Candidate: Carmen A. Cornieles

Degree of: Doctor of Education

Department: Educational Studies

Title: Reliability of the Educational Technology Profiler Survey as a Method of Gathering Information in Teacher Preparation Programs

Committee:
Dr. Howard Poole, Chair
Dr. Elizabeth Whitten
Dr. Robert Leneway

Date: Thursday, May 22, 2003, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Sangren - Merze Tate Center

Abstract: Computer technology has become an important aspect of today's society. Education is also an important factor in the introduction of technology as tools to be used in the teaching process. Teacher preparation programs for general education and special education are working to ensure that technology is a common denominator method of instruction. Teacher preparation programs are designed following standards from teaching accrediting agencies. The International Society for Technology in Education and its National Educational Technology Standards (ISTE-NETS) is the agency providing standards for the use and inclusion of technology in education. Institutions in charge of teacher preparation programs are aware of the need to prepare their students effectively and efficiently in the use of technology to support teaching and learning. The main goal of ISTE-NETS is to aid teachers as well as students to become effective technology users with the ability to live, learn and work successfully in a continuously changing society.

Students in teacher preparation programs should become knowledgeable on using educational technology in their everyday instruction when placed in a school. It has become necessary to measure the level of technology skills that students in teacher preparation programs demonstrate.

The goal of the WMU Educational Technology Profiler Survey (ETPS) is to
appraise the level of technology skills of preservice teachers in introductory
technology courses in teacher preparation programs. The intention of the researcher is to provide valuable information to the instructors and course designers in the teacher preparation programs at WMU. The researcher will also find out how appropriate the ETPS is to gather information from students in the introductory technology courses. Gathering the desired information gives the instructors a better ability to implement the teaching practices they want to convey using the appropriate technology to teach different content.

The research study to be conducted seeks to determine the relationship between academic performance and student technology skills. Also, seeks to determine the relationship between education majors, and/or genders on the academic performance. Population for this study will include students from two introductory technology classes in teacher preparation programs at WMU. These courses are 2002, EDT 347-Technology for Elementary Education, and SPED 537-Technology in Special Education. The dependent variable is the academic performance measured through the grades assigned to assignments in the two introductory technology courses EDT-347 and SPED-537. The independent variables are technology skills, represented through the scores in the ETPS instrument, declared major of study, and gender. The researcher will use a correlational and other statistical analysis method to study student performance on required class assignments in relation with student's responses to the ETPS. The goal is to determine the quality and consistency of the information obtained with the ETPS instrument. These results will provide the researcher and the instructors with valuable feedback to the improvement of the introductory technology courses in the aforementioned program.

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