Promoting teacher training with digital technologies on pre-service teachers’ digital competence development in India an experimental study

Digital transformation worldwide is shaping the design and delivery of education. It is, therefore, urgent and necessary to prepare pre-service teachers in India to integrate technology into pedagogy effectively. However, teacher education programs do not provide structured practice-based models to develop comprehensive digital teaching competence. To fill this gap, the present study has examined the effect of a formal digital training program on pre-service teachers’ perceived digital teaching competence. The study employed a convergent mixed-methods design involving 244 participants who completed the pre- and post-intervention surveys, with a subsample of 20 participants being interviewed semi-structurally following a 12-week intervention. The program training consisted of LMS platforms, augmented reality (AR), and educational data dashboards. Quantitatively, participants reported significant positive changes across all measured constructs: technology attitudes, operational skills, ethics, and, most notably, data literacy —the key predictor of digital teaching competence. Qualitative data substantiated these findings, identifying contextualized hands-on practice, collaborative peer learning, and institutional support as crucial in overcoming early difficulties. This study presents a scalable, context-sensitive model for Indian teacher education programs, recommending that curricula integrate data literacy and digital pedagogy to prepare future teachers for 21st -century classrooms.