JOURNAL ARTICLE REVIEW TEMPLATE

North American University

Education Department
M.Ed. in Educational Leadership / M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction
EDUC 5324 Integrating Technology into Education
Name: Kubra Unlu

Date:10/18/2015

Cite the reviewed article in APA format:

Dogan, B., & Almus, K. (2014). School Administrators Use of iPads: Impact of Training and
Attitudes Toward School Use.Computers in the Schools, 31(3), 233250

INTRODUCTION
Research Questions (if research questions are not specifically mentioned, what is the
theoretical background or overarching theme):
1. What is the impact of the training process on school administrators use of iPads for
administrative tasks and personal organization in their professional duties?
2. What is the impact of the training process on school administrators beliefs regarding
how teachers should use iPads in the classroom?
3. Are there any differences in school administrators survey responses based on gender,
age, years of experience in school administration and education, highest degree attained,
school classification, or school size?

Purpose of the research:

There are not many researches that focus on how school administrators use ipads for their
job duties and the potential effects on their work related tasks and individual
organizations. According to literature, iPads were purchased and implemented in a school
system based on the assumption that they would enhance the productivity of school
administrators, thus improving school functionality and promoting a technology-rich
school climate (Winslow, Dickerson, Cheng-Yuan Lee, & Geer, 2012).However,Winslow
et al. (2012) worked on effect of IPad usage after receiving training for school
administrators attitudes.
It is known that there was no research examining the impact of receiving specific iPad
training on school administrators attitudes toward iPad use. In order to determine
potential impacts in this area, a research study involving a training process, which
included workshops, online resources, and ongoing support, was designed.
So, Dr. Dogan and Dr. Almus developed this research article based on their experiences
as a faculty member in the field of educational technology and as a faculty colleague in
the field of educational leadershipat a small private university located in a
southwestern metropolitan city.

This articles purpose is also to demonstrate how school administrators use iPads for their
professional responsibilities and the potential effects on their work-related tasks and
personal organization.
METHODOLOGY
What is the methodology for the research or approach used to understand the issue?
Provide information regarding the following:
Participants: Elementary and secondary school administrators: 51 school principals and
assistant principals
Additionally, 51 applicants out of 120 principals who owned iPads volunteered to
complete the pre-survey in a southwestern state of Texas.
Procedures: The initial communication included information on the purpose, structure,
and schedule of the research study with information on training and resources.
Participants were asked to complete consent forms prior to the study as required by the
school district and the universitys Institutional Review Board (IRB). Survey-based
quantitative approach was used to investigate the constructs.
Training was planned based on feedback from participants and delivered through an
interactive webinar session.
Moreover, additional resources reinforcing the topics covered in the initial preparation
session were provided later to school administrators in the form of video media and
written tutorials for their convenience. Methodical support regarding the training topics
and study was available to participants on an ongoing basis. Researchers provided
technical support to school administrators via e-mail and telephone.
Data Collection Methods/Data Source:
Participants in this research were reached by email through the school systems central
office, after obtaining approvals from the school district and the university.
Data Analysis:
Survey tools included multiple choice and Likert-type scale objects and its answers were
reported as frequencies. In addition, matching sample t-test data analysis was conducted
to realize the differences in the responses between the pre- and post-surveys.
A one-way Analysis of Variance test was piloted to see whether there were any
differences in school administrators responses by gender, age, years of experience in
school administration and education, highest degree attained, school classification, and
school size. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used to
conduct the data analysis. The data analysis of this research is also classified into 5 main
groups: analysis of demographic and contextual data; impacts of the training process on
school administrators use of iPad and iPad applications; impacts of the preparation
process on school administrators beliefs regarding how teachers should use iPads in the
classroom; differences in participants responses by their demographic and contextual
data (gender, age, years of experience in school administration and education, highest

degree attained, school classification, and school size); and evaluation of training process

