Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Adams, James

Date of Degree

5-1-2010

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Instructional Systems and Workforce Development

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

College

College of Education

Department

Department of Instructional Systems and Workforce Development

Abstract

Technological standards have existed for years encouraging the use of computer technology as a teaching tool. By increasing technology use in the classroom, educators are able to address teaching and learning opportunities for all students. The need for these opportunities is essential in the rural areas of the U. S. The purpose of this study was to determine if teachers in a rural city school district in Mississippi experience computer anxiety in using new and emerging software technologies for instructional purpose; examine the level of computer anxiety teachers experience in using computers; and explore if relationships exist in the level of computer anxiety experienced by teachers based on the following demographic variables: gender, age, years of teaching, subject area taught, and educational attainment. The population consisted of 110 teachers with a minimum of bachelor‟s degree and certified to teach in their respective areas of specialization. Findings from descriptive statistics revealed that the majority of the participants were female teachers with 43% of participants possessing either a Master‟s or Ph.D. degree. A large portion of these teachers had one year or more experience with learning about or working with computers with access to a computer at home. The means revealed that when teachers have a moderate degree of confidence, liking, and usefulness when using new and emerging software technology there is a low degree of anxiety. Pearson Correlations were used to examine the relationships between the subscales (anxiety, confidence, liking, and usefulness) and demographic variables (gender, age, years of teaching, subject area taught, and educational attainment). Results confirmed that there were significant relationships between age and anxiety, gender and confidence, gender and liking, and years of teaching and anxiety. However, there were no significant relationships between the other variables. Findings of this study have the potential to contribute to the development of a profile that could be used to identify teachers who need exposure to technological training and professional development to help reduce computer anxiety and minimize resistance to computer usage. Additionally, findings of this study can serve as a growing baseline of literature that relates to computer anxiety among teachers.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/15022

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