CCE Theses and Dissertations
Faculty Attitudes Toward Educational Technology: An Extension of Bullard's Analysis of Selected Variables
Date of Award
2001
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences
Advisor
Laurie Dringus
Committee Member
Steven R. Terrell
Committee Member
Timothy Ellis
Abstract
This formative evaluation study continued the research conducted by Bullard (1998) on the attitudes of professors in teacher-preparation programs toward teaching with technology, the flexibility in using technology for instruction, and the status provided by using educational technology. This study sought information to indicate if the professors' attitudes were related to selected variables. The variables analyzed were the professors' actual use of educational technology, gender, place of employment, rank, length of overall teaching experience, efficacy, institutional encouragement to use computers in instruction, and accreditation affiliation.
One hundred thirty-one professors from six institutions of higher education with teacher preparation programs were surveyed using the Facu1ty Instructional Computing Questionnaire (Faseyitan & Hirschbuhl, 1992). Using a stratified random sampling method, the institutions were selected from three southeastern states of the United States with and without National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) accreditation. Multiple regression analysis and analysis of variance were used to determine the composite and independent effects of the selected independent variables on the dependent variables attitude toward educational technology and use of educational technology.
Findings indicated attitudinal differences toward the flexibility of using educational technologies between NCATE and non-NCATE accredited institutions. Results, paralleling Bullard's study, indicated professors' attitudes towards educational technology were significantly affected by the composite set of variables rank, efficacy, and length of teaching experience. Efficacy was found to be the primary contributor of attitudes towards teaching with educational technology and towards the flexibility usage of educational technology in the classroom. No significant relationship between the status provided by using computers and the professors' rank, efficacy, or length of teaching experience was found. No attitudinal differences between genders or among institutions surveyed were found. Although not directly tested, the professors' use of the Internet and electronic mail proved to be far superior to the use of other computer related instructional materials. Both studies indicated professors use computers more in preparation of teaching rather than for actual classroom usage. Additionally, professors indicated they wou1d like to use computers more for instruction and believed computers used for instruction cou1d improve student learning.
NSUWorks Citation
Sallie J. Johnson. 2001. Faculty Attitudes Toward Educational Technology: An Extension of Bullard's Analysis of Selected Variables. Doctoral dissertation. Nova Southeastern University. Retrieved from NSUWorks, Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences. (612)
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/gscis_etd/612.