Development of an Instrument for Measuring Factors Affecting Self-Directed Learning in Blended Learning among First-year Pre-service Teachers

Abstract

This study aimed to develop and preliminarily validate an instrument for measuring the factors affecting self-directed learning among first-year pre-service teachers in blended learning environments. Grounded in the literature on self-directed learning and blended learning, the instrument was designed around four proposed domains: student factors, lecturer factors, social factors, and environmental factors. The study followed an instrument development process, including content domain identification, indicator specification, item construction, expert review, pilot testing, reliability analysis, and exploratory factor analysis. Data were collected from 185 first-year pre-service teachers in a teacher education program. The results showed that the instrument achieved high internal consistency, with a Cronbach’s Alpha of .939 for the full 19-item scale. The four subscales also demonstrated satisfactory reliability, including student factors (.830), lecturer factors (.932), social factors (.904), and environmental factors (.846). Exploratory factor analysis further supported a four-factor structure, with KMO = .916, Bartlett’s test of sphericity reaching statistical significance (χ²(171) = 2604.184, p < .001), and the extracted factors explaining 72.038% of the total variance. These findings provide preliminary evidence that the proposed instrument is reliable and shows promising construct validity. The study contributes an initial measurement tool for assessing the factors affecting self-directed learning in blended learning environments and offers a basis for further confirmatory validation in teacher education research.