Analysis of the Role of Educational Policies in Promoting Educational Technological Innovation and Policy Networks

Adopting the policy network as a theoretical framework, this study constructs an educational policy network based on Roots' theoretical model. It analyzes the roles and actions of actors within this network, as well as their interactions. Using a structural model, the research employs quantitative methods and empirical analysis to investigate the deployment of policy tools by the intergovernmental network in fostering educational technology innovation. Furthermore, this paper examines the influence of educational policies on promoting technological innovation in pedagogy through an empirical investigation of policy texts from 12 pilot zones dedicated to educational technology innovation. The results show that environment-based policy tools are used most frequently (62.67%), supply-based policy tools (24.26%), and demand-based policy tools (13.07%) are underused, and there are problems of imbalance, generalization, insufficiency, and shortsightedness in the use of tools. In the model hypotheses, performance expectations (P=0.032), enabling conditions (P=0.014), and incentive policies (P=0.009) have a significant effect on teachers' behavioral intention to engage in 1+X pedagogical technology innovation. In summary, this paper successfully analyzes the use of policy tools in the policy network and concludes that incentive policies can drive innovation in educational technology. © 2024 Zenan Zou, published by Sciendo.