We live in the 21^st century and many forms of social and cultural diversity is seen in digital forums since we live in a digital society. We are in many ways dependent on digital resources to be able to perform various socially obligatory functions in work, study, and everyday life. The digital resources connect people with each other and erase the limits between the surrounding word, society, school, and the teaching situation (Säljö, 2019). Schools in Europe have been gradually digitized especially since the 1990s and the curriculum emphasize that teachers should give all students the opportunity to develop their ability to use digital resources and to prepare for the surrounding society (Lundgren, 2014). The expression digital learning resources (DLR) is an expanded cumulative concept for digital technology and in this paper, it refers to any kind of digital resource that is used in education (Nilsen, et al., 2020; OECD, 2009; Selander, 2017; Wallin, et al., 2017). Although the access to digital resources in schools has been good, teachers’ didactic use of it has been varied (Tallvid, 2016). However, a major change took place in terms of teaching from the spring of 2020, when many schools in Europe and all over the world switched to online teaching to reduce the spread of Covid-19 (Beardsley, et al., 2021). This change forced every teacher to be more flexible and to use digital resources to be able to teach and communicate with students (Gileada & Dishonb, 2022). 

Many surrounding factors have affected teachers use of digital learning resources such as school environment, support access, professional development, outside school education and experiences. Studies show that school environment on organizational level affect teachers’ competence using DLR, together with several contextual factors  (Pettersson, 2018). Another important factor is teachers’ attitude towards digital resources in teaching (Eickelmann & Vennemann, 2017). Previous research also indicates that demographic factors such as teaching subject affects teachers use of digital resources(Bratland, et al., 2022; Erixon, 2014). Studies regarding teachers’ use of DLR emphasizes the need of further research on influencing factors (Erstad, et al., 2021). Against this background the aim of this study is to explore how surrounding factors and school environment influence upper secondary school teachers' use of digital learning resources (DLR) for teaching. The following two research questions were addressed:

1. What are the categories of surrounding factors and school environments affecting upper secondary school teachers use of DLR?
2. Are there any differences between these categories and the dimensions of teachers’ use of DLR?

This study uses the expanded didactic triangle to understand both the use of DLR and the factors affecting teachers use of DLR (Hudson & Meyer, 2011). Teachers’ didactic use, surrounding factors and school environment are explored through teachers views and answers in an online survey. Teachers’ dimensions using DLR includes the didactic purpose, the classroom practice and the frequency using different digital learning resources. 

The study was carried out using an online questionnaire conducted in 2022. A convenience sample of 243 teachers from 23 upper secondary schools in Sweden participated in the survey. The teachers answered self-reported questions and rated their answers on a six-point Likert scale from (1) strongly disagree, to (6) strongly agree. The layout, question-order, time required and formulations of the questions was designed using recommendations from research-manuals (Denscombe, 2021) and the content of the used questions were inspired by previous research (Eickelmann & Vennemann, 2017). Demographic questions and four other questions were used in this study, these were question 12 (frequency using different DLR), 14 (didactic purpose using DLR), 17 (classroom practice with DLR) and 19 (surrounding factors and school environment affecting the use of DLR). Cognitive interviews (Campanelli, 2008) as a pilot study with six upper secondary teachers were made, as well as discussions with fellow researchers. Minor adjustments were done, and the final questionnaire was distributed directly to teachers by email or through their principal by email or the school’s online platform. The data was analysed, using four survey-questions with several items, for an exploratory factor analysis, and standard multiple regression analysis for correlations. The statistical program IBM SPSS Statistic version 28 was used to analyze the data. The exploratory FA was performed in the following three main steps: 1) Assess the suitability of the data for factor analysis, 2) Extract the factors, and 3) Rotate and interpret the factors (Pallant, 2013, pp. 189-192). The regression analysis was performed in following main steps: 1) Check the assumptions, 2) Evaluate the model, 3) Evaluate each of the independent variables, and 4) Use the information obtained from the output (Pallant, 2013, pp. 163-168).

The findings revealed five different teacher categories regarding surrounding factors and school environment. The five categories are 1) the satisfied -, 2) the support receiving-, 3) the experienced-, 4) the student focused-, and 5) the stressed teacher category. The satisfied teacher category is positive regarding the schools DLR equipment and teacher training with DLR. The experienced teacher category have improved their skills with DLR outside school The findings regarding teachers’ use of DLR revealed also five different dimensions of teachers’ use of DLR. These five dimensions of use are 1) the creative purpose use, 2) the provide material use, 3) the student feedback use, 4) the creative tests and game use, and 5) the simulation-, film- and sound use. The findings from the regression analysis show significant correlation between the first four teacher categories and the DLR use dimensions, although there is no correlation between the stressed teacher category and the DLR use dimensions. The only teacher category that shows a significant correlation with the simulation-, film- and sound use dimension are the experienced teacher category. The strongest significant correlations are found between the student-focused teacher and the creative purpose use. The results indicates that multiple surrounding factors affect teachers’ use of digital learning resources, both inside and outside schools. Teachers that use more advanced resources as simulation-, film-, and sound-software have received their education outside school, and they use DLR frequently outside school in their sparetime. Student focused teachers have creative didactic purposes with their use of DLR in classroom practice. The implications are: 1) teachers feeling stressed using DLR need help and support to be able to use DLR, 2) teachers need more in-service training to improve their use of advanced DLR, and 3) student-focused teachers are more creative in their didactic use of DLR.

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