Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Dissertation - NSU Access Only

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education

Advisor

Kathleen Sullivan

Committee Member

Michael Simonson

Keywords

Change Agents, Christopher Masullo, Opinion Leadership

Abstract

This study investigated 10 public elementary schools that employed district technology coordinators to facilitate the implementation of classroom technologies. These technology coordinators act as change agents who sought out classroom teachers to serve as opinion leaders. These opinion leaders had the ability to influence the attitudes and beliefs of their colleagues with regards to which technologies were used and how they were implemented to enhance learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate how technology coordinators identified and selected classroom teachers as opinion leaders as well as the perceptions of the opinion leader’s colleagues. The populations for this study included 2 groups of public school employees. The 1st group included the technology coordinators identified to be acting as change agents in the facilitation and implementation of classroom technology. The 2nd group consisted of the classroom teachers who were in contact with the technology coordinator. Surveys were conducted with the technology coordinators from each school district. In addition,surveys were conducted with a purposeful sample of classroom teachers from each school in which the technology coordinators served. Using a qualitative study design, data were collected using structured data-collection instruments. The technology coordinator was asked to name the person he or she identified as an opinion leader and the individual he or she used to influence others to infuse classroom technologies. The classroom teachers were then surveyed to determine who, in fact, were the opinion leaders and if these people were the same persons identified by the technology coordinator. An analysis of the data in this study supported the claim that technology coordinators were, for the most part, able to identify technology opinion leaders in their schools.

Download
To access this thesis/dissertation you must have a valid nova.edu OR mynsu.nova.edu email address and create an account for NSUWorks.

Free My Thesis

If you are the author of this work and would like to grant permission to make it openly accessible to all, please click the Free My Thesis button.

  Contact Author

Share

COinS