A Descriptive Qualitative Study Exploring Middle-School Teachers’ Perceptions of Professional Development on Technology Integration

Author

Dayana NúñezFollow

Campus Location

Dallas Campus (Online)

Date of Award

2-2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Department

Organizational Leadership

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Committee Chair or Primary Advisor

Leah Wickersham-Fish

Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor

Christie Bledsoe

Third Committee Member or Committee Reader

Darin Martin

Abstract

Today’s teachers are being encouraged to incorporate technology into their classrooms. Technology integration became a worldwide focus for schools after remote learning was necessary to continue instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, research shows that technology-infused lessons improve student achievement and increase student engagement. Despite efforts to support teachers throughout the technology integration process, concerns have developed. Preparing highly qualified teachers ready to incorporate technology into their teaching repertoire has developed additional stress factors. In this descriptive qualitative study, the researcher wanted to address the problem of teacher attrition, possibly related to stress factors associated with technology integration. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore teachers’ perceptions of professional development opportunities that possibly improve the technology integration process. Additionally, the researcher wanted to identify stress factors associated with technology adoption and how professional development may help to reduce stress factors associated with technology integration in one middle school in New York. The researcher chose a qualitative descriptive study using Vygotsky’s social constructivist theory and Bandura’s social learning theory on self-efficacy as the theoretical framework. The researcher included an exposition of the literature sources, synthesized the research findings, and provided recommendations for practice and future research. The data collection process consisted of semistructured open-ended questions that were developed with the support of a panel of experts. There were 10 participants chosen using a snowball sampling strategy. This study’s findings were that professional development should be hands-on, continuous, and targeted to increase teachers’ personal level of engagement. Also, creating opportunities for colleague support systems reduced stress factors associated with technology integration. These peer support systems reduced the time required to research the most effective resources, digital tools, and applications as participants shared the resources with one another. Recommendations for practice included providing adequate professional development, offering appropriate infrastructure, and hands-on, targeted, continuous training for teachers to feel more comfortable developing technology-infused lessons. Recommendations for research include providing additional insight into teachers’ perceived benefits and motivation for technology integration and how stress factors associated with the technology adoption process possibly increase teacher attrition.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Núñez, Dayana, "A Descriptive Qualitative Study Exploring Middle-School Teachers’ Perceptions of Professional Development on Technology Integration" (2023). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 547.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/547