RESULTS
Findings or Results (or main points of the article):
Results of the study revealed that this research provided positive impact on potential
benefits of iPads usage in the classroom by teachers for school principals. Moreover, the
training process enhanced school administrators development on iPad usage and their
technology literacy regarding iPads.
DISCUSSIONS
Conclusions/Implications (for your profession): iPad training for school administrators in
their professional duties and in the classroom by teachers has been observed in this
research and this study demonstrates how school administrators uses iPad and iPad
applications in their professional duties before and after training, their views on how
teachers should use iPads in the classroom, differences in participants responses by
demographic and contextual data, and evaluation of the training process.
Effect of having iPad training shows us how school principals altitudes and their
performances for their professional tasks and in the classroom by teachers. Moreover, It
was identified that how school admins used iPad and iPad applications in their
professional duties before and after training, their beliefs on how teachers should use
iPads in the classroom, differences in participants responses by demographic and
contextual data, and calculation of the training process.
Participants in this study were relatively young administrators (average age of 34.16)
with fewer number of years of experience in education (averaged 8.45 total years of
experience in education, and only 2.04 years of experience as a school administrator)
compared with other public schools in the state where the study was conducted (U.S.
Department of Education, 2003). Furthermore, the relatively young age of participants
may be a factor in the positive reception of the training activities in this study, as it has
been previously shown that younger school administrators use more technology
compared with older school administrators (Afshari et al., 2010; Schiller, 2003). The
young age of participants could have contributed to the efficiency of the training process
and thus increased the overall quality of Downloaded by [76.31.198.76] at 18:17 03
November 2014 School Administrators Use of iPads 245 data collected in this study. The
average school size in this study was comparable to the medium school size category for
this states public schools (Texas Education Agency, 1999).
Educators are often provided with technological tools but are given little instruction on
how these tools can be used meaningfully in the classroom. Even though teachers have
more resources available to them than ever before, they still do not receive sufficient

training on the effective use of technology to enhance learning (U.S. Department of

Education, 2004). Research suggests that professional development programs can help
teachers integrate new technologies into their instruction (Sivin-Kachala & Bialo, 2000).
Similar to teachers, school administrators effective use of technology depends on proper
training. Previous studies indicated that training has a direct effect on principals
proficiency in using hardware and software and, in turn, on their instructional and
administrative proficiency (Afshari et al., 2010; Hawkins, 2002)
REFLECTIONS
Students Reflections (changes to your understanding; implications for your
school/work):
After reading this crucial article, I believe that important point of it is to analyze and
detect the impact of using iPad for school teachers and principals. First of all, I am
surprised that we still have lack of technology literacy today. Therefore, the result of this
study shows training has a great impact on principals. So that, they really think that iPad
is effective tool to use in school settings. Moreover, I believe that the result of this study
suggest that an integration of iPad can lead to competence and future classroom
technology use when it is applicable to students needs and delivers students effectively.
After this research, I can conclude that when school administrators use iPads effectively,
they can help to integrate iPad usage in schools by other school members. So, they can
provide ongoing support and increase teacher motivation that is to establish school
community wide goals where teachers received full of support regarding iPad usage.
This research also give us a chance to understand how provided iPad training to school
administrators helps them to conduct administrative tasks more professionally and to be
seen as the instructional and technical leaders of their schools.

References:
Afshari, M., Bakar, K. A., Luan, W. S., & Afshari, M. (2010, May). Principals and
technologyuse. In A. Kallel, A. H. Hassairi, C. Ai. Bulucea, & N. Mastorakis
(Eds.),Proceedings of 6th International Conference on Educational Technologies,
2010(pp. 1318). Sousse, Tunisia: WSEAS. Retrieved from
http://www.wseas.us/elibrary/conferences/2010/Tunisia/EDUTE/EDUTE-01.pdf
Dogan, B., & Almus, K. (2014). School Administrators Use of iPads: Impact of Training and
Attitudes Toward School Use.Computers in the Schools, 31(3), 233250

Sivin-Kachala, J., & Bialo, E. (2000). 2000 research report on the effectiveness of
technology in schools. Washington, DC: Software and Information Industry Association.
Retrieved from http://www.siia.net/estore/ref-00-summary.pdf

Texas Education Agency. (1999). School size and class size in Texas public schools
(Policy Research Report Number 12). Austin, TX, USA: Author. Retrieved from
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/detail?accno = ED433977
U.S. Department of Education. (2003). Schools and staffing survey (SASS) [public
school principal data file]. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.
Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/tables/ sass0304_001_p1s.asp
U.S. Department of Education. (2004). Toward a new golden age in American education
How the Internet, the law and todays students are revolutionizing expectations.
Washington
Winslow, J., Dickerson, J., Cheng-Yuan Lee, & Geer, G. (2012). Mobile technologies:
Tools for organizational learning and management in schools. International
Education Studies, 5(4), 188195.