Predicting High School Teacher Use of Technology: Pedagogical Beliefs, Technological Beliefs and Attitudes, and Teacher Training

Abstract

The current study aims to explore predictors that independently contribute to high school teacher use of technology in general and for different teaching purposes (student-centered and traditional). High school teachers (N = 928) responded to a survey that consisted of measures in several categories: (1) teachers’ background variables, (2) teachers’ pedagogical beliefs, (3) teachers’ attitudes or beliefs towards technology, (4) teachers’ perceived training effectiveness. A series of multilevel models were used to explore the independent effects of these factors on teacher use of technology in general and for different teaching purposes. The results showed that teachers’ technology self-efficacy was a significant predictor of teacher use of technology. More importantly, teachers’ instructional approach, openness towards technology, and perceived teaching training effectiveness were more salient when predicting teacher use technology to support student-centered teaching than when predicting teacher use technology to support traditional teaching. Our findings suggest that teachers’ pedagogical readiness is as important as technological readiness for teachers to integrate technology in teaching to serve more advanced teaching purposes. This study has important implications for organizing professional learning experiences for teachers.