Educational leaders are at the forefront for implementing policies and practices that promote rigorous teaching and learning. In order to plan, implement, and evaluate appropriate programming, educational leaders, especially principals, must make data driven decisions. Educational leaders can afford themselves the opportunity to make informed decisions through the acceptance and use of technology. Through the utilization of technology, educational leaders can incorporate appropriate educational planning through the obtainment of information and knowledge in an efficient and effective manner.
This study attempts to investigate to what extent a principal's decision style influences his/her acceptance and use of technology. The study surveyed 97 K-12 public school principals in western Pennsylvania. The survey consisted of four parts: 1) initial questions, 2) Technology Acceptance/Use Inventory, 3) Decision Style Inventory, and 4) demographics. The technology inventory investigated the acceptance and use of five technology applications--the Internet, email, word processing, database, and spreadsheet. The decision style inventory categorized each principal as analytical, behavioral, conceptual, or directive.
The findings indicate that a principal's decision style has no bearing on his/her acceptance and use of technology. A large number of the principals surveyed were characterized as having an analytical decision style. Further, the study did find that the most widely accepted and used technology application by K-12 principals is email. The study concluded that most principals feel comfortable using technology, use it on a daily basis, and attend a variety of technology trainings. Lastly, of the principals surveyed, the majority stated that they use technology the most to make decisions regarding student achievement.
Although the findings did not support the research tenets of the study, there are several recommendations to be offered. Technology can be an important tool to assist with data driven decision making. However, educational organizations should support the acceptance and use of technology. Educational leaders should embrace the use of technology and be willing to use it as an assistive tool for decision making. If educational leaders are not affording themselves this opportunity, then they may be inhibiting the ability to provide the most optimal learning environments for their students.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-01022007-223237 |
| Date | 30 January 2007 |
| Creators | Jacoby, Jill Michaela |
| Contributors | Dr. Charles Gorman, Dr. Thomas Zullo, Dr. Charlene Trovato, Dr. Sean Hughes |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-01022007-223237/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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