Education and Technology

Assumptions, Limitations, Scope and Delimitation The study will help establish whether participating teachers are curious and eager to learn new skills that will provide additional teaching opportunities. It is assumed that teachers are curious and eager to learn how to infuse advanced technology and also develop an understanding of instructing with available technological tools such as wireless laptop technology (Marino, Sameshima, &ump; Beecher, 2009). The limitations are as follows: first, the amount of time available for the researcher to conduct this study, which may also limit the studys scope to a smaller group of respondents. The other limitation is the researchers inability to assess the accurate amount of time teachers will spend using an online network. The next limitation is the location, a rural school system and not a suburban or urban school system because the system under review only has four schools. The final limitation is teachers use of available technology within their classroom due to possible technophobia, lack of training, and or skills. The delimitation in this study is that no data will be collected from XYZs students and administrators who also use wireless technology. The TAS questionnaire, which is a standardized measure with high reliability and validity of teachers technological attitudes, will be administered to 108 teachers. However, the use of a self-reported questionnaire will also assume that participants provide truthful responses from a one- shot posttest (Leedy &ump; Ormrod, 2010). Teachers at XYZ district will complete the questionnaire the day after a one hour training session on integrating wireless laptops (Skevakis, 2010; Zucker &ump; King, 2009) in the classroom with an experimental group. Another assumption is that the assessment is receptive enough to assess teachers technological attitudes. Therefore, based on the quantitative nature of the study, this investigation is better outfitted to present a wealthy account of the practice of teaching and learning with wireless laptops (Skevakis, 2010) within K 12 classrooms, as opposed to a qualitative or mixed method investigation of the phenomenon (Leedy &ump; Ormrod, 2010). Thus, this study does not suggest that teaching and learning should be limited exclusively to wireless computing. Significance of the Study The significance of this proposed study will add to the literature by illustrating a more inclusive picture of the universal practice of instructing and learning with wireless computing (GaDOE, 2008, Wellings &ump; Levine, 2009; Weston &ump; Bain, 2010). Although the XYZ school district is making considerable progress in incorporating technological resources in the classroom effectively, there is still more work to do on leveraging (GaDOE, 2008) technology potential. The XYZ district provides teachers with Internet access, online subscriptions and training on ways to develop digital content (Skevakis, 2010). However, teachers are not provided with adequate preparation, planning or assistance to align digital (Skevakis, 2010) resources to the curriculum. This study is unique because limited studies are available addressing teachers technology attitudes (Wayne, Yoon, Zhu, Cronen, &ump; Garet, 2008) and classroom usage in rural school systems. The results of this study will share in connecting to the XYZ School di stricts vision of creating necessary changes to promote teaching and learning with technological resources (McIntosh County Schools Handbook, 2010). Implications for Social Change Creating necessary changes in education is one of the XYZ school district s visions. Training professionals to teach with new technological resources is part of the technology plan within the XYZ school district (McIntosh County Schools Handbook, 2010). Constructive changes may build the opportunity for teachers to empower students, schools, and communities (GaDOE, 2008; Hall, 2010). School officials can consider the access of technology (Skevakis, 2010) to expanded social interactions, enhanced technological understandings, and adapt teaching strategies using wireless technology resources (Weston &ump; Bain, 2010). The outcome and results from this study will be used to provide a guideline for designing an online educational community. Therefore, social change may occur when a

community of professionals is brought together by desires to enrich the lives of students and prepare teachers for a world dominated by wireless communication systems (Weston &ump; Bain, 2010). The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (2009) propose that ongoing, job-embedded professional development through an online network creates the opportunity to improve teacher technology efficacy and adapt to new media literacy. This study will offer training to improve teacher technology efficacy, encourage new media literacy, and provide a set of skills, and cultural knowledge for teachers to help students function in an environment where technology constantly changes (GaDOE, 2008: Hall, 2010; Prensky, 2008; Su Luan &ump; Teo 2009; Ursavas &ump; Karal, 2009). Students and teachers will need to internalize the idea that learning through wireless technology is a lifelong venture. This requires a change of attitude from teachers who are reluctant to accept technology usage in their instructional practices (Su Luan &ump; Teo, 2009). Thus, the information from teacher to teacher, from teacher to the student, or from student to student facilitates social and academic changes that may help those involved in this study. This social and pedagogical changes using wireless computing (Skevakis, 2010) makes room for teachers to share resources, enhance traditional teaching opportunities by differentiating instructional practices and design a new more efficient way to assists students through digital mean and communicate (Zucker &ump; King, 2009; Mouza, 2008) with stakeholders. Facilitating a social and pedagogical change with wireless computing in the learning setting will prepare technologically savvy citizen that can leverage technology (Williamson &ump; Redish, 2009) and keep up with the technological advances. Wireless computing will help instruct students to use technological resources to learn collaboratively and interactively (Prensky, 2008; GaDOE, 2008; Skevakis, 2010). Students can work on collaborative projects, share files and offer assistance to one another. The world of wireless computing can help the community (Skevakis, 2010) by creating numerous opportunities to establish a partnership with the community through community: school-based projects, homepage, podcasting and electronic mail. Summary Although, many K12 school systems are globally using wireless computing (Moses, Khambari, &ump; Luan, 2008; Weston &ump; Bain, 2010), the XYZ school district in question are lagging behind other districts with wireless computing in the teaching and learning setting. Wireless laptops, clickers, cell phones, iPods, and other wireless devices, including printers and desktop computers that function through wireless signals rather than hardware, are technological tools (Skevakis, 2010). Technologies have become a part of everyday life and a part of the educational system (Teo, 2009; Zucker &ump; King, 2009). Teaching with wireless laptops guides learners to become self-driven and transform a passive learning setting to an active learning setting (Skevakis, 2010). Section 1 provided an overview of the need for integrating wireless technologies into instructional practices. The research problem presented in this study is that teachers do not more widely use available technology such as wireless laptops (Skevakis, 2010; Zucker &ump; King, 2009) in K12 classrooms effectively. The purpose of this quantitative, pre-experimental study is to investigate whether XYZ teachers are curious and eager to learn new skills that will provide additional teaching opportunities based on teachers self-reported responses. In section 2 the literature from various scholars, books, articles and journals that provide the account of the problem and conceptual framework of this study will be reviewed. In section 3 the methodology of the research will be explained, including the design, sample, environment, instrumentation, data collection, treatment, data analysis, validity, reliability, and ethical considerations. In section 4 the studys results will be presented. Finally, in section 5 the outcomes, implications for social change, and recommendations for future research will be discussed. From: 123helpme.com