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theses

When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, it forced Americans to examine the state of science and technology at home. Almost ten years later in 1983, the A Nation at Risk Report showed that schools were still failing in many areas including technology. The No Child Left Behind Report released in the early 2000s confirmed that educational technology was still not meeting expectations. Today, even minimum wage jobs require students to be proficient in the use of technology, and yet research indicates that technology in schools is used mostly for low level applications (administrative purposes, word processing, drill and kill activities, etc.). The burning question is why have new technologies not diffused effectively through schools? This study was designed to use diffusion theory to explain variation in use of Google Docs in Monmouth County, New Jersey. It examined such environmental factors as communication channels, time, class size, computer access, decision method, and method of learning. The data was collected using an on-line survey and 35 of the 53 middle schools in Monmouth County, New Jersey participated. Fifty-five percent of the teachers in participating schools completed the survey. Regression analysis was used to examine the data and the results demonstrated that time and collective decision method were statistically significant factors in determining teachers’ level of use of Google Docs. When results from this study were combined with results from Tetreault’s work (in press), findings indicated that personal characteristics of teachers are more important than environmental factors.

ETD_5181

doi:10.7282/T35M63T4

Ed.D.

Includes bibliographical references

Includes vita

by Stephanie Kraft Wisnicki

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.