Leadership Studies Ed.D. Dissertations

Factors Predicting Preservice Teacher Technology Competency

Date of Award

2006

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Department

Leadership Studies

First Advisor

Rachel Vannatta

Abstract

The primary purpose of this quantitative study was to predict incoming teacher education students’ technology competency by examining factors that contribute to their background technology experience. Factors included socioeconomic status of the school district from where they graduated, district demographics related to teachers’ average number of years teaching, teachers’ average number of hours of professional development with technology, and student background experiences with technology based on uses at school and home. Preservice teachers enter colleges of education from various educational background experiences and possess broad levels of technology competency. Research findings indicate there is a positive relationship between district affluence and technology integration (Riel & Schwarz, 2002). In addition, there is evidence that suggests socioeconomic background contributes to students’ ability to use technology (Riel & Schwarz). As colleges of education move forward with integrating technology into teacher preparation programs, a need exists to recognize the characteristics of the students’ backgrounds that contribute to their ability to perform basic technology competencies. Identifying characteristics of student experience with technology that predict technology competency will assist colleges of education with further understanding the level of technology integration and K-12 district status of implementing data-management systems for instructional decision-making. Pearson correlation and an exploratory multiple regression were used to examine preservice teachers’ profiles based on information obtained from multiple secondary data sources. The secondary sources utilized were the Bowling Green State University (BGSU) Assessment of Technology Competency (ATC), the ATC Retake Survey instrument that was administered to preservice teachers during the academic year 2004-2005, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) Similar District computation report from fiscal year 2003-2004, and the Ohio SchoolNet (OSN) Biennial Education Technology Assessment (BETA) district level teacher survey from biennial year 2003-2005. The BGSU ATC was administered to approximately 1100 preservice teachers during the 2004-2005 academic year. Preservice teachers who failed one or more sections of the ATC were given a retake opportunity to pass the failed section(s). The BGSU ATC Retake Survey was administered to approximately 450 BGSU Introduction to Education (EDHD 201) students during the 2004-2005 academic year. The results of this survey were utilized to identify preservice teachers by the district they graduated from and to determine the Ohio school districts being represented by this sample of students. In addition, the ATC Retake Survey results were to provide information about background technology use as indicated by responses related to access to computers at home, computer instruction at school, and estimated hours of computer time per week in high school. The examination of factors that best predict student technology competency has significance for future teachers, university leaders, K-12 administrators, college faculty, and college faculty’s own students. Trends may be established for recognizing district characteristics regarding technology integration that contribute to preservice teacher technology competency. Challenges associated with preparing future teachers to be technology integrators will be minimized through identification of characteristics for technology competency.

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