Publication Date

2008

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Hung, Wei-Chen||Robinson, Rhonda S.

Degree Name

Ed.D. (Doctor of Education)

Legacy Department

Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment

LCSH

Elementary school teachers--Attitudes; Middle school teachers--Attitudes; High school teachers--Attitudes; Geographic information systems--Public opinion; Educational technology--Public opinion

Abstract

This research investigated the beliefs of K-12 classroom teachers about their choice to implement/integrate (Geographical Information Systems [GIS] software) into their classroom practice. GIS is a tool within the subset of digital information technologies that allows the user to layer information from multiple sources on maps, visualize the information, and propose conclusions based on the information. Two theories informed this research. Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior (TpB) identifies the overarching influences comprising attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control that lead to intentions and actions. Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory identifies self-efficacy as the influence for teachers' decisions to use a particular technology. Descriptive statistics were used. Belief measures were determined by percent frequency and confirmed with Chi-square (X2). ANOVA was conducted to determine patterns in the demographic data to three TpB constructs. Coding for open-ended responses revealed associated themes leading to GIS use. Barriers to technology implementation were rated and ranked. Findings indicate attitude and subjective norm constructs associated with a teacher's beliefs about themselves and their peers was the most influential on teacher's beliefs about technology usage. Teachers were found to have very positive outlooks on the need, use, and benefit of using technology. Demographic data indicated a strong association with their means to learn to implement technology, their level of education, how they learned about and to use GIS. The greatest influence on their decision to use GIS was found to be the benefit to students' critical thinking, and decision-making. They indicated GIS was also beneficial in presenting highly-visual data sets across curricular areas. New users of GIS need to know it can be time consuming, difficult to learn, but exceedingly beneficial. These teachers rated resources as the most important barrier; but they ranked their individual personal efforts as the most important barrier to technology use. Implications from this research concern the means to encourage positive technology beliefs, ways for instructional designers to make professional development more relevant for teachers and strategies to promote positive technology change agents.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references (pages [108]-119).

Extent

viii, 151 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

Download

Share

COinS