University Teachers’ Agency in Relation to Technology Use in Teaching: A Quantitative Investigation

Abstract

This study investigates Danish university teachers’ agency in using digital technologies in teaching. Furthermore, it explores how teachers’ conduct and experienced constraints are connected to different dimensions of teachers’ agency. The paper is based on survey responses from 344 teachers about their agentic will and power to influence aspects of technology usage in teaching. Using an exploratory factor analysis, we identify three distinct factors and their relations: 1) wanting to control digital data and having the power to do so is distinct from 2) teachers’ power and will to control the technologies adopted and 3) how technologies are applied in teaching. Furthermore, all factors correlate with the teachers’ conduct (extent to which technology facilitates education interactions), while there are factor-specific patterns to the constraints (e.g., time, experience). The results provide a basis for revisiting teachers’ role in university decision-making. We include a discussion on the entangledness of agency across institutional levels.