Research about the use of mobile Internet technology in education is increasing, but gaps remain in the literature. This study used a case study approach to understand how teachers in a bilingual English Language Learner (ELL) classroom used iPod touch devices in a Texas public elementary school. Unlike many other studies investigating the use of mobile Internet technology in education by motivated educators and researchers, this research focuses on an initiative where apprehensive teachers were mandated to integrate mobile Internet technology. It also has a relatively rare focus on the implementation process rather than learning outcomes. Research questions were designed to explore how teachers implemented the iPod touch devices, whether the implementation encouraged informal learning, and what implementation challenges arose. Data sources consisted of qualitative interviews with students, teachers, and a school administrator as well as classroom observations and an analysis of student artifacts. Data showed that many activities resulting from the implementation of the iPod touch initiative included elements of constructivist learning and encouraged student interaction. Another finding was that giving students full-time possession of the devices did lead to students using the device outside of school, but that most of their activities involved practicing what they had learned in the classroom and not true informal learning. Overcoming teachers’ hesitancy and lack of familiarity with technology were found to be major obstacles early in the program, but findings suggested that training, support, and student enthusiasm overcame teachers’ initial reluctance. Implications of this research are that efforts to integrate mobile Internet technology with elementary-level ELLs need an active focus on informal learning to leverage the potential the devices offer. Also, successful implementation requires more than just the availability of the technology; it also requires training and support for teachers to increase their familiarity with the technology and to provide them with ideas that allow them to use the technology most effectively. / text

Despite large investment by higher education institutions in technology for faculty and student use, instructional technology is not being integrated into instructions in the higher education institutions including medical education institutions. While diffusion of instructional technologies has been reached a saturation pint with early adopters of technology, it has remained limited among mainstream faculty. This investigation explored instructional technology patterns and characteristics of medical school faculty as well as contributing factors to IT adoption. The primary focus was to explore differences between early adopting faculty and mainstream faculty based on Rogers&amp / #8217 / diffusion of innovations and adopter categories theories. A mix-method research design, a quantitative methodology(survey) in conjunction with qualitative methodology(in-dept interviews) was employed for the purpose of gathering data about characteristics and adoption patterns of medical school faculty who are early adopting and mainstream. A hundred and fifty-five teaching faculty from basic science and clinical science disciplines at a Faculty of Medicine in a state university completed the survey. In-dept interviews were conducted with faculty who are early adopting and mainstream. The findings provided an evidence for similarities between adoption patterns of medical school faculty and other higher education faculty / relatively new tools associated with instruction were not adopted by majority of the faculty. As expected, some differences were found between early adopters and mainstream faculty in terms of individual characteristics, adoption patterns, perceived barriers and incentives to adoption and preferred methods of learning about technology and support. Implications of the findings for instructional technology policy and plans were reported.

Integrating digital pedagogy into instruction in a manner that promotes critical thinking and drives increased student achievement and engagement in all classrooms is a goal of many campuses and districts that invest heavily in hardware, software, and professional development on an annual basis. Digital pedagogy goals tend to center around preparing students for the 21st century workforce, promoting instruction that is more engaging, and providing deeper learning for all students; however, achieving these goals is not possible without teachers willing and able to effectively implement instructional technology into the content they are teaching. The conceptual framework consists of digital leadership, teacher engagement, and resources and supports. This case study focused on the district-wide integration of technology into instruction through the elements found in the conceptual framework. Educators, from kindergarten through twelfth grade were surveyed about their attitudes, self-efficacy perceptions and willingness to integrate digital pedagogies into their current teaching practices. The online survey that utilized Likert-like scales to gather demographic information as well educator perceptions on digital integration, teaching philosophy, digital self-efficacy, and leadership's focus and expectations regarding instructional technology. Additional data, from a variety of district documents, was also gathered on leadership, professional development, and infrastructure supports utilized to implement instructional technology.

