The effect of service employees’ technology readiness on technology acceptance

As much of the work of service employees is supported by IT, the quality of the service often depends on how the technology is used. Most employees only use a fraction of the functionality available on their desk-top. This may also depend on their personality. We performed research on the relationship of personality and technology acceptance.     

A study of high school English teachers’ behavior,concerns and beliefs in integrating information technology into English instruction

This study investigates the current trends and patterns of teachers’ concerns and teaching behavior with respect to technology integration. The following concerns of English teachers are addressed: teaching practice, perceive barriers of technology integration in the English instruction and the technology deployed in the classroom. Participants in this study were 332 junior and senior high school English teachers from Taipei and Kaohsiung Cities. The study found that despite pressure on schools to increase the application of technology, the adoption of teaching and learning practices using new technologies has been limited in terms of teachers’ SoCQ (The Stages of Concerns Questionnaire), their teaching behavior as well as their use of technology. Teachers’ concerns are generally oriented toward Personal and informational issues. English teachers’ technology-mediated English teaching behaviors are modest, and most teachers used technology to prepare their teaching activities instead of structuring higher levels of usage. As identified in the literature, higher levels of computer training, computer literacy, well-supported school environment, creative teaching practices and positive beliefs about technology integration among teachers result in higher task intensity, impact concerns and more technology-mediated teaching behaviors in the classroom. In terms of the difficulties affecting teachers’ technology integration into English instruction, this study identified significant relationships between first and second-order barriers. Implications for teachers’ technology integration are proposed.     

Beyond self-efficacy: Measuring pre-service teachers’ Instructional Technology Outcome Expectations

The purpose of this study was to examine concurrent and construct validity for the Instructional Technology Outcome Expectation (ITOE) scale. Outcome expectation is an intrapersonal factor which influences individuals’ motivation. In the present study, we examined outcome expectation beliefs with regard to integrating technology into teaching practice. Findings revealed that outcome expectation is a multifaceted construct consisting of three components (performance, self-evaluative and social outcome expectations), and that the ITOE scale shows good validity and psychometric properties. Use of the scale can help teacher educators and inservice providers more efficiently and effectively address outcome expectations as they help teachers integrate technology into their practice.     

Computer skills instruction for pre-service teachers: A comparison of three instructional approaches

The computer self-efficacy of teachers contributes positively to their technology integration self-efficacy. Many studies have examined instructional strategies that foster computer self-efficacy but not their corresponding impact on teachers’ technology integration self-efficacy. This study investigated the instructional strategies used for pre-service teacher computer skills instruction and their corresponding impact on teacher computer self-efficacy and technology integration self-efficacy. Using a multiple case-study approach, video recordings were made of the class sessions of three participating instructors throughout a semester. Content analysis of these video recordings found the instructors using three approaches of computer skills instruction: Extensive behavioral modeling, targeted behavioral modeling, and independent problem-solving. Analysis of pre and post-study student survey responses also found that the three instructional approaches raised their perceived computer self-efficacy. However, the effect sizes were largest when the independent problem-solving approach was used. This approach was also found to have had better motivational effects on students than the extensive behavioral modeling approach. On the other hand, computer skills instruction increased students’ technology integration self-efficacy only when instructors modeled teaching-related examples and provided students with multiple mastery experiences of technology integration practices. The applications of the three computer skills instructional approaches for teacher education are discussed.     

Comparing technology acceptance of K-12 teachers with and without prior experience of learning management systems: A Covid-19 pandemic study

Covid-19 pandemic has caused a massive transformation in K-12 settings towards online education. It is important to explore the factors that facilitate online teaching technology adoption of teachers during the pandemic. The aim of this study was to compare Learning Management System (LMS) acceptance of Finnish K-12 teachers who have been using a specific LMS as part of their regular teaching before the Covid-19 pandemic (experienced group) and teachers who started using it for emergency remote teaching during the pandemic (inexperienced group). Based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology framework, a self-report questionnaire was administered to 196 teachers (n_experienced = 127; n_{inexperienced} = 69). Our findings showed no difference between the two groups of teachers in terms of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, LMS self-efficacy and satisfaction. However, the experienced group had higher behavioural intention to use LMS in the future, reported receiving higher online teaching support and displayed higher online teaching self-efficacy in terms of student engagement, classroom management, instructional strategies and ICT skills. For the experienced group, the most significant predictor of satisfaction with LMS was performance expectancy whereas for the inexperienced group, it was the effort expectancy. In terms of behavioural intention to use LMS in the future, the most significant predictor was the performance expectancy for both groups. Further, support was also a significant predictor of behavioural intention for the inexperienced group. Overall, our findings indicate that teachers should not be regarded as a unified profile when managing technology adoption in schools.     

