Conference Agenda

The continuous evolution of educational technologies requires teachers to engage in ongoing pedagogical adaptation. As key actors in the practical digitalisation of education, teachers play a central role in equipping students with knowledge and skills needed for an increasingly digital future (Caena & Redecker, 2019). Teachers and integration of educational technology into teaching have been extensively studied over the decades using different theoretical frameworks and there are many studies on this topic from various viewpoints (Valtonen et al., 2022). However, the concept of teacher agency has received limited attention from the perspective of educational technology (Albion & Tondeur, 2018). This is notable because teacher agency has been widely used to understand teachers as developers and agents of change (Priestley et al., 2015), and technological change in education is continuous (Mishra et al., 2024).

This study aims to examine teachers as actors in digitalised teaching and to elaborate on the concept of teacher agency in an educational technology context. To achieve this, we adopt an ecological approach to teacher agency as our theoretical framework (Leijen et al., 2020; Priestley et al., 2022). Conceptually, teacher agency has several overlapping definitions. For this study, to emphasise the educational technology context, we have chosen the ecological approach, defining teacher agency as self-initiated and goal-oriented choosing and decision-making related to the contexts of work (Biesta et al., 2015; Leijen et al., 2020). This allows us to focus on teachers’ actions and study how teacher agency is enacted through interaction with, and influence on, conditions of work. In this paper, we present findings from three studies of Finnish in-service teachers working in primary and secondary schools. Across these studies, we focus on teachers’ perceptions of the conditions in their working environment regarding educational technology. Through these studies we are able to scrutinise how teacher agency is formed and enacted in the educational technology settings.

Recently, augmented reality technology (hereinafter - ART) tools have been actively developed around the world, enriching not only general education but also preschool education (Magic Match Card; Magic Flashcard, Pocket Vehicles, etc.). This has opened up space for research evaluating the accessibility and suitability of ART tools for the education of preschool-aged children, justifying which tools can be used for specific areas of children's education and how (Masmuzidin et al., 2022; Yılmaz and Gözüm, 2023; Zhufeng and Sitthiworachart, 2024); revealing the impact of ART tools on children's motivation, attention and concentration, perception, and emotional self-regulation (Jafari, 2023; Maulida et al., 2024; Ateş and Polat, 2025).

Several less explored aspects arise in the context of the research being conducted. One of them is the impact of the use of ART tools on the development of children's learning styles. Studies show that the use of ART increases the diversity of children's learning styles, broadens the boundaries of sensory perception of the real world, personalizes learning (Peikos and Sofianidis, 2024), corresponds to children's natural syncretic mode of perception (Cascales et al., 2012); and encourages independent exploration and discovery (Ateş and Polat, 2025). However, there is a lack of research revealing which active learning styles—learning by trial and error, learning through exploration, learning through collaboration, learning by asking for and offering help, reflective learning – are initiated by the use of ART tools. It is unclear to what extent undesirable reproductive learning situations arise when using ART tools.

A sensitive and still little-researched aspect is the desire to adapt the use of ART tools to the specifics of preschool education, creating conditions for experiential learning and learning through play. To this end, children's learning contexts are being modelled. It is precisely these learning contexts that are the factor through which ART technologies can be naturally integrated into children's learning (Edwards, 2014; Kayaduman and Sağlam, 2023), because real-world tools in the created educational context can be supplemented with ART tools, creating a whole range of learning opportunities and diversity.

Equally important is the role played by the teacher when working in the context of integrated real-world environments and ART tools. An analysis of theoretical approaches and the use of ART in children's education has shown that the use of ART can encourage the transformation of preschool education from academic education to experiential, self-regulated, game-based, personalized education for children. However, the opposite phenomenon is often observed, where teachers use ART tools to academize the education process, giving the child only a passive participant role (Tural, 2020; Yilmaz et al., 2024). When analysing studies on the application of ART, it is often possible to identify the role that teachers take on when educating children, but we were unable to find any targeted studies on the impact of the roles performed by teachers on children's learning. Based on constructivism, sociocultural and connectivism theories, we identified and conceptualized three key roles assumed by teachers that should be conducive to children's learning when applying ART tools: context creator (hereinafter - CC), proactive moderator (hereinafter - PM), and minimal instruction provider (hereinafter - MIP). It should be noted that these roles of the teacher have only been fragmentarily addressed in previous studies and have not been systematically researched in terms of their effectiveness.

Taking into account less researched aspects, the study presented in this paper sought to answer the question: Do the roles assumed by the teacher as CC, PM, and MIP differ according to the averages of the learning styles encouraged in children when they play in contexts that integrate real-world and ART tools?

Digital technologies have become an integral part of contemporary education, reshaping how knowledge is accessed, represented, and constructed. Among these technologies, geospatial tools embedded in everyday digital applications have fundamentally transformed how individuals perceive and interact with space. Different technologies function as extensive repositories of spatial data, enabling users to visualize geographic patterns (Camobell, 2012). monitor spatial change and analyze relationships between natural and human phenomena. As a result, spatial thinking has become an essential competence for understanding the increasingly complex spatial organization of modern societies (Council, 2006).

