Date of Award

8-2003

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Educational Studies

Abstract

Education is an important factor in the introduction of technology as tools to be used in the teaching process. Teacher preparation programs for general education and special education are working to ensure that technology is a common denominator method of instruction following standards from teaching accrediting agencies. Institutions in charge of teacher preparation programs are aware of the need to prepare their students effectively and efficiently in the use of technology to support teaching and learning. Students in teacher preparation programs should become knowledgeable on using educational technology in their everyday instruction when placed in a school. For this reason, it has become necessary to measure the technology skill level that students in teacher preparation programs demonstrate. The goal of the Western Michigan University (WMU) Educational Technology Profiler Survey (ETPS) is to appraise the level of technology skills of preservice teachers in introductory technology courses in teacher preparation programs. The intention of the researcher is to find out how appropriate the ETPS is to gather information from students in the introductory technology courses. Gathering the desired information gives the instructors a better ability to implement the teaching practices they want to convey using the appropriate technology to teach different content.

The research study to be conducted seeks to determine the relationship between academic performance and student technology skills, as well as the interaction between education majors, and genders on student's academic performance. Correlational and other statistical analysis methods were used to study student performance on required class assignments in relation with their responses to the ETPS. The goal was to determine the quality and consistency of the information obtained with the ETPS instrument. Findings suggest the Educational Technology Profiler Survey is a reliable instrument to gather information on technology skills; its relationship with the students' academic performance has yet to be documented.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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