A Qualitative Study of Teachers' Acceptance of a Speech-to-Text Transcription System in High School and College Classrooms

Abstract

Student success using an assistive technology may be partially attributed to educators' acceptance of the technology. High school and college educators in New York and California participated in a qualitative study of the implementation of a speech-to-text support service for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Educators' interviews were analyzed using criteria from Rogers (1995) model of diffusion of innovations. Educators accepted the support service due to its relative advantage to other notetaking services, perceived simplicity of the system, and perceived potential for students. Acceptance was less clear-cut in the domains of compatibility and trialability. Educators were less certain that it was compatible with their expectations for student learning in the classroom and trialability of the service was influenced by educators' perceptions of how they were approached for the trial of the service in their classrooms. Results of this study suggest that successful implementation of assistive technology depends on the ability to satisfy both student needs and educators' values.

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