Spatial thinking refers to the ability to understand, reason, and make decisions based on spatial relationships (Downs, 2006). It involves the integration of spatial concepts, tools for representation, and reasoning processes that allow individuals to interpret geographic information effectively. Research emphasizes that spatial thinking is not an innate skill but one that can be systematically developed through education, particularly when supported by appropriate technologies (Kitchin, 2014). Geographic Information Systems (hereafter: GIS) provide a powerful framework for this development, as they allow students to manipulate, analyze, and interpret spatial data rather than merely observe it. When embedded into teaching practice, GIS shifts learning from passive reception of information toward active inquiry, problem-solving, and analytical reasoning. In geography education, the pedagogical potential of GIS is widely acknowledged (Jonathan Campbell, 2012). Numerous studies demonstrate that GIS-supported instruction enhances students’ spatial literacy, promotes higher-order thinking skills, and supports interdisciplinary learning. Countries such as the United States, Australia, France, Norway, and New Zealand have already integrated GIS into national curricula, recognizing its role in preparing students for data-driven societies and spatially oriented professions (Eyüp Artvinli, 2022). Through digital maps, satellite imagery, and spatial databases, students are able to explore real world phenomena, examine spatial patterns, and connect abstract geographic concepts with tangible contexts. Despite these global developments, the integration of GIS into formal education remains uneven, particularly in developing and post-conflict contexts. Kosovo represents a compelling case in this regard (ASK, 2025). Following the war at the end of the twentieth century, the country inherited a severely damaged educational infrastructure. Over the past two decades, however, substantial investments from international organizations and public funding have contributed to the rapid expansion of ICT infrastructure in schools. Access to computers and internet connectivity has improved significantly, creating favorable technical conditions for digital learning. Nevertheless, the pedagogical use of advanced geospatial technologies in geography education remains limited. Geography teaching in Kosovo continues to rely predominantly on traditional methods, such as printed textbooks and static maps. While these resources support foundational geographic knowledge, they often fail to foster deeper spatial reasoning, analytical skills, and data interpretation abilities. At the same time, students increasingly engage with spatial technologies outside the classroom through navigation apps, social media, and digital mapping platforms (Kerski, 2014).

This study examines the integration of GIS and digital geographic platforms in geography education in Kosovo (MASHT, 2022), with a particular emphasis on the transition from the use of digital tools toward the development of students’ spatial thinking. This study seeks to identify both opportunities and barriers to meaningful GIS integration. By positioning Kosovo as a case study, this research contributes to broader European discussions on digital transformation in education.

Research Questions:

RQ1: What is the current level of availability and use of GIS and digital geographic
platforms in geography education in Kosovo?

RQ2: How do in-service geography teachers perceive the usefulness and ease of use
of GIS for teaching geography, based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)?

RQ3: What are teachers’ overall attitudes and behavioral intentions toward integrating
GIS into geography teaching to support students’ spatial thinking?

Storytelling is a core pedagogical practice in early childhood education because it supports young children’s language development, meaning making, and social and emotional learning. From a sociocultural perspective, learning is mediated through language and interaction, making the quality of adult-provided linguistic input developmentally consequential (Vygotsky, 1978). Narrative scholarship similarly positions stories as cultural tools through which children organise experience, interpret emotions, and make sense of social relationships (Bruner, 1990; Nicolopoulou, 2014). In early childhood contexts, story quality is therefore judged through developmentally sensitive criteria such as age appropriateness, linguistic accessibility, narrative fluency and coherence, and emotional safety rather than textual correctness alone (Isbell et al., 2004; Sipe, 2008).

Against this theoretical backdrop, generative artificial intelligence has introduced a new route for producing children’s stories quickly, yet education research on large language models emphasises that outputs can be uneven in quality and may include pedagogically misaligned or inappropriate content, which makes educators’ professional judgement central to responsible use (Kasneci et al., 2023). A child rights and safety lens further strengthens this argument by underscoring that AI-related practices involving children should prioritise wellbeing, protection, and accountability, particularly in the early years (UNICEF, 2021, 2025). Emerging early childhood research has begun to document teachers’ perspectives on using tools such as ChatGPT, including qualitative evidence from Türkiye that highlights perceived usefulness alongside strong emphasis on teacher oversight (Uğraş, 2024), as well as international studies examining early childhood teachers’ perceptions of AI in early childhood education (Lee et al., 2025). Complementary work has explored motivational factors shaping preschool teachers’ AI use, indicating that perceived value coexists with perceived costs and risks (Bozer Özsaraç & Ergin, 2025). In addition, literacy-oriented research has started to examine how children and caregivers engage with AI-generated digital storybooks during shared reading, signalling that perceived quality and authorship are becoming practically relevant in widely distributed, multilingual digital environments (Ratner et al., 2025). Although these studies provide important foundations, there remains limited empirical research that examines preschool teachers’ evaluations of AI-generated children’s stories at the text level under comparable conditions, especially in designs that compare multiple AI tools alongside a human-authored reference story. This gap is particularly salient in European and international early childhood settings because AI tools and their outputs circulate transnationally, while judgments about developmental appropriateness, narrative coherence, and emotional safety are enacted locally within culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms.

The proposed study therefore conceptualises teachers’ evaluations as a professional quality assurance mechanism through which transnational AI narratives are assessed against early childhood pedagogical expectations and child-centred safeguards.

Research Question

How do preschool teachers evaluate children’s stories created using various artificial intelligence tools from a pedagogical perspective?

This main research question is addressed through the following sub-questions:

1. What do preschool teachers think about the age appropriateness and language level of stories created using various artificial intelligence tools?
2. What do preschool teachers think about the fluency and coherence of these stories?
3. What do preschool teachers think about the extent to which human-written stories and stories created by artificial intelligence can be distinguished from one another?
4. What do preschool teachers think about the usability of artificial intelligence-generated stories in classroom settings?