JOURNAL ARTICLE REVIEW TEMPLATE

North American University

Education Department
M.Ed. in Educational Leadership / M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction
EDUC 5324 Integrating Technology into Education

Name: AYSE Z. Date: 11/30/18

Cite the reviewed article in APA format: Waxman, H.C. Boriack, A. W. Lee,Y.H.Mac
Neil, A. (2013.4.3) Principals’ Perceptions of the Importance of Technology in
Schools. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1105536.

INTRODUCTION

Research Questions (if research questions are not specifically mentioned, what is the
theoretical background or overarching theme):
1. What are principals’ perceptions of the importance of technology? And
2. Do principals’ perceptions of technology differ by years of experience and
gender?

Purpose of the research: The article titled “Principals’ Perceptions of the Importance of
Technology in Schools” is in search of investigating the principal’s perception and
practice of implementing technology in public schools where the previous related
researches emphasized on differences of technology usage by types of schools .This
study chooses the variables principals’ characteristics such as years of experience
and gender.

METHODOLOGY

What is the methodology for the research or approach used to understand the issue?
Provide information regarding the following:

Participants: A convenience sample of 310 principals from a large metropolitan area in

southwest region of the US. Out of 310 principals 184 of them are females and 126 of
them are males varying the years of experience from 0 to 15 years.

Procedures: An interview questionnaire that asked principals about their perceptions

regarding to the importance of technology in their schools.The questionnaire were
administered by the graduate students in an Education Leadership Program.They
were trained to give the survey and required to interview the certain number of
principals. The questionnaire was prepared for this study specifically.
Data Collection Methods/Data Source: In this study, the principals’ cognitions and
perceptions accepted as a valid variable. Only the data from the questionnaire was
used to evaluate the variables.

Data Analysis: The responses to the above questions were read several times to be
able to create related and meaningful categories to organize the data. These
categories are listed as, Communication, Instruction, Data sharing and management,
Resource, Administrative tasks, Student Learning. Moreover, the data collected
presented in three different tables answering the same questions of principals’
perceptions of the major function of technology by different aspects such as in
general, by gender and by the years of experience.
At the same time another researcher coded some of the responses to decide the
consistency of the data which resulted in 94%of agreement.

RESULTS

Findings or Results (or main points of the article): Based on the data listed on the
tables showing the categories of the technology used for, Communication was the
leading reason. Principals agreed that communication among staff members,
communication with the parents have become a lot easier and more effective with the
technology. The following use of technology was for the classroom instruction to
reteach the challenging objectives, or to share data so that decisions could be made
to improve the instruction collaboratively.
The technology uses among male and female were pretty much for the same reason
which is communication in comparison of men and women.
Other than communication, the data showed that male principals use the technology
more in the remaining categories.
The final aspect that the survey on usage of technology was the years of experience,
and the first two categories on the list were still communication and instruction.

DISCUSSIONS
Conclusions/Implications (for your profession): As the technology has become a
crucial tool in any field to improve the quality of the product being focused on,
education has also in need of using this tool as effective as possible to train our future.
Principals as the leaders of the educational institutions have to catch up with the latest
technology in the school, and also they have to implement it in schools to improve the
quality of education. This study showed that the principals are aware of the
importance of technology use in schools, however they may be having difficulty to
have their staff members to use it in their professions. That is why this study suggest
that principals need to take the role of leadership in this matter to advance their
current practice and make the technology use in their schools more effective.
As a STEM teacher I have been aware of how usage of technology confidently makes
difference in my classroom instruction. However, implementing technology in class
requires time and effort to excel in. Therefore, teachers must be supported and given
time and opportunity to practice it in school which may require less work load in
schools. This approach may need to be taken in consideration before expecting
improvement in technology use.

REFLECTIONS

Student’s Reflections (changes to your understanding; implications for your

school/work):
Interestingly I found out that as the years of experience increase the use of technology
increase in most of the categories. The only difference was that the principals with the
experience of 0-3 years had a higher average than the ones with 15 years and more,
but the remaining categories.
Moreover, the technology usage was implemented the least in student learning which I
believe this category must be the first concern to improve and implement of
technology use. Teaching would be more effective if it reflects on student learning. I
would recommend more studies on how to improve student learning with technology.