Source: Journal of Research on Technology in Education. Vol. 41, Iss. 1, Fall 2008.; p. 43-62.
(Reviewed by The Portal Team)
In response to the need to train teachers to effectively integrate technology into elementary and secondary education, a teacher professional development program funded by a federal grant provided a selection of instructional technology integration courses to K-12 teachers.
This study investigated the impact of these courses on the course participants' self-efficacy in learning about and implementing instructional technology. The study also explored the differential effects of these courses on participants' self-efficacy due to different demographic characteristics.
1) Did the WHRO/C.I.I. instructional technology courses sponsored by the NCLB-EETT
professional development program increase participants' self-efficacy for technology
integration in the classroom? , and
2) Did the WHRO/ C.I.I, instructional technology courses sponsored by the NCLB-EETT
professional development program have any differential effects on participants' self efficacy
due to demographic factors:
(a) age, (b) gender, (c) education level, (d) school level, (e) school location, and
(f) the number of WHRO-C.I.I. courses previously taken?
The sample consisted of K-12 in-service teachers from 18 WHRO/C.I.I. consortium member school districts in southeastern Virginia who voluntarily took one or more of the grant-funded during the second and third grant fiscal years (2004-2006).
377 teachers completed the pre-/post-/follow-up surveys. 58 were male teachers,
and 319 were females.
224 had not taken any previous WHRO-C.I.I. courses, 121 had taken 1-3 courses, and 32 had taken more than four courses.
Regarding school location,124 participants taught in urban schools, 185 in suburban schools,
and 68 in rural schools.
In terms of participants' age, 16 participants were under 25 years old, 52 were between 25 and 30, 83 were between 31 and 40, 117 were between 41 and 50, and 109 were over 50 years old.
As far as participants' education level was concerned, 157 had earned bachelor or associate degrees, 199 had master's degrees, and 21 had post graduate degree or specialty certificates. 171 participants taught in elementary or prekindergarten schools, 79 taught in middle schools, 82 taught in high schools, and 45 participants did not provide this information in the survey.
The data analyses from the pre-/post-/follow-up surveys completed by the course participants revealed that the grant-funded courses did increase participants' confidence and competence in technology integration. No significant difference was found on course effects between participants with different demographic characteristics.
The qualitative data from interviews with the course participants confirmed the survey results. Furthermore, the positive perceptions of the course effectiveness from the participants suggested an overall success of the program.