based Education, Korea National University of Education This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
This study examined the relationships of elementary and secondary teachers’ digital proficiency, frequency of educational technology use, and average daily digital device use with artificial intelligence technological pedagogical content knowledge (AI-TPACK). It also examined whether these variables predicted overall AI-TPACK and whether digital proficiency and AI-TPACK differed by school level. Data from 139 elementary and secondary teachers and education specialists who completed an online survey were included in the final analysis. AI-TPACK was assessed using a 27-item self-report instrument covering five domains. Digital proficiency, average daily digital device use, and frequency of educational technology use were also measured using self-report items. The data were examined through descriptive statistics, mean comparisons using independent-samples t tests, bivariate Pearson correlations, and a multiple regression model. Digital proficiency and frequency of educational technology use were positively associated with all AI-TPACK domains and overall AI-TPACK. Both variables significantly predicted overall AI-TPACK, with digital proficiency showing the larger standardized coefficient. In contrast, average daily digital device use was weakly associated only with AI technological knowledge (AI-TK) and did not significantly predict overall AI-TPACK. The regression model explained 39.6% of the variance in overall AI-TPACK. Elementary participants reported higher digital proficiency and higher scores on the integrated AI-TPACK domain than secondary participants. No significant school-level differences were found in overall AI-TPACK or the other domains. Descriptively, AI-Ethic had the lowest mean score among the AI-TPACK domains. These findings suggest that AI-TPACK is more closely related to understanding digital technologies and applying them in educational contexts than to general device use. Teacher education and professional development should emphasize purposeful instructional application, pedagogical integration, and the ethical use of AI technologies.
Keywords
AI-TPACK, digital proficiency, educational technology use, digital device use, teacher competence, artificial intelligence education