Individual Characteristics Influencing Teachers' Class Use of Computers

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between computer use in the classroom and influencing factors on an individual level. Subjects were 236 secondary school teachers familiar with computer use. First, tests of mean differences were performed to determine the differences between class users of computers and non-class users on the following individual characteristics: 1) age, 2) gender, 3) teaching a technology-related subject, 4) general computer attitudes, 5) attitudes toward computers in education, 6) technological innovativeness, and 7) general innovativeness. Except for the age variable, all factors were found to be significantly related to the dependent class use variable. In a next step, logistic regression was used to analyze the strongest predictors for computer use in the classroom. Technological innovativeness, teaching a technology-related subject, and computer experience were found to account for more variation in explaining the use of computers in the class than the computer attitude scales, general innovativeness, age, and gender.