Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Thorpe, Edward Thomas

Titel

Changes in teaching behavior and teacher attitudes toward computer technology: A grounded theory

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Erscheinungsjahr

1997

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• This study examined the nature and degree of change in behavior and attitudes of community college faculty related to their use of computer technology in their classrooms. Theories were developed regarding societal, institutional, and ideological forces pertaining to change, and considered the impact of faculty learning practices on their adoption of computer technology. Such forces and practices were associated with both changes to teaching methods familiar to faculty and limitations to the degree and rate of change. The study employed a grounded theory technique for the collection and analysis of the data gathered from community college faculty. Eight state funded community colleges in northeast Texas were represented in the study. Faculty members who participated in the study were recommended by deans from their institutions. A pool of thirty full time faculty members who, in their deans' opinions were good teachers, were identified. Faculty who were believed to represent widely varied levels of use of computer technology in their classrooms were selected from the pool. Fourteen faculty members participated in the study. The study participants were selected and data were collected during the period from February through May, 1997. The data collected were in the form of autobiographical reflections written by the participants, in-depth interviews, field notes, and institutional documents. In a manner consistent with grounded theory techniques, data were analyzed concurrently with collection, and such analysis focused subsequent data collection on relevant information through the process of theoretical sampling. During analysis, data were classified into emergent categories. Both data and categories were elaborated by memoranda written by the researcher. These data and memoranda, when sorted according to emergent categories and subcategories, became the substance of the findings reported and conclusions drawn. The findings indicated that computer technology was being used in the classroom to enhance preferred teaching methods. Faculty were primarily experience-trained in technological matters, and they had insufficient time to extend their knowledge regarding applications of computers to learning issues. Widely available and easily accessible physical resources alone will not foster either efficient use of computer technology or innovative applications in areas of teaching-learning methodology unfamiliar to faculty. Accomplishment of such change will require support in the form of access to new knowledge, expert assistance in applying technology to new situations, and time to develop awareness, understanding, and appropriate applications.