Teacher education for using microcomputers in the classroom: generic skills to think about

Abstract  My purpose is to talk about the generic skills a teacher should master to take best advantage and get the most fruitful pedagogical results from the use of microcomputers in the classroom. Yet, the organization of teacher training differs from country to country so that it is difficult to imagine a single way to prepare a teacher for these skills. So, I intend to address my topic in terms of what I think should be known by a teacher instead of in terms of what should be taught through a specific curriculum.
There is another reason for me to avoid talking formally about pre-service and in-service education. Four years ago, Quebec's Ministry of Education launched a plan of action for the pedagogical use of the computer in the classroom and we have gone through quite an evolution in our vision of how teacher training should be organized. We are still wondering whether what we do in that respect is a final picture of what ought to be done. I shall then speak more from the empirical evidence of our action plan than from established scientific proofs.     

Learners’ acceptance of e-learning in South Korea: Theories and results

One of the most significant changes in the field of education in this information age is the paradigm shift from teacher-centered to learner-centered education. Along with this paradigm shift, understanding of students’ e-learning adoption behavior among various countries is urgently needed. South Korea’s dense student population and high educational standards made investment in e-learning very cost-effective. However, despite the fact that South Korea is one of the fastest growing countries in e-learning, not much of the research results have been known to the globalized world. By investigating critical factors on e-learning adoption in South Korea, our study attempts to fill a gap in the individual country-level e-learning research.Based on the extensive literature review on flow theory, service quality, and the Technology Acceptance Model, our study proposes a research model which consists of four independent variables (instructor characteristics, teaching materials, design of learning contents, and playfulness), two belief variables (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use), and one dependent variable (intention to use e-learning). Results of regression analyses are presented. Managerial implications of the findings and future research directions are also discussed.     

Dialogic teaching and iPads in the EAP classroom

Mobile learning technology in the form of iPads has gained considerable attention recently in the literature on pedagogy and learning. This has led to a change in the roles of teachers and students, and the nature of the classroom interaction. What is not clear so far however, is how iPads have changed the nature of classroom talk and dialogic teaching. The present study aimed to examine the impact of iPad use on the opportunities for dialogic teaching in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) classes in an English medium university in the United Arab Emirates. The study reveals that although opportunities for dialogic teaching are both created and inhibited in classes utilizing the iPads, the most influential contributor to opportunities and restrictions lies depends on whether the teachers and students have adopted a dialogic stance. The study also revealed the need to examine dialogic teaching within the specific sociocultural and educational context of learning.     

Open source software: The effects of training on acceptance

Open Source Software (OSS) is an alternative to proprietary software. It is growing in popularity, which has brought about an increase in research interest. Most of the research studies have focused on identifying individual personal motives for participating in the development of an OSS project, analyzing specific solutions, or the OSS movement, itself. No studies have been found which have undertaken research on the impact of user experience and training on OSS. The study reported here sought to identify factors that predict acceptance of technologies based on OSS after training in these solutions. A research model based on the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989) was developed. Furthermore, the possible moderating effects of users’ gender, age and level of education were analyzed. It was found that external determinants such as user training, user fit, technological complexity and trainers’ support were important indicators in the success of adopting these solutions.     

The impact of use context on mobile services acceptance: The case of mobile ticketing

The most important factor in the decision to adopt mobile systems is user perception of their value. However, behavioral theory suggests that context affects user attitude and therefore influences acceptance. We therefore hypothesized that the benefits of mobile systems should be evaluated against users’ contextual needs and that reduced dependence on time and place required providing service at any time and place needed by the user. Mental costs or costs of learning to use the system, however, may not be evaluated in the same way, because system use and learning about it are acts with different contexts. Our findings advance knowledge of IT adoption and suggest that we should start to identify the contexts of both the benefits of use and in learning to use the system.     

Investigating mobile wireless technology adoption: An extension of the technology acceptance model

This research represents a theoretical extension of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), which IS researchers have used to explain technologies’ perceived usefulness and individuals intention to use it. The authors developed a model, referred to as the Mobile Wireless Technology Acceptance Model (MWTAM), to test the relationship between theoretical constructs spanning technological influence processes (Perceived Ubiquity, and Perceived Reachability) and cognitive influence processes (Job Relevance, Perceived Usefulness, and Perceived Ease of Use) and their impact on Behavioral Intention. MWTAM is assessed using data collected from an online survey and analyzed using AMOS 5.0. Results provide evidence to support MWTAM as both the technological and cognitive influence processes accounted for 58.7% of the variance explained in an individual’s Behavioral Intention toward using mobile wireless technology. Additionally, the path coefficients between constructs ranged from 0.241 to 0.572 providing further evidence to support the theoretical extension of TAM.

The effects of perceived risk and technology type on users’ acceptance of technologies

Previous studies on technology adoption disagree regarding the relative magnitude of the effects of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. However these studies did not consider moderating variables. We investigated four potential moderating variables – perceived risk, technology type, user experience, and gender – in users’ technology adoption. Their moderating effects were tested in an empirical study of 161 subjects. Results showed that perceived risk, technology type, and gender were significant moderating variables. However the effects of user experience were marginal after the variance of errors was removed.     

Technology acceptance model for the use of information technology in universities

The problem described in this research is to identify which factors influence on engineering students about their acceptance of an academic administrative information system in private universities in Lima, Peru. The objective is to identify factors by proposing a Technology Acceptance Model of an Academic and Administrative Information System. University population is described, both private and public. The investigation is based on two private universities. The results show the relationship between the selected variables. Finally, recommendations are given to act on the variables that determine the acceptance of information technology.     

