Family and consumer sciences teachers' attitudes toward and stages of adoption of information technology

Date

2000-05

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Volume Title

Publisher

Texas Tech University

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) teachers' attitudes toward five innovations of information technology (email. World Wide Web, multimedia, computers for professional productivity, and computers for classroom use) and determine what relationships, if any, existed between demographic and program variables and teachers' attitudes. The Diffusion of Innovations Theory was used to guide the study.

Evidence of Texas FCS teachers' attitudes toward information technology or their adoption of information technology has been unreported in the literature. Texas FCS teachers' attitudes toward information technology were assessed, during the fall of 1999, using the researcher-modified Teachers' Attitude Toward Information Technology Questionnaire. Data were used to identify barriers to adoption and potential incentives to increase the rate of adoption, and to determine where FCS teachers in Texas perceived themselves with regard to the stages of adoption of information technology.

Texas FCS teachers had favorable attitudes toward information technology Relationships between demographic variables and attitudes toward specific innovations of information technology were identified. The majority of respondents were in the advanced stages of adoption for each of the five innovations. Over half of the respondents used one or more of the innovations at home and in the classroom.

The lack of time to use and learn technology, need for more training, and limited availability of computers were the most frequently reported barriers to adoption. The most frequently reported incentives to adoption included more time to use and learn, technology training, and increased availability of computers.

The number of Texas FCS teachers who have adopted information technology has reached critical mass. Results of the study have implications for preservice and inservice FCS teachers, as well as other stakeholders in the field of Family and Consumer Sciences Education.

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