Colleges and universities continue to make huge financial investments in instructional technology for the classroom. Mississippi State University faculty, assigned to teach in technology enhanced classrooms, are expected by administration, as well as students, to incorporate the technology into their instruction. This study examines whether faculty consider themselves adopters or nonopters of the instructional technology provided in the Technology Classrooms and if relationships exist between this adoption status and demographics, personal social network, and training source. The data was gathered from faculty assigned to teach in the Technology Classrooms at Mississippi State University using an online survey. Demographic data was compared with the adoption/nonoption status to determine if relationships existed. The demographic characteristics used were gender, race/ethnicity, age, and years teaching. A Chi Square and Point Biserial Correlation Coefficient were to analyze the data to determine if demographic characteristics related to adoption/nonoption status of the instructional technology in the Technology Classrooms. Using Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations theory, along with Social Network Communication Analysis, this study determined if relationships existed between higher education faculty and their ego social communication network of who talks to whom data provided by the respondents. A matrix of the communication network was analyzed with UCINET software. The data provided by the UCINET software was analyzed with SPSS using a Point Biserial Correlation Coefficient to determine if relationships exist between the adoption/nonoption status and social communication networks of faculty. Methods of instructional technology training and adoption/nonoption status were analyzed to determine if relationships existed by using descriptive statistics and a point biserial correlation coefficient. While no relationships existed between the adoption/nonoption status of faculty and the variables of age, race/ethnicity, gender, years teaching, and social communication networks, low to moderate relationships were shown to exist between instructional technology training and adoption/nonoption status. It was determined that 90 percent of respondents considered themselves adopters of the instructional technology provided in the Technology Classrooms. This data suggests that the addition of more Technology Classrooms on campus and the expansion of instructional technology training available to faculty should be explored.

No description available.

Throughout the last 30 years, there has been a movement to use computer technology in schools to enhance teaching and learning. In recent years, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has mandated that states have a long range strategic educational technology plan that describes the many facets of their technology integration efforts (2002). However, at this time research indicates that technology integration in classrooms is still low tech and infrequent (Cuban, 2001; NCES, 2005a). The purpose of this quantitative study was to gain insight into a teacher's use of computer technology with students in K-5 general education public school classrooms across the state of Virginia. Eleven independent variables (e.g., teaching philosophy, professional development, hardware proficiency, software proficiency) and 2 dependent variables (i.e., frequency and application of technology integration) were selected based on a review of literature and input from educators. A questionnaire, designed to measure variables, was field tested for validity and reliability then administrated to teachers. The population of the study was approximately 16,500 K-5 general education public school teachers from the state of Virginia with active e-mail addresses in the Market Data Retrieval (MDR) database. A systematic sample of 1,400 K-5 teachers was selected from the MDR database. Teachers' responses rendered 313 usable questionnaires. Analysis of the data revealed that the majority of independent variables (8), with the exception of 3 independent variables (i.e., technical support, student to computer ratio, technology integration support), yielded significant correlations with the dependent variable frequency of technology integration. Whereas, all independent variables (10), with the exception of technical support, yielded significant correlations with the dependent variable application of technology integration. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to determine whether the 11 independent variables were significant predictors of variation in the dependent variables (frequency and application of integration). The results of both regression analyses rendered significant models for the prediction of variation in frequency and application of integration (R2= .16, R2=.39), respectively. The researcher concluded that the predicted variance (R2= .16) of regression model 1 was too small to be considered a viable model for the predication of variation in frequency. Whereas, regression model 2 predicted a greater level of variance (R2=.39), thus it was considered a good predictor of variation in the application of technology integration. Three of the 11 independent variables (i.e., software availability, teaching philosophy, and software proficiency) were among the variables that were significant predictors of variance in the application of technology integration. The strongest predictor was software availability followed by teaching philosophy and software proficiency. Teachers who reported moderate to low variety in the application of technology integration also reported moderate access to software, moderately low software proficiency, and use of instructional practices that were consistent with constructivism. / Ph. D.

Previous studies on humor in education have focused on the use of humor embedded in the presentation of content material. Some research, however, suggests that humor is an effective tool for increasing divergent thinking and information acquisition if the humor is given prior to the presentation of content material. This study used an experimental design to test if humor given prior to content presentation was more effective in helping students understand and remember information and enjoy the presentation than a control group treatment. Statistical tests did not support either hypothesis. / Ph. D.

