Investigation of the factors affecting the secondary school students' project based virtual learning competencies by structural equation modeling

This study was conducted to determine the predictive effect of attitudes toward digital technologies, gender, grade level, internet usage time variables on project-based virtual learning competence. The research is designed according to the predictive correlation study which is one of the quantitative research methods. The external variables of the research are attitude towards digital technologies, gender, grade level, internet usage time, while the internal variable is project-based virtual learning competence. The research was carried out with the participation of 703 6th, 7th and 8th grade students studying in secondary schools in the central district of Adıyaman and selected with the convenience sampling method. In order to collect data, "Project Based Virtual Learning Competencies Scale" and "Attitude Scale towards Digital Technology" were used. The data obtained in the study were analyzed using structural equation modeling with path analysis. According to the results obtained from the research, it was determined that students' attitudes towards digital technology significantly predicted project-based learning virtual competencies. From this point of view, it was concluded that there is a significant causal relationship between the attitudes of secondary school students towards digital technology and project-based learning virtual competencies. In addition, according to other results, it was determined that gender and internet usage time directly predicted the attitude towards digital technology and indirectly predicted project-based learning virtual competence through attitude towards digital technology. In line with the data obtained from the research, it can be suggested to provide learning environments that will increase the attitudes of secondary school students towards digital technology, and to increase the project-based learning virtual competencies.