Teachers and Technology

1233 Words3 Pages

Several scholars indicated that K–12 teachers are not skilled, and lack confidence needed to infuse technology effectively into the curriculum (Francis & Mishra, 2008; Harrison, & Wamakote, 2010; Teo, 2009; Weston & Bain, 2010). Teaching with technology is complex and the challenge of newer technologies (Koehler & Mishra, 2009; Ozek, Kesli, & Kocoglu, 2009; Weston & Bain, 2010; Hennessy). A number of K–12 schools across the US are under pressure to integrate diverse technology resources into the curriculum (Weston & Bain, 2010). With this in mind, the integration of wireless laptop technology is the latest initiative attempting to promote the use of wireless computing in classroom instruction (Skevakis, 2010; Weston & Bain, 2010).

According to numerous researchers, this available technology in the classroom enables teachers to differentiate their instructional practices through technology-based activities (Nagel, 2010; Glassett & Schrum, 2009; Hall, 2010; Ross, Morrison, & Lowther, 2010). Many of the Georgia K–12 schools participated in some exhilarating projects using technology-based instructional activities. The technology-based instructional activities occurred through the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing Network (Georgia Department of Education [GaDOE], 2008). Because of the budget crises, the supplies of up-to-date technological resources and teacher training have undergone major cuts over the last four years (Glassett & Schrum, 2009). An essential characteristic of technology in education is the continuous evolution of technological devices and the use of corresponding applications (Hall, 2010).

The GaDOE is taking tremendous strides toward developing perspectives in thei...

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...from this technology (Suhr, Hernandez, Grimes, & Warschauer, 2010). Collaborative measures, advancing teacher-students’ literacy, data driven tasks, cross curriculum running records, promoting explorations, and facilitating assessments are some potential benefits. Teachers can use wireless laptops to teach students to generate and analyze their own data during inquiry learning (Kervin & Mantei, 2010; Skevakis, 2010).

Students with access to wireless laptops also have added aids at hand for creating products that illustrate mastery of introduced concepts (Zucker & King 2009). The problem that will be studied here encompasses some of the reasons why teachers do not routinely use wireless laptops in their instructional practice. The Teachers Attitude Scale (TAS) will be used to determine teachers’ need for ongoing training to incorporate wireless computing.

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