25-02-2013, 09:45 AM
Effects of Technology Integration Education on the Attitudes of Teachers and Students
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Abstract
Major findings regarding the effects of technology integration education on elementary school
teachers are presented. A study of a K–5 treatment site versus two comparison schools over
one academic year indicates that teachers progress one stage in a six-stage technology adoption
model as a result of focused, needs-based technology integration education delivered
throughout the school year. Needs-based technology integration education is shown to have
a rapid, positive effect on teacher attitudes, such as computer anxiety, perceived importance
of computers, and computer enjoyment. This type of education is shown to have a timelagged
positive effect on the attitudes of students as well. (Keywords: attitudes, computers,
students, teachers, technology integration, training.)
INTRODUCTION
The U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment (OTA, 1995) has reported
that helping teachers “effectively incorporate technology into the teaching
and learning process is one of the most important steps the nation can take
to make the most of past and continuing investments in educational technology”
(p. 8). Most researchers agree that the successful use of computers in the
classroom is dependent on positive teacher attitudes toward computers (Lawton
& Gerschner, 1982; Woodrow, 1992). Successful classroom practice also includes
fostering positive perceptions of information technology among students
(Knezek, Miyashita, & Sakamoto, 1993). This article presents findings from a
year-long study of a large public elementary school in north Texas as it initiated
the introduction of information technology into teachers’ daily classroom practice.
Changes in teacher attitudes because of ongoing technology integration
education are presented. Findings related to the effects on their students are included
as well.
METHOD
Subjects
Sixty teachers in a suburban, public elementary school in north Texas received
needs-based instruction in the integration of computers into classroom learning
activities during the school year. The education consisted of two days of intensive
training at the beginning of the school year with follow-up training
throughout the year (approximately once every six weeks). Two similar public
elementary schools in the same school district were used as comparison groups.
Educators at these schools received the normal district-level technology inservice
training, but not the needs-based technology integration education delivered
at the treatment school.
The treatment elementary school provided education for approximately 900
PK–5 students at the time of the study. The population was 82% minority:
65% Hispanic, 10% African American, and 7% from other ethnic groups.
Among these students, 76.8% were eligible for free or reduced lunches under
U.S. Government Title I funding. Comparison group schools drew their student
populations from the same district. The primary comparison group had
similar ethnic and socioeconomic demographics, while the secondary comparison
group, which was closer in proximity, had a student population that was approximately
65% white, 17% Hispanic, 12% African American, and 6% from
other ethnic groups. The secondary comparison site did not qualify as a Title I–
funded school because only 44.2% of their students were eligible for free or reduced
lunches.
Instrumentation
The Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Computers Questionnaire (TAC Ver. 2.21)
was the primary instrument used to gather attitudinal data from the teachers at
the treatment and comparison sites. The TAC was developed to measure teachers’
attitudes in this study. It was originally constructed as a 10-part composite
instrument that included 284 items spanning 32 Likert subscales and was administered
to 621 educators during the construct validation stage. A factor
analysis of the 284 individual items on the questionnaire indicated that between
4 and 22 different attributes were actually measured by the items collected from
the 32 previously published subscales. Examination of the factor structures for
all 4 to 22 feasible solutions resulted in selections of 7-factor, 10-factor, and 16-
factor structures as the most meaningful representations of the domain
(Christensen & Knezek, 1996). Internal consistency reliabilities for the 16-
factor structure of the TAC selected for use in this study, based on the previously
reported 621-educator data set, ranged from .75 to .96.