Managing programmed instruction and collaborative peer tutoring in the classroom: Applications in teaching Java™

To fulfill part of the course requirements, 34 undergraduate students in two courses completed an online programmed instruction tutor as the first technical training exercise in a Java™ programming course designed for information systems majors. The tutor taught a simple JApplet program to display a text string within a browser window on the Web. Students in the first course next participated in a collaborative peer tutoring session, based on the JApplet program, followed by a lecture on the program and by successfully running the program on the Web. For the second course, the peer tutoring session was scheduled after the lecture and after successfully running the program. Students in both courses completed tests of far transfer (“meaningful learning”) and software self-efficacy before using the tutor and on several subsequent occasions following that initial learning. Students in the second course also completed a 4-item scale to assess the development of classification and functionality knowledge regarding elements of the program. Students in both courses showed progressive improvement in all performance measures across the several assessment occasions. Students’ positive ratings of the effectiveness of both the tutor and the collaborative peer tutoring supported the value of these learning experiences in a technical knowledge domain. The results of this study, based on student performance observed within the context of the classroom, show the importance of providing a range of synergistic learning experiences that culminate in a level of skill and confidence that prepares and motivates all students for advanced instruction in Java. They also show how to manage the instructional techniques in the classroom to accomplish that educational outcome.     

The adoption of software measures: A technology acceptance model (TAM) perspective

The use of software measures for project management and software process improvement has been encouraged for many years. However, the low level of acceptance and use of software measures in practice has been a constant concern. In this paper we propose and test a model which explains and predicts the use of software measures. The model is based on the technology acceptance model (TAM) and operationalizes the perceived usefulness construct according to the “desirable properties of software measures.” Our research provides guidance for software engineers in selecting among different software measures and for software metrics coordinators who are planning measurement programs.     

The effects of mathematics instruction using spatial temporal cognition on teacher efficacy and instructional practices

This paper examined the effects of an instructional approach known as Spatial Temporal Mathematics (ST Math) on teacher beliefs about mathematics teaching. Participants were 339 elementary teachers teaching grades 2–5 who were randomly assigned to a control or treatment group. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to determine the effects of the intervention on self-efficacy, outcome expectancy, and instructional practices using scientific reasoning. While the treatment did not yield significant effects in teacher outcomes, our secondary analysis indicated that time on ST Math and the integration of ST Math into daily instructions were positively associated with teacher efficacy and instructional practices using scientific reasoning. Implications of the results on teacher beliefs about mathematics teaching are discussed.     

Predicting secondary school teachers’ acceptance and use of a digital learning environment: A cross-sectional study

In this study, secondary school teachers’ acceptance of a digital learning environment (DLE) was investigated. Questionnaires were taken on three times (T1/T2/T3) during the same school year, with the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) as theoretical framework. Next to questionnaires, user-logs were collected during the entire school year. A total of 72 teachers completed a questionnaire on at least one occasion: 64 teachers responded at T1, 41 at T2, and 55 at T3. We first investigated which factors influence teachers’ acceptance of a DLE. The main predictors of DLE acceptance were performance expectancy and social influence by superiors to use the DLE. Effort expectancy and facilitating conditions were of minor importance. We then investigated how well the amount of final observed use could be predicted, and found that at T1 about one third, at T2 about one fourth and at T3 about half of the variance in observed use was predicted by attitude, behavioral intention and self-reported frequency of use. Our study showed that to maximize use of a DLE, its usefulness should be demonstrated, while school boards or principals should strongly encourage teachers to (start to) use the DLE.     

microLESSONS in teacher education: Examining pre-service teachers’ pedagogical beliefs

It is a challenge for teacher educators to shift pre-service teachers away from traditional pedagogical beliefs towards constructivist ones. At the National Institute of Education in Singapore, microLESSONS is introduced into the instructional technology course of the teacher education program to provide pre-service teachers with opportunities to adopt constructivist instructional approaches towards the design of multimedia learning packages. Based on a class of pre-service teachers in the Diploma in Education program, this paper examines how participation in the microLESSONS series changes pre-service teachers’ pedagogical beliefs. Although the study shows that the beliefs of pre-service teachers are resistant to change and are unlikely to be affected by a short, one-off constructivist-based practical experience provided by the microLESSONS series, the series may have enhanced their confidence in designing and developing multimedia learning packages based on constructivist principles. The series has also given them a better understanding of the diverse use of technology for enhancing teaching and learning.     

Wearable fitness technology: A structural investigation into acceptance and perceived fitness outcomes

Wearable fitness technologies (WFT) track physical activity, such as steps taken, calories burned and workout intensity, through a device that is typically worn at all times. While the market for WFT devices continues to grow, current theoretical understanding of adoption is lacking. Thus, in an attempt to extend the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the current study employs a structural equation model to increase current understanding of wearable technology use. Further, to better understand the outcome of WFT use, the current study examines the relationship among health related outcomes of WFT use such as overall exercise behavior and perceptions of health. Results support the TAM and WFT use was significantly related to perceived health outcomes.