The purpose of this study was to determine Texas elementary principals' level of computer technology use and their leadership in technology integration activities as defined by the National Educational Technology Standards for Administrators (NETS*A). Additionally the study addressed technology implementation as an innovation and used the literature concerning change and innovation models to identify organizational and personal factors that might affect the level of technology use and the leadership behaviors. Survey data retrieved from 216 Texas elementary public school principals led to the formation of the following conclusions. The elementary principals involved this study reported high level computer technology use, especially with the computer tools involving communication. Principals also reported high level leadership performance to the NETS*A standards. Multiple analyses of variance (MANOVA) revealed no significant difference in mean scores between the dependent variables of computer use or leadership performance to the NETS*A standards and the independent variables including the organizational factors of school location, district spending per student, campus minority status, and campus Title I status. A regression analysis revealed a statistically significant positive relationship between principals' computer technology use and personal variables of training and perceived risk-benefit. Another regression analysis revealed a statistically significant relationship between principals' technology leadership performance to the NETS*A standards and personal variables of training, perceived risk-benefit and perceived pressure to implement technology. Multiple regression analyses revealed no correlation between the dependent variables of technology use and technology leadership. A correlation analysis revealed a weak correlation between the two dependent variables with less than 4% of the variance explained by that relationship. There is a need for continuing research examining possible relationships between principals' technology use, their technology leadership behaviors, and the degree of technology integration in their schools. The findings from this study could be used by principal preparation programs to focus on technology integration training and personal factors that may affect principals' technology leadership behavior and technology use.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc5589 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Weber, Mark J. |
| Contributors | Adkison, Judith A., Wilhelm, Ronald W., Smith, T. Colette |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | Text |
| Rights | Use restricted to UNT Community (strictly enforced), Copyright, Weber, Mark J., Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. |
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