This study explores the use of a multimedia survey instrument which includes an integrated treatment in the context of a one semester human sexuality course. The instrument was created to assess and affect student attitudes and to improve data collection and analysis options. A literature review on attitudes, attitude assessment, and applications of technology to the affective domain introduces the discussion. Developed by a team of three university researchers, the survey instrument was created as a stand-alone application using Macromedia Authorware® multimedia authoring system. The instrument was administered to 210 students in a university education technology laboratory via CD-ROM with data collected across the campus network to two remote servers. Due to problems within specific response sets, 21 users' responses were removed from the data set, leaving an N of 189 respondents in the analyzed data. The application was administered to the students twice, once early and once late in the semester. Each use included demographic data acquisition and two iterations of a 24-item survey instrument with audiovisual and reflective response treatment between them. There were also repines sections on truth of responses and evaluations of the multimedia instrument. The final interactions were opportunities for free text responses with no prompting on content. The four sets of responses to the 24-item survey comprised pretest/posttest data for six pairings of scores across time. The 24-item survey was explored for the effects of both the multimedia/reflective response treatment and of the human sexuality course on student attitudes. Statistical analysis showed no significant differences in scores among the four iterations of the survey. Further exploration indicated that there were some significant changes for specific survey items. This document examines the relationship among the elements of the survey and the free responses from the users for further illumination of the quantitative results. Five possible elements that may have affected the survey's outcome are considered in light of the respondents' text input. Themes that emerged from the free responses were identified and explored for possible improvements of multimedia applications for integrated information delivery and data gathering. Conclusions are discussed and suggestions are made for further study regarding the template on which the application under study was built and regarding other similar multimedia instruments. These include extensions into other disciplines and other types of delivery media. Because of the exploratory nature of this study, very little can be stated conclusively. The users' reactions to and engagement with the multimedia instrument in this context do suggest broader avenues for such applications. For the moment, this medium seems to present a useful range of options to designers and researchers. / Ph. D.

The advent of technology has put a number of institutions in a state of reform (Wolcott, 1997). In fact, it was predicted that technology would completely transform higher education by the end of the twentieth century (Sculley, 1989). Aside from the demographic make-up of the majority of current students (Howe & Strauss, 2000), moving away from the traditional lecture-format to one with the integration of instructional technology can enhance the teaching/learning environment (Bolger & Sprow, 2002). However, instructional technology has still not been completely integrated into the higher education curriculum and students reported that only about 20 % of instructors were found to use technology effectively ("How Students Rate Instructors' Use of Information Technology in Courses", 2011). Educators continue to face a number of barriers to adoption and many institutions are still investigating ways to provide a more effective learning and teaching environment using efficient use of instructional technology. This research used the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech as a test bed and conducted a set of three studies following a mixed methodology. The first study elicited both quantitative and qualitative data from faculty members who used instructional technology in the classroom. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships between organizational culture, usability, and instructional technology acceptance and found a significant, positive relationship between usability and instructional technology acceptance, and a positive relationship between organizational culture and instructional technology acceptance. The second study gained more insight into the relationship by collecting qualitative data in the form of focus group interviews. Results of Study 2 indicated that collaborative and innovative organizational cultures, coupled with instructional technologies that have low learnability, high efficiency, high effectiveness, and high satisfaction can facilitate instructional technology acceptance. Based on the results, a set of recommendations to facilitate instructional technology acceptance were developed. The third and final study consisted of a summative evaluation of the recommendations by a panel of experts using the Delphi technique. The overall outcome of this research effort was the development of recommendations and guidelines to facilitate instructional technology acceptance and the description of a comprehensive framework for effective instructional technology use. / Ph. D.

In the absence of a Georgia Educator Certificate in instructional technology, and of state-wide staffing requirements for instructional technology specialists, media specialists may be playing an increasingly larger role in instructional technology support and focusing less on other vital media specialist responsibilities. A deeper understanding of the role of media specialists with respect to instructional technology may provide insight into determining a need for instructional technology certification and support in Georgia schools. The purpose of this quantitative survey study was to examine the role of media specialists with respect to instructional technology in an urban school district in Georgia. Practicing media specialists’ perceived use, and perceived ideal use, of instructional technology specialist and media specialist job competencies were examined. The data revealed an overall difference among the four dependent variables (a) perceived current use of media specialist competencies, (b) perceived ideal use of media specialist competencies, (c) perceived current use of instructional technology specialist competencies, and (d) perceived ideal use of instructional technology specialist competencies. Within-subjects contrasts revealed significant pairwise differences among all the variables except the comparison of the use of media specialist competencies and the use of instructional technology specialist competencies. These findings suggest that in the absence of consistently staffed, certified instructional technology specialists, media specialists are playing an increasingly larger role in instructional technology support and focusing less on other essential media specialist roles and responsibilities.