Purpose: The purpose of the study was to quantify and analyze the computer literacy levels and attitudes towards computers of school site administrators, and thereby establish a baseline of knowledge for future decisions regarding the integration of computers in education. Procedure: A fifty item survey, based on objectives supplied by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium, was developed. The items were designed to assess experiences, attitudes and knowledge relative to computers. The survey was sent to a random sample of 603 California school site administrators functioning in unified school districts. Responses to research questions were based on appropriate statistical procedures including one-way analyses of variance and Pearson correlations. Findings: Fifty-four percent of the surveys were returned. A majoiity of the administrators have used the computer at least once in their career. Workshops and self-directed study experiences were identified as being the most useful type of exposure to computers. Administrators indicated a substantial amount of support for computers in education, both for students and peers. Administrators expressed some uncertainty about their ability to make decisions regarding computers at their school. There was little difference observed in computer literacy levels and attitudes of administrators from various regions of the state, levels of administration, or ranges of district ADA. A positive correlation was found to exist between attitudes and computer literacy levels. Recommendations: Administrator preservice training should include the educational use of computers. School districts should pursue an inservice program designed to give staff members experience with computers. A study is needed to review the availability and quality of computer related college courses for educators. A study should be conducted to determine the differences in computer literacy levels and attitudes of administrators with varying experiences. This study should be replicated with administrators classified by sex, years of administrative experience and school setting. A comparative analysis of preservice and practicing administrator computer literacy levels and attitudes should be conducted. A longitudinal study should be conducted, utilizing a modified form of the survey developed in this research project.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effects of multimedia CAI on undergraduate PETE majors' teaching of the serve in tennis. The data were obtained from 18 undergraduate students enrolled in a PETE evaluation and assessment course at Virginia Tech. Subjects were stratified by gender and randomly assigned to three groups as Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) group (n=6), Teacher Instruction (TI) group (n=6), and Control (CG) group (n=6). The results of this study were gathered from three tests: Tennis Serve Content Knowledge Test, Tennis Serve Skill Analysis Test, Tennis Task Sequence Test. In addition, two six minutes micro teaching sessions were conducted and data was collected via Tennis Serve Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) Assessment Sheet, and finally, an open ended survey was completed to understand students' attitudes toward CAI. There are two independent variables in this study. These are Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) and Teacher Instruction (TI). A pre-test and post-test experimental design was applied. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to determine the differences among the three groups, and pairwise ranking with the Mann Whitney U test was conducted between all comparisons as a post hoc analysis. Moreover, the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test was used to determine pre-to post-test changes within the groups. Alpha set at p< 0.5. Overall, teacher instruction (TI) intervention was very dominant in the results. Teacher instruction (TI) group performed significantly in the tennis serve content knowledge test, tennis serve task analysis test, PCK-Appropriate cues, and PCK-Appropriate demonstration. However, CAI group was also successful in the tennis serve content knowledge test and PCK-Appropriate demonstration. Interestingly, none of the groups were successful in the tennis serve skill analysis test and PCK-Appropriate feedback. Finally, students' perception toward CAI was positive in general and students indicated that they would like to use CAI in other PETE method courses. However, some of the students reported that CAI was very repetitive, and also technical problems were reported. The results of this study indicated that CAI can be an effective way of instruction in certain conditions: CAI had significant effect on content knowledge and PCK-Appropriate demonstration. In conclusion, the 21st century will be an information age and computers will be an essential part of the education system in all grades and ages. Physical education teacher education programs and physical education lessons in K-12 education are no exceptions. Computers and instructional technology should be an integral part of PETE and K-12 physical education without sacrificing the physical activity. / Ph. D.

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As advances in technology allowed national and state education assessments to be administered digitally, many school districts transitioned to computer-based instructional programs and assessments to improve student achievement and better prepare students for high-stakes computerized assessments. One such rural public school district in Mississippi implemented a supplemental web-based instructional program, i-Ready, for the first time in the 2017-2018 school year. The purpose of this study was (a) to investigate the effects of the i-Ready program on student achievement in Grades 4 – 5 reading/language arts and mathematics and (b) to determine if there were significant differences in growth (from pretest to posttest) among performance levels of students in Grades 4 – 5 on the 2017 state assessment in reading/language arts and mathematics. A quantitative research design using existing data was used to conduct the study, and the paired-samples t-test provided the primary means of analysis for research questions one and two to determine the effect of the i-Ready program on student achievement. The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used as the primary means of analysis for research questions three and four to determine if there were significant differences in growth among students across Performance Levels 1 – 5. The results from the research study showed the i-Ready program had a positive impact on student achievement in reading and math for Grades 4 – 5. No statistically significant differences were found in student growth among the performance level groups indicating all students were impacted by the program. Recommendations for future research include: (a) conducting longitudinal studies to determine long-term effects of participation in the i-Ready program, (b) analyzing methods of implementation by classroom teachers, (c) measuring i-Ready’s predictability of proficiency and growth on state assessments, and (d) conducting studies of other online instructional programs using control groups.

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