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: Mehmet Gunduz

Date: 06/02/2016

Cite the reviewed article in APA format:

Waxman, H., Boriack, A., Yuan-Hsuan, L., & MacNeil, A. (2013). Principals' Perceptions
of the Importance of Technology in Schools. Contemporary Educational
Technology, 4(3), 187-196.
INTRODUCTION
Research Questions (if research questions are not specifically mentioned, what is
the theoretical background or overarching theme):
How school principals and teachers perception of use of technology effect the schools
success and students learning?

Purpose of the research:

The purpose of this study is to find out principal perceptions of the importance of
technology and to see if the perception changes by year of experience and gender.
METHODOLOGY
What is the methodology for the research or approach used to understand the
issue? Provide information regarding the following:

Participants:
- 310 principals from southwest region of the United States participated in this
study. 126 of them were males and 184 of them were females.
- 104 of them were having 0-3 years of experience, 82 participants were having
4-7 years, 55 participants were having 8-11 years, 32 participants were having
12-15 years, and 31 participants were having greater than 15 years of
experience.
Procedures:

-The questionnaire was administered by graduate students in the Educational

Leadership program
-Graduate students were trained on how to administer the instrument and
required to interview a specific number of current public school principals.
Data Collection Methods/Data Source:
- For this study, only the data from the interviews was used.
- The survey instrument included both qualitative and quantitative questions.
- The type of interview questions were Has technology had an impact in your
school? and if so, in what specific ways has it made a difference?
Data Analysis:
- Analysis of the interview data began with a process of data reduction. The
participants responses were read several times to become familiar with the data.
The data was then coded into meaningful categories. Once the categories were
established, another researcher independently coded a 10% sample of
responses to determine the consistency of the coding. The inter-coder reliability
results revealed a high level of agreement (Cohens kappa = .94).

RESULTS
Findings or Results (or main points of the article):
- About one-third (35%) of the principals indicated that technology was used as a primary
communication tool.
- One principal, for example, stated, Technology helps with sending out newsletters
using an e-mail blast system, and teachers can e-mail parents to communicate in a more
improved way.
- Another principal said, Communication within the building and within the district is
quicker and more accurate.
- Over one-quarter (28%) of principals responded that 192 technology was integrated in
teachers classroom instruction. This was discussed by one principal The school's
computer lab also plays a big role in teaching kids; through collaboration between the
computer teacher and the classroom teacher, instruction can be planned for to reteach
particular learning objectives stemming from the classroom.
- One principal commented, We can access data quick and fast and use it to make
instructional decisions therefore impacting student learning for the better.
- A principal shared, It [technology] reduces the time to reach resources and also
increases the number of resources.

- A principal said, Technology is a wonderful tool. It has increased our efficiency with
record keeping, developing instructional materials, and numerous administrative tasks.

DISCUSSIONS
Conclusions/Implications (for your profession):
The results shows that, principals and teachers use of technology is essential on
student learning in todays conditions. Researches are also showing that the schools
which has the implementations of the different types of technological tools are more
successful schools. School leaders should support and encourage the staff member to
attend the trainings to improve their skills in this area.

REFLECTIONS
Students Reflections (changes to your understanding; implications for your
school/work):
First of all the school leaders should be familiar with the technology usage in education
in order to help and support their staff members.
My current principal was a computer teacher in the past and as soon as he became our
school principals, he create a budget for the technology equipment. He encouraged
especially the core subject teachers to use the iPad, smart boards, laptops and apple tv
etc. He is open to any request from teachers to purchase anything that may help their
lecture and class planning. By using technology students are doing their own research
on the internet, share ideas, interact with other students, and improve their study skills
and more.