With the continued implementation of the education digitalization strategy, digital transformation has become a key driving force behind the paradigm shift in higher education teaching. This study focuses on apparel engineering educators at application-oriented undergraduate institutions in Jiangxi Province. Based on 447 valid questionnaire responses, it employs structural equation modeling to empirically analyze the pathways through which digital transformation is associated with changes in teaching models. The results reveal a significant positive association between digital transformation and teaching model reform. Among the four dimensions of digital transformation-perceived technological infrastructure, digital resource development, policy support, and digital management-perceived technological infrastructure shows the strongest direct association, followed by digital resource development and digital management, while policy support operates mainly indirectly. Regarding the three dimensions of teaching model change, teaching methods exhibit the strongest association with digital transformation (explaining 29.4% of the variance), followed by instructional design (26.7%) and assessment practices (22.6%). This study systematically maps the associational pathways from digital transformation to teaching model change, providing empirical evidence and practical implications for advancing digital transformation in application-oriented universities.

digital transformation, teaching model change, apparel engineering, application-oriented undergraduate institutions, structural equation modeling