ERIC Number: ED267797
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1986-Jan
Pages: 15
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Educational Computing Inservice Design: Implications from Teachers' Concerns Research.
Wedman, John F.
Implementation of educational computing in schools is dependent upon teachers' attitudes toward computers as well as their expertise. Most inservice activities focus on increasing teacher expertise, while paying little attention to teachers' attitudes towards the technology. To investigate teachers' concerns about educational computing, two studies were conducted using the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM). Participants included 91 classroom teachers voluntarily enrolled in a microcomputer class. The first study identified teachers' concerns about educational computing and monitored changes in these concerns during an inservice activity. While concerns theory hypothesizes that the concerns of innovation users are developmental--beginning with self-oriented concerns, evolving through implementation-oriented concerns, and progressing to other-oriented concerns--this hypothesis was not supported. Results indicate that the nature of the inservice activity and/or the characteristics of the innovation may affect changes in concern. The second study evolved out of the first and examined teachers' concerns about educational computing by focusing on specific educational uses of the technology (e.g., computer assisted instruction, word processing, interactive video). The findings indicate that different uses of computer technology elicit different concerns about the technology. It is suggested that inservice designers should recognize educational computing as an "innovation bundle," and concentrate on specific applications of the whole technology rather than addressing the total package. A list of references is provided. (JB)
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Researchers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Stages of Concern Questionnaire
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A