Factors Influencing Technology Use

The factors that affect technology integration in the classroom have been reported in numerous studies. The review in Mumtaz’s (2000) research identified three interlocking factors that had influence on teachers’ implementation of ICT:

institution (the school), resources, and the teacher (involving teachers’ beliefs, skills, and attitudes to IT). Similarly, Zhao, Pugh, Sheldon and Byers (2002) recognized 11 factors that had a significant impact on classroom technology innovations of K-12 teachers and the factors were divided into three domains: the innovator (teacher), the innovation (project), and the context (school). Based on Mumtaz (2000) and Zhao et al. (2002), the factors influencing teachers’ use of technology are adapted and grouped into two categories in the current study: the school and the teacher factors.

The factors cited in the previous research are categorized and presented in Table 2.2 below.

Table 2.2 School and Teacher Factors I. The school factor

1. Resources:

Lam (2000); Mumtaz (2000); Zhao et al. (2002)

2. The teacher’s own use of computers at home and at school:

Mueller, Wood, Willoughby, Ross, & Specht (2008) 3. Accessibility of (computer) resources within the school:

Inan & Lowther (2010); Wozney, Venkatesh, & Abrami (2006); Zhao et al.

7. Adapting to external requests and others’ expectations:

Baek, Jung, & Kim (2008) II. The teacher factor

1. Teachers’ beliefs:

A. Teachers’ beliefs:

Baylor & Ritchie (2002); Vannatta & Fordham, (2004) E. Fear of change:

Bitner & Bitner (2002) 3. Teachers’ teaching styles:

Wozney et al. (2006)

4. Demographic characteristics (years of teaching and age):

Inan & Lowther (2010) 5.Personal use of computers:

Vannatta & Fordham, (2004); Wozney et al. (2006) 6. Technology knowledge and competence:

A. Computer/technology proficiency:

Inan & Lowther (2010); Zhao et al. (2002) B. Knowledge of software applications:

Hernández-Ramos (2005)

C. Use of the enhanced functions of technology:

Baek et al. (2008)

D. Teacher’s comfort with computers:

Mueller et al. (2008)

E. Exposure to technology in teaching preparation programs:

Hernández-Ramos (2005)

7. Class preparation and management:

Baek et al. (2008)

As Table 2.2 shows, the school factor is grouped into seven types and the teacher factor is also classified into seven categories. The school factor includes seven types:

resources, teachers’ own use of computers at home and at school, accessibility of (computer) resources within the school, availability of technical support, amount of technology-related training, administrators' attitudes as well as adapting to external requests and others’ expectations. First, limited resources have been cited by second

language teachers (Lam, 2000), K-12 teachers (Mumtaz, 2000) or in the literature review (Zhao et al., 2002) as one of the factors affecting teachers’ integration of technology into instruction. Second, in Mueller et al.’s (2008) research, the elementary and secondary teachers identified the teacher’s own use of computers at home and at school as the factor influencing teachers’ use of technology. Third, teachers perceived accessibility of (computer) resources within the school as the factor affecting technology integration in the classroom (Inan & Lowther, 2010;

Wozney, Venkatesh, & Abrami, 2006; Zhao et al., 2002). Fourth, availability of technical support is regarded as the factor which influenced teachers’ technology use in the classrooms (Bitner & Bitner, 2002; Hernández-Ramos, 2005; Inan & Lowther, 2010; Zhao et al., 2002). Fifth, the amount of technology-related training was considered the factor affecting teachers’ integration of technology into the curriculum in the prior research (Bitner & Bitner, 2002; Vannatta & Fordham, 2004; Wozney, Venkatesh, & Abrami,2006). Sixth, based on Lam (2000), second language teachers stated that administrators' attitudes would influence their decision about using technology in the classroom. Seventh, Baek, Jung, and Kim (2008) administered a questionnaire to elementary and middle school teachers, revealing that adapting to external requests and others’ expectations was the factor affecting teachers’ use of technology in class.

On the other hand, the teacher factor contains seven categories: teachers’ beliefs, teachers’ attitudes, teachers’ teaching styles, demographic characteristics, personal use of computers, technology knowledge and competence as well as class preparation and management. The first factor, teachers’ beliefs, includes two types: teachers’ beliefs (Hernández-Ramos, 2005); Inan & Lowther, 2010); Lin, 2010); Shieh, 2012) and specific beliefs related to the use of computers as an instructional tool (Mueller et al., 2008). The second factor, teachers’ attitudes, involves five categories: attitude toward technology (McGrail, 2005), readiness to integrate technology (Inan & Lowther, 2010), desire to change (Shieh,2012), openness to change (Baylor & Ritchie, 2002;

Vannatta & Fordham, 2004), and fear of change (Bitner & Bitner,2002). Third, Wozney et al. (2006) conducted a survey to elementary and secondary teachers, showing that teaching styles would influence teachers’ use of technology in the classroom, and teachers who adopted “more student-centered approach towards instruction” (p.193) seemed to use technology more frequently in class. Fourth, demographic characteristics (years of teaching and age) was perceived as the factor

affecting teachers’ integration of technology in the classroom in Inan and Lowther’s (2010) study. Fifth, in Vannatta and Fordham’s (2004) as well as Wozney et al.’s (2006) research, K-12 teachers/elementary and secondary school teachers considered personal use of computers outside of class would influence their use of technology in the classroom since learning and familiarizing with the use of technology requires time, and playing with technology outside of class would help improve their application of technology in class. The sixth factor, technology knowledge and competence, contains five types: computer/technology proficiency (Inan & Lowther, 2010; Zhao et al., 2002), knowledge of software applications (Hernández-Ramos, 2005), use of the enhanced functions of technology (Baek et al., 2008), teacher’s comfort with computers (Mueller et al., 2008) and exposure to technology in teaching preparation programs (Hernández-Ramos, 2005). Seventh, in Baek et al.’s (2008) study, class preparation and management was regarded by elementary and middle school teachers as the factor which would affect whether they decide to integrate technology into instruction in the classroom.

As far as the school factor is concerned, the most essential factors cited by most of the studies include accessibility of resources within the school, availability of technical support, and amount of technology-related training. As for the teacher factor, most researchers indentify teachers’ beliefs, attitudes as well as technology knowledge and competence as the most crucial factors.