Teachers Perceptions of Technology Use in Schools

Vol. 4 No. 1

Year: 2008

Issue: Jun-Aug

Title: Teachers Perceptions of Technology Use in Schools 

Author Name: James E. Gentry, Pam Lindsey 

Synopsis: 

This study surveyed 103 professional K-12 educators representing rural and urban independent school districts in north central Texas concerning educational technology perceptions and its use in their classrooms. Descriptive statistics were utilized to describe participants’ responses to survey items. A chi-squared cross tabulation (3X3) table was used to determine dependence/independence relationship between teachers’ self-perception of their use of technology in the classroom and their reported years of experience using educational technology. Teachers who reported over 10 years of experience with educational technology were significantly more likely to have a positive perception of their ability to use technology in their classroom while teachers with 1-5 years of experience more likely reported a poor self-perception of their ability to use technology in the classroom. Teachers ranked managerial uses versus instructional uses as the most prevalent use of technology in their individual classrooms; thus, a disconnect between teachers’ ideas of instructional technology and its uses may exist and warrants further research.