A network communicative culture for future teachers: development of digital literacy and communicative competence

Abstract

While classroom technology integration has accelerated, significant gaps remain in teacher readiness, attitudes, and support resources – obstructing effective adoption. Surveys in Kazakhstan spotlight acute obstacles, including rigid policies, limited autonomy, and change reluctance mindsets exacerbating access inequalities. This study aimed to co-develop a formalized framework elevating student teacher distance learning capacities through modularized training tools directly embedding educator voice and addressing specialized developmental needs they surface. A human-centered design-based research (DBR) approach was enacted encompassing needs Analysis, Iterative Co-Design, expansive Evaluation, targeted Consolidation, and multi-channel Diffusion of co-produced innovations. Intensive initial surveys across 400 students combined with 32 stakeholder interviews revealed key obstacles related to competencies, resources, and ingrained assumptions that informed participatory concept development. In 6-month engaged workshops, the 10-teacher design team created customized artifacts while displaying attitudinal shifts from skepticism towards ownership of distance learning merits through transparency. Consolidated modular tools demonstrated 75% voluntary localized integration within 6 months alongside peer visibility fueling further usage. Teachers assumed increased self-efficacy believing broader transitions attainable through cooperation addressing barriers once viewed as intractable. This study yielded the customizable Network Communicative Structure framework elevating technology integration readiness by consolidating situational priorities surfaced through participatory transparency methodologies. Furthermore, the scalable co-creation toolkits embed authentic user language, increasing solutions receptivity and rehumanizing change processes by granting genuine voice to educators tasked with adoption.

Keywords

• Network communicative structure
• distance learning
• design-based research
• participatory methodology
• teacher attitudes
• instructional technology integration