Development and validation of the educational technologist competencies survey (ETCS): knowledge, skills, and abilities

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to identify the competencies of educational technologists by surveying the professionals within the field. The Educational Technology Competency Survey (ETCS) developed in this research was based on a conceptual framework that emphases the definition of educational technology and associated knowledge, skill, and ability statements (KSAs). Using the conceptual framework, the study was executed in four phases: (1) an extant review of relevant literature related to competencies of educational technology professionals, (2) job announcement analysis of 400 postings from five relevant databases, (3) extraction and merging of the KSA statements from the job announcements and relevant literature, (4) administration of the survey on a wide-variety of educational technology professionals (N = 219). One hundred seventy-six KSA competencies were derived from the process and organized into KSA statements. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, internal consistency reliability, and multivariate analysis of variance. The findings demonstrate key competencies such as instructional design, project management, learning theories, working in teams with diverse stakeholders, and twenty-first-century proficiencies. Discussion and recommendations for future research and practice are provided. The ETCS was found to be a valid and reliable measurement system for these data.