Building 21st-Century Learning Performance through Digital Ecosystems and Cognitive Agility of Elementary School Teachers in Serang City

Abstract

The performance of 21st-century learning at the elementary school level demands a robust integration of critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication skills. This study aims to examine a causal model for strengthening 21st-century learning performance through digital learning ecosystem maturity and teacher cognitive agility, while evaluating the mediating roles of adaptive instructional capacity and instructional implementation effectiveness. A quantitative approach with a causal associative design was applied to 51 elementary school teachers in Serang District, Serang City, selected using convenience sampling technique. Data analysis was conducted using Structural Equation Modeling-Partial Least Squares (PLS-SEM) via SmartPLS software. The structural model evaluation results indicated that digital ecosystem maturity and teacher cognitive agility have a significant direct positive effect on 21st-century learning performance, with cognitive agility emerging as the most dominant predictor. Furthermore, the mediation test proved that adaptive instructional capacity and instructional implementation effectiveness function significantly as dual-mediating mechanisms within the causal framework. The combination of all variables in this model successfully explains 64.2% of the variance in 21st-century learning performance. This study implies the critical importance of developing teachers' mental agility and adaptive teaching capacities alongside the fulfillment of schools' digital infrastructure.