Toward Sustainable Education: A Contextualized Model for Educational Technology Adoption for Developing Countries

Adopting educational technology remains a critical challenge in developing countries, particularly given limited resources and the urgency of achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 4 by 2030. This paper aims to create and validate a model for educational technology adoption for developing countries (ETADC) that addresses the gaps in existing models by incorporating education-specific factors and local contexts. The ETADC model integrates foundational theories with local and educational elements within the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) framework, empowering educators to enhance teaching–learning experiences for a tech-driven world. The ETADC framework includes six components—four sourced from established theories and two based on research into the experiences of in-service and pre-service teachers in developing countries regarding educational technology adoption. These components formulate an appropriate model for evaluating, identifying, and implementing educational technologies within developing countries’ educational contexts. Validation through meta-analysis and two-stage structural equation modeling in R Studio version 4.4.0 with data from 30 high-impact studies (sample size N = 8934) confirmed the model’s effectiveness, showcasing a strong fit and significant path coefficient. This model has been used to evaluate certain educational technologies for further adoption. ETADC offers a practical and scalable roadmap for sustainable EdTech adoption, potentially supporting educational transformation and development worldwide, particularly in under-resourced contexts.