The relationship between teacher attitudes and skills and student use of computers in northern schools

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between the attitude and ability of teachers and the computer use of students in northern Saskatchewan schools. A secondary purpose was to determine if a relationship exists between the demographic and environmental variables of teachers and student computer use.

This study utilized a sixty-two item survey, the Teachers Computer Survey, comprised of a computer attitude assessment instrument and a computer ability assessment instrument. Demographic and environmental variables of teachers were examined. Three aspects of student computer use were examined; overall frequency of student computer use, frequency of specific types of computer use; and frequency of computer use in specific subject areas. The survey was distributed to all K-12 teachers (n=525) in Provincial and First Nation schools in the Northern Educational Region of Saskatchewan. The target population consisted of 525 teachers employed in three provincial school divisions and two tribal councils representing 48 schools.

A number of correlation procedures and analysis of variance procedures were utilized to test the hypotheses formulated in the study. No significant relationship was found between the attitude, ability, demographic or environmental variables of teachers and the overall frequency of student computer use. However, a significant relationship was found between these variables and the frequency of specific types of student computer use as well as the frequency of computer use in specific subject areas.