Project RITE
Recipients
Teacher Beliefs as Predictors of Concerns Regarding
the Effect of Instructional Technology on Students
Glenda Rakes
Professor, Educational Studies, UT MartinOverview
Reports continue to describe a lack of use or a lack of meaningful use of technology in elementary and secondary schools. This information is troubling in light of considerable investments of time and money on the part of federal, state, and local schools officials for more than two decades. Researchers have attempted to identify the reasons for this phenomenon with little practical effect. It may be that the lack of technology use by teachers is related to a fundamental conflict between teacher beliefs about the nature of teaching and learning and teacher perceptions about the ways technology use fits into their beliefs.Unfortunately, a number of studies investigating teacher concerns about technology report that concerns about technology's effect on students often reflect the lowest-level concerns expressed by teachers. The overall hypothesis for this study is that learner-centered beliefs about teaching and learning will predict higher level concerns about the effect of technology on students than non-learner-centered beliefs. If this is true, then encouraging learner-centered instructional practices may influence teachers to use instructional technology in more meaningful ways that will more positively influence student learning. This research will be guided by two primary questions:
Research Question 1: Do teachers' beliefs (learner-centered or non-learner-centered) predict their concerns about the effect of instructional technology on students?
Research Question 2: Is there a difference in teacher beliefs?