INTRODUCTION
Research Questions (if research questions are not specifically mentioned, what is
the theoretical background or overarching theme):
What is the major functions of technology for principals in public schools?
METHODOLOGY
What is the methodology for the research or approach used to understand the
issue? Provide information regarding the following:
Participants:
Questionnaire asked principals about their perceptions concerning the importance of
technology for their schools and was responded by 310 principals. 126 of participants
were males and 184 were females.
Procedures:
This questionnaire was administered by graduate students in the Educational Leadership
program. Students were trained on how to administer the instrument and required to
interview a specific number of current public school principals. The survey included
both qualitative and quantitative questions.
Data Collection Methods/Data Source:
Data from interviews as used for this research. The 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). (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.)
RESULTS
Findings or Results (or main points of the article):
The responses for the questionnaire about major functions of technology were grouped
into six categories:
*For the last category was used for student learning (10%)
*28% of principals answered that technology was integrated in teachers classroom
instruction.
*35% of the principals indicated that technology was used as a primary communication
tool.
*The fifth category was used technology for administrative tasks, such as taking
attendance (10%)
*The fourth category was using technology as a resource to find information (15%)
*14% of principals responded that technology was used for data sharing and
management.
DISCUSSIONS
References;
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.