Since the early spring of 2020, the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a major impact on the educational systems worldwide, as the traditional way of on-site classroom has changed to remote learning, hybrid classroom or a mixture of hybrid and on-site classroom (Reintjes et al., 2021). Hence, it becomes more and more important to ensure digitally supported teaching and learning situations in school.  

ICT in education in Germany has received increasing scientific and political attention and resulted in nationwide educational policy frameworks, which declared that schools are responsible for fostering students’ ICT skills in all subjects (KMK, 2017, 2021). With a large nationwide investment program, 6 billion Euro are available for German schools in order to ensure digital infrastructure since 2019, which is flanked by efforts within the federal states. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, additional investment programs were expanded (BMBF, 2021). To date, there is still a need to investigate how well ICT equipment in school is prepared for digitally supported learning and instruction under pandemic conditions.

Based on empirical research, Lorenz and Bos (2017) proposed a complex framework of the quality dimensions of using ICT in learning and instruction. This framework distinguishes between preconditions of ICT in learning and instruction at the input and process levels: The latter also distinguishes between processes at the school level as well as at the teaching level.  Against this background (see also Gräsel et al., 2020), empirical findings showed that ICT equipment in school as well as teacher ICT-related attitudes and teacher ICT related self-efficacy were positively connected with teacher ICT use (e.g., Hatlevik & Hatlevik, 2018; Lorenz et al., 2019). Apart from teachers’ ICT use, relatively little is known about further preconditions of processes at the teaching level such as teachers’ abilities to organize digitally supported teaching and use digitally supported student achievement evaluation, especially under the COVID-19 pandemic conditions.

The aim of this study was to examine whether teacher and school ICT-related factors (i.e., ICT equipment in school during the pandemic and teacher ICT-related self-efficacy) would be associated with the quality of digitally supported teaching processes in terms of teaching organization and achievement evaluation. As teacher–student communication has shifted to be more digital as well as digitally supported teaching learning processes have increasingly taken place during the pandemic, we assumed that ICT equipment in school and teacher ICT-related self-efficacy should enhance teachers’ abilities to organize teaching and use digitally supported student achievement evaluation under pandemic conditions. As background variables, such as school setting and teacher gender, were found to be related with study variables (e.g., Drossel et al., 2019; Eickelmann & Drossel, 2020). Both variables were taken into account as control variables.

Analyses of the present study were based on data of a representative survey of secondary school teachers from the sixteen German federal states (with at least 50 teachers from each federal state). To adjust for regional distributions in the current survey, a weighting variable was included in the data analyses. Overall, 1,510 teachers from all school types (excluding special needs schools) had participated in the current research (58% female; 45% working in Gymnasium schools; average age: 45 years old [SD = 11.02]). The teacher survey took place in summer 2021 using computer-assisted and fully structured interviews. Teachers’ demographic information as well as their perceptions of school and teacher ICT-related factors were collected using reliable and validated instruments and scales (e.g., Lorenz et al., 2017). In terms of ICT equipment in school during the pandemic, teachers were asked to rate their agreement (using 5-Likert scale: 1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strong agree) with four items perceived in the past eight weeks during the pandemic (alpha = .70). Teacher ICT-related self-efficacy was assessed by five items with responses on a five-rating scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree; 5 items; alpha = .86) on the basis of TPACK model (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) (e.g., Endberg & Lorenz, 2016; Mishra & Koehler, 2006). According to dependent variables in this study, we assessed the quality of digitally supported teaching processes in terms of digitally supported teaching organisation and student achievement evaluation. Five items (alpha = .75) were used to assess digitally supported teaching organisation: Likewise, digitally supported student achievement evaluation was assessed by three items (alpha = .56). Responses for the two scales were given on a four-point rating scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). A structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis with Mplus 8.6 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998–2017) was performed to examine associations among study variables.

In the SEM model, two independent variables (school ICT equipment the pandemic, teacher ICT-related self-efficacy) as well as two dependent variables (digitally supported teaching organisation and student achievement evaluation) served as latent constructs. For each latent construct, scale items served then as manifest variables. School setting (Gymnasium) and teacher gender (female) were included in the SEM model as control variables. Overall, the SEM model revealed an acceptable fit to the data, χ2 (170, N = 1,510) = 5,681.04, CFI = .92, SRMR = .05, RMSEA = .05. As expected, the results revealed that ICT equipment in school during the pandemic and teacher ICT-related self-efficacy were significantly positively associated with digitally supported teaching organization. Teacher ICT-related self-efficacy was found to be significantly positively associated with digitally supported student achievement evaluation. However, no significant connections between ICT equipment in school during the pandemic and digitally supported student achievement evaluation were found. The results also revealed significantly negative associations between Gymnasium school setting and both dependent variables. Female teacher gender was significantly positively associated with digitally supported student achievement evaluation, while there was no significant relation of female teacher gender to perceived ICT equipment in school. Together, the results of the present study suggest that ICT equipment in school during the pandemic and teacher ICT-related self-efficacy tend to support teachers’ organization of digitally supported teaching. Furthermore, teachers with higher ICT-related self-efficacy are more likely to use digitally supported student achievement evaluation. Gymnasium teachers are less likely to organize digitally supported teaching and use digitally supported student achievement evaluation. Female teachers are more likely to use digitally supported student achievement evaluation. Findings and implications of this study will be further discussed.

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