JOURNAL ARTICLE REVIEW TEMPLATE

North American University

Education Department
M.Ed. in Educational Leadership and M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction
EDUC 5324
Name: KUBRA AKBAY
Date: 07/11/2015
Cite the reviewed article in APA format:

Dogan, B., & Almus, K. (2014). School Administrators Use of iPads: Impact of Training
and Attitudes Toward School Use. Computers in the Schools, 31(3), 233250.
INTRODUCTION
Research Questions (if research questions are not specifically mentioned, what is
the theoretical background or overarching theme):

1. What is the impact of the training process on school administrators use of iPads for
administrative tasks and personal organization in their professional duties?
2. What is the impact of the training process on school administrators beliefs regarding
how teachers should use iPads in the classroom?
3. Are there any differences in school administrators survey responses based on gender,
age, years of experience in school administration and education, highest degree attained,
school classification, or school size?
Purpose of the research:

To examine the impact of receiving specific iPad training on school administrators

attitudes toward iPad use.
METHODOLOGY
What is the methodology for the research or approach used to understand the
issue? Provide information regarding the following:

Participants: 51 elementary and secondary school administrators from a public charter

school system in the southwest United States.
Procedures: A central e-mail communication was sent to a target population of 120
administrators to introduce the study and recruit participants. 51 of them who owned
iPads provided consent and volunteered to participate.
Data Collection Methods/Data Source: Data was collected online with two survey
instruments (pre-survey and post-survey).
Data Analysis:
Survey instruments included multiple choice and Likert-type scale items. The survey
responses were reported as frequencies. In addition, paired sample t-test data analysis was
conducted to understand the differences in the responses between the pre- and post-

surveys. A one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test was conducted to see whether
there were any differences in school administrators responses by gender, age, years of
experience in school administration and education, highest degree attained, school
classification, and school size. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)
software was used to conduct the data analysis.
The data analysis of this study is categorized into five main groups: analysis of
demographic and contextual data; impacts of the training process on school
administrators use of iPad and iPad applications; impacts of the training process on
school administrators beliefs regarding how teachers should use iPads in the classroom;
differences in participants responses by their demographic and contextual data (gender,
age, years of experience in school administration and education, highest degree attained,
school classification, and school size); and evaluation of training process.
RESULTS
Findings or Results (or main points of the article):

1. Demographic and Contextual Data :

Age average of participants are 34.16. Average year experience in education is 8.14.
Experience as a school administrator is 2.04. 27.45% of participants have their own
iPads, (72.55%) are given to school administrators by their school district. While all
participants used Microsoft Windows Vista, 7, or 8 as their computer platform, 52.94%
used the iPhone (iOS) as their mobile platform, followed by Android (37.25%),
BlackBerry OS (1.96%), and other (7.84%). The majority of participants schools were
classified as elementary, middle, and high school (K12) (62.75%), followed by
elementary and middle school (K8) (19.61%), middle and high school (612)
(9.80%), and elementary (K5) (7.84%). According to the pre survey results, 50.98%
of school administrators held a bachelors degree and 49.02% held a masters degree.
2. Impact of Training:
Use of iPads for Administrative Tasks and Organization in Professional Duties : Analysis
of the question, What is the best feature of iPad in your experience?, being mobile
21.43%, touchscreen (20.88%), being able to use various applications (15.93%),
compact and light (13.74%), digital camera feature (10.44%), connectivity
(9.89%), and camcorder feature (7.69%).
Participants were asked to rate their iPad knowledge and skills prior to and after
completing the training process. 31.37% beginner in their iPad skills and knowledge,
64.71% intermediate, and 3.92% advanced prior to the study. After completing the
training process, the percentage of participants rated themselves as intermediate
(70.27%) and advanced (10.81%) beginner (18.92 %).
Analysis of a question measuring what type of applications school administrators use the
most on their iPads for work-related purposes: education (23.84%), communication
and books and reference applications, both at 11.92%, "productivity" (7.87%), "tools"
(7.87%), others such as, games, business, comics, entertainment, finance,
health & fitness, media and video, news & magazines, photography, social,
travel and local, and weatherall yielding less than 5%.

3. Impact of Training on School Administrators Beliefs Regarding How

Teachers Should Use iPads in the Classroom:
The analysis of a question asking how school administrators would like to see their
teachers using iPads in the classroom revealed that there were slight increases between
the pre- and post-survey in the following responses: using iPad for class communication
(e-mail, messaging, contacting parents, etc.) (11.59% vs. 13.22%); making specific
applications (created by the teacher) that might help students (10.30% vs. 12.07%);
using specific applications (created by others) that might help students (15.88% vs.
16.67%); and projecting/streaming lessons/presentation to the iPad (17.60% vs.
18.39%). Requiring creative assignments involving iPad use (18.88% vs. 16.67%),
Referencing/sharing a specific content item (picture, document, video, etc.) as an
example (17.17% vs. 14.94%), and Encouraging taking notes (8.15% vs. 8.05%).
4. Differences in Participants Responses by Their Demographic and Contextual Data :
No significant differences were found for the item asking school administrators to rate
their beliefs about iPads being effective tools. The same result occurred for the item
measuring school administrators self-reported levels of iPad skills and knowledge, with
the exception of school classification. There was a significant difference on the item
measuring the self-reported level of iPad skills and knowledge by the school
classification.
5. Evaluation of Training Process:
Participants were asked in the post-survey which iPad applications they found most
useful among those highlighted in the training session and post-training resources.
Google Drive storage and sharing files (22.30%), syncing Google Calendar to your
iPad (16.55%), Dropbox for storage and sharing files (13.67%), and Go Tasks with
Google Tasks (10.07%). When school administrators were asked in the post-survey
which applications they actually used among those highlighted in the training session and
post-training resources, Google Drive storage and sharing files (23.53%), syncing
Google Calendar to your iPad (20.59%), Dropbox for storage and sharing files
(17.65%), and Evernote for note taking/organizing (8.82%). Also, asked about training
process and here are the results: (81.08%) responded that they would like to continue
receiving training and resources on the use of iPads for administrative tasks and teaching.
48.65% of participants found the training session and the resources provided afterward
very useful, 43.24% finding them useful, and 8.11% finding them somewhat
useful.
DISCUSSIONS
Conclusions/Implications (for your profession):

This study focuses on how effectively iPads are used in education by school
administrators. Also, the study examines iPad usage in classrooms before and after
technology training. After training process participants iPad knowledge increased from
intermediate to advanced level. An interesting result is K-5 administrators iPad skills and
knowledge are higher than K-12 and K-8 administrators. An important implication of this
study is that with targeted technology training, administrators can perform their duties in
a more efficient manner using iPads and also leverage the power of technology to

radically improve student learning.

REFLECTIONS
Students Reflections (changes to your understanding; implications for your
school/work):

Technology usage really plays an important role for both students and teachers. Students
can practice more and gain better educational knowledge. In addition, teachers can easily
track students based on their completed works on technology tool. One of the commonly
used technology tool is iPad which is easy to use with many apps. There are much more
educational resources now than ever. However, school administrators cannot use those
resources effectively without training. Technology training would help administrators
gain better technologic knowledge and skills, so they would be better mentors for
students to take advantage of their learning opportunities.