Research+Paper

Factors that Hinder Technology Integration in the Classroom

Andrew J. Snyder

Shippensburg University

1. Problem Statement In recent years, technology has become a very large and important part of education. When used well it can be very beneficial for the students, though integrating it into our classrooms can be somewhat of a problem. All school districts don’t have the same amount of funding and can’t afford the technology. If the school districts do have the funding they may not be integrating the technology correctly. This proposal will study how technology is being used in the classroom and what can be done to better integrate technology into the classroom.

2. Research Questions
 * If there no school funding, what can be done to integrate technology?
 * Do you as the teacher feel you are using technology correctly?
 * How well are the students using the technology?
 * What can be done to better integrate technology into the classroom?
 * Are younger teachers more willing to learn about technology and integrate it into their classroom?

3. Literature Review  Technology has found its way into a lot of classrooms around the world but there are also classrooms that haven’t integrated technology or have done it incorrectly. Technology integration at schools and factors affecting such integration has drawn the attention of many researchers and has been of high interest to them (Almekhlafi and Almeqdadi, 2010). Even though technology is more available than ever to instructors, many are resistant to incorporating technology into their classrooms. However, even those instructors who embrace technology still find barriers that inhibit its use in the classroom (Buteau, Johnson, Osika, 2009). After reading the literature I found there is a wide range of factors that hinder technology integration. According to Groff and Mouza (2008), A review of the literature has produced six critical factors, each with its own variables, that influence the implementation of technology and a teacher’s ability to successfully integrate innovations in the classroom (Figure 1): (a) legislative factors, (b) district/school-level factors, (c) factors associated with the teacher, (d) factors associated with the technology-enhanced project, (e) factors associated with the students, and (f) factors inherent to technology itself. (Association for the Advancement of Computing In Education Journal, 16(1))  Education has always been slow to change. Technology use in the schools by its occupants is no exception. (Dowling and Harland, 2001) Research shows that the “introduction of technology does not radically change teaching; instead, technology can serve as a symbol of change, granting teachers a license for experimentation” (Sandholtz, Ringstaff, & Dwyer, 1997 p. 171). Therefore, many school districts have computers, laser disks, digital cameras, scanners and other technology equipment that are only used by a very small percent of the faculty (Dowling and Harland, 2001). I believe this has probably changed a little over recent years but teachers without the proper training usually don’t use the technology correctly if at all.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">4. Research Design <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Survey

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">1. What grade level do you teach? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">2. How many years have you been teaching? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">3. Have you ever taught any technology classes? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">4. Have you ever participated in any technology related professional development classes? <span class="GramE" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">If so how many and what did you learn? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">5. What kinds of technology do you students have access to in your school? (Examples include: Computers, Smart Boards, Classroom Response System, etc.) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">6. How many computers do you have in your Classroom? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">7. How often do your students go to the computer lab? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">○ Daily <span class="GramE" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">○ Weekly <span class="GramE" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">○ Bi <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">-Weekly <span class="GramE" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">○ None

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">8. Do you have a computer at home? <span class="GramE" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">○ Yes <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">○ No

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">9. Do you have internet access? <span class="GramE" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">○ Yes <span class="GramE" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">○ No

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">10. Do you technology in your classroom? <span class="GramE" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">○ Yes <span class="GramE" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">○ No

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">10a. <span class="GramE" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">If <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> yes, do you feel confident that you use it correctly? <span class="GramE" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">○ Very <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Confident <span class="GramE" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">○ Somewhat <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Confident <span class="GramE" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">○ Not <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Confident

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">11. Do you consider yourself up-to-date on current technology devices? <span class="GramE" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">○ Very <span class="GramE" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">○ Somewhat <span class="GramE" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">○ Not

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">12. I have created and maintain a website to provide parents information about my classes. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> ○ Yes <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> ○ No

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">5. Participants <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> In this study I would use 100 teachers from two different school districts. I would like the teachers to have either 1-5 years teaching experience or 20-25 teaching experience. (50 teachers from each district) Out of these 100 teachers, I would choose 50 male teachers and 50 female teachers. (25 from each school__)__

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">School A __ __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">School B __

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> 50 Teachers 50 Teachers

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> 25 Male 25 Female 25 Male 25 Female

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">6. Procedure <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Please take the time to fill out this survey. Please take your time and answer honestly. Your responses will be taken and used to study technology integration in the classroom. Please return this survey within a week. When you turn in your survey, please schedule a time for an interview. During the interview we will discuss some of your responses on the survey. (More in depth answers) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> After the surveys and interviews are completed all of the data will be reviewed and recorded. This data will be used to answer the research questions.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">7. Data Collection <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> After the teachers take the survey I would like to sit down with them and conduct a one on one interview. During this time I would like to talk with them about their responses on their survey. When finished with the interviews, I would take all the surveys and document the data.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">8. Data Analysis <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> I would conduct a Descriptive Data Analysis.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">9. Results Prediction <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> I believe a lot of teachers now make an effort to incorporate technology into their daily lessons. I also feel there are more teachers willing to learn how to correctly integrate technology into the classroom. But until the survey is conducted, it is too difficult to state any clear results.

=Bibliography= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Almekhlafi, A.G., & Almeqdadi, F.A. (2010). Teachers' Perceptions of Technology Integration in the United Arab Emirates School Classrooms. //Educational Technology & Society//, 165-175. Retrieved from http: //www.ifets.info/journals/13_1/16.pdf// //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Sandholtz, J.H., Ringstaff, C., & Dwyer, D.C. (1997). //Teaching with Technolgoy: Creating Student-Centered Classrooms. //New York: Teachers College Press.// //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Groff, J., & Mouza, C. (2008). A Framework for Addressing Challenges to Classroom Technology Use. //AACE Journal//, 21-46. Retrieved from http:// editlib.org/d/24421 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Dowling, L.J., & Harland, D. J. (2001, January). //Critical Factors in the Effective Use of Technology.// Retrieved from http://www.dowlingcentral.com/gradschool/Edu6420/project1.html <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Buteau, R., Johnson, R.Y., & Reed, E. (2009). //Factors Influencing Facualty Use of Technology in Online Instruction: A Case Study.// Retrieved from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring121/osika121.html <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Brush, T., & Hew, K.F.(2007, June 7). //Integrating Technology into K-12 and Learning: Current Knowledge Gaps and Recommendations for Future Research.// Retrieved from redOrbit.com: http://www.redorbit.com/news/education/959553/integrating_technology_into_k12_teaching_and_learning_current_knowledge_gaps/ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Thorburn, D. (2004, February). //Technology Integration and Educational Change: Is it Possible?// Retrieved from http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/thorburn/index.htm