Dissertations

Date of Award

12-2021

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership

Advisor

Dr. Meredith Young

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if years of experience or grade-level teaching assignment have any effect on teacher perceptions of comfort with technology, teacher perceptions of technology-based professional development, teacher perceptions of obstacles to technology usage, or teacher perceptions of technology support available in six central Arkansas school districts. In this quantitative, causal-comparative design study, there were 239 teacher responses to a modified survey combining items from the USEIT survey and the PETI survey for teachers in six school districts in Central Arkansas. The modified instrument consisted of 35 items, including two questions related to years of teaching experience and grade-level teaching assignment. The survey’s other 33 questions were divided into four constructs: teacher perceptions of comfort with technology (6 questions), teacher perceptions of technology-based professional development (7 questions), teacher perceptions of obstacles to technology usage (10 questions), and teacher perceptions of technology support available (10 questions). Each respondent completed questions on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (score of 1) to strongly agree (score of 4) on the digital survey constructed with Google Forms. Eight independent sample t-tests were conducted to address the hypotheses using teacher years of experience (Novice = 0-5 years of experience versus Experienced = 6+ years of experience) and grade-level teaching assignment (Elementary = K-5and Secondary = 6-12) as the independent variables. The dependent variables were teacher perceptions of comfort with technology, teacher perceptions of technology-based professional development, teacher perceptions of obstacles to technology usage, and teacher perceptions of technology support available. This study used the Technology Acceptance Model framework. This study did not reveal that years of experience or grade-level teaching assignment influenced teacher perceptions of comfort with technology, teacher perceptions of technology-based professional development, teacher perceptions of obstacles to technology usage, or teacher perceptions of technology support available. No significant difference existed between novice and experienced or elementary and secondary teachers in any of the four dependent variables. The first recommendation for educators is related to increasing teacher comfort with technology. Based on this research and the study results, the second recommendation is that the superintendent set a vision to stress the importance of technology. The third set of recommendations are related to best practices for technology-based professional development. The fourth recommendation would be to have found multiple, creative methods of supporting teachers with technology.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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