Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

701

Date

2012

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major

Instr and Curr Leadership

Concentration

Instructional Design and Tech

Committee Chair

Clif Mims

Committee Member

Lee Allen

Committee Member

Deborah Lowther

Committee Member

Allen Seed

Abstract

For teachers to successfully prepare students for the current job market and adhere to current legislation, they must integrate technology into their curriculum. Preparing teachers for this challenge is of great importance. However, the professional development provided to teachers for this purpose is most often inadequate. The purpose of this research was to study teachers’ perceptions of their readiness to implement new technology with the curriculum. The views of teachers who had and who had not participated in prescribed technology integration professional development were examined. The research included a study of their concerns about the anticipated one-to-one technology initiative at their school and how these concerns may have changed through participation in the prescribed professional development. It also included a study of their current technology use and their plans for change with the one-to-one initiative. The study asked how professional development related to teachers’ concerns regarding technology integration and what differences in technology use exist between teachers who had and had not participated in the professional development. This mixed methods study examined quantitative data collected through SEDL’s Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ) and qualitative data through SEDL’s Levels of Use (LoU) interview protocol. Through the analysis of data, differences in the two groups’ responses on the SoCQ and LoU instruments were observed. Differences in the data collected from the two groups through the SoCQ were not found to be statistically significant; however, there were observable differences. The themes of use of technology tools, technology integration, and perceptions of readiness emerged through analysis of data collected through the LoU. The findings of this study contribute to the existing body of literature in two significant ways. First, the findings support the literature on 21st century learning environments and the benefits and barriers of technology integration. Second, the findings provide support for the characteristics of effective professional development for technology integration. The implications of this research are important to legislators, school administrators and technology coordinators, teacher educators, and classroom teachers.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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