Change in Classroom Practices of Technology Use by K-12 Teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to investigate the sustained change of technology use in the classroom by K-12 teachers following a one-year professional program. The study investigated specific factors which influence change in technology use in the classroom. The factors investigated in this study include: a) years of teaching experience b) hours of professional development in technology d) presence of on-site hardware and technical assistance, e) ratio of computers to students in the classroom, f) number of Internet accessible computers for students, and g) perceived technology support by principal.

Additionally, this study aligned the Teaching with Technology Instrument — Revised with Welliver's (1989) Instructional Transformation Model. The aligned Teaching with Technology Instrument — Revised has 23 questions covering technology skills determined by the North Carolina Technology Competencies for Educators. Each of the questions is placed on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from never to daily use. Welliver's Instructional Transformation Model is a technology use model ranging from familiarization, which is when a teacher is first introduced to technology to evolution, which is where a teacher is creating classroom specific applications for software.

The study found a significant change in teachers' use of technology in the classroom during the four years covered by the study. The variable, years of teaching experience was significant on the total model score as well as four of the five stages on the model (utilization, integration, reorientation, and evolution). Four additional variables were significant at one stage of the model. These include, hours of professional development in technology integration at the familiarization stage, level of education completed by the teacher at the reorientation stage, and teachers' perception of the principals' knowledge of technology at the utilization stage and teachers' perception of the principals' knowledge of instructional technology at the utilization stage.