The current state of technology competencies of teachers in Newfoundland and Labrador schools

King, Bruce N. G. (1999) The current state of technology competencies of teachers in Newfoundland and Labrador schools. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This study was designed to assess the current level of teachers' computer and information technology competencies, assess the attitude of teachers toward computer and information technologies, and relate the level of teacher competencies and attitudes toward computers to age, gender, school type and geographic location. -- A thorough review of the literature revealed two suitable instruments, the Technology Needs Assessment Instrument (Alliance of Connecticut Regional Education Service Center, 1997) and the Teacher Attitude Toward Technology Survey (Christensen and Knezek, 1996); which when combined, adequately addressed the research questions. Over 380 of the 540 employees (teachers) in 31 schools in School District #3 in Western Newfoundland returned the surveys. The respondents were inservice teachers ranging in age from 20 to over 50 years, with 2 to over 25 years of teaching experience, from a variety of school types, and were fairly evenly represented by gender and urban and rural location. -- The findings suggest that teachers in Newfoundland and Labrador require a significant amount of training to meet the International Society for Technology in Education foundation standards for all educators; there are significant differences in the view of males and females with regard to their technology competency; younger teachers tend to view themselves as more competent in the use of technology than older teachers; and elementary teachers appear to view themselves as having less technology competence than other teachers while high school teachers tend to view themselves as having more technology competence than other teachers. The attitude of Newfoundland and Labrador teachers toward computer technology is generally positive (with some attitudinal differences between males and females, younger and older teachers, and urban and rural teachers). A strong positive correlation was found between positive attitudes toward computers and teacher competency levels in computer and information technology. Overall, it was recommended that training and support of teacher technology use in the classroom should become a priority at all levels. This should include the allocation of a greater portion of budqets to teacher training and support, development of technology plans that specify which standards should be used for student learning, teacher education and inservice, technology resources, and technical support. -- Centers for teacher training should be developed in each region of the province which support, encourage and assist teachers in the integration of technology in the classroom. Stakeholders must work together to explore ways to provide cost effective, easily accessable distance education programs in computer and information technology to teachers in their schools and homes. -- Stakeholders should identify and implement methods in their technology plans which build on the positive attitudes of teachers and provide and improve training opportunities which take advantages of and reinforce these attitudes. Technology is an ever-changing field and, for teachers to keep up, life long learning and a commitment to self training is required.

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