Keywords
online teacher professional development, oTPD, e-learning, technology acceptance model, TAM, social presence
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine if the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) could explain the relationship between teacher's acceptance of an online teacher professional development course and their continuance intentions regarding online teacher professional development (oTPD). This study focused on the perceptions of the teachers as opposed to the design or implementation of oTPD. The participants (N=517) were mostly teachers (88.8%) enrolled in a statewide online course to provide classroom teachers with the latest knowledge of research-based instructional reading strategies. The course was offered over a 10-14 week period during the Spring 2006 semester through a public state university. Structural equation modeling was used to create a path analytic model extending the TAM to include two additional constructs: sociability and social presence. In addition, gains in instructional reading strategies knowledge (performance) were examined. Using this expanded version of the TAM, the study examined the causal relationships between sociability, social presence, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, continuance intention, and gains. Online distance education research has indicated that social presence can influence post-secondary students' attitude and persistence within a web-based course. However a paucity of research exists on how technology acceptance and social presence impacts teachers within an online teacher professional development setting. Path analysis, univariate analysis of variance, and independent t-tests in SPSS v12.0 for Windows were used to analyze the data. The results suggest that the hypothesized extended model was a good fit. The model did indicate that both perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness were determinants of teachers' intent to continue using oTPD for future professional development needs.
Notes
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Graduation Date
2006
Semester
Fall
Advisor
Sivo, Stephen
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
College
College of Education
Department
Educational Research, Technology, and Leadership
Degree Program
Education
Format
application/pdf
Identifier
CFE0001455
URL
http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0001455
Language
English
Length of Campus-only Access
None
Access Status
Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)
STARS Citation
Smith, Jo, "The Effect Of Social Presence On Teacher Technology Acceptance, Continuance Intention, And Performance In An Online Teacher Professional Development Course" (2006). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 806.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/806