JOURNAL ARTICLE REVIEW

North American University

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

Name: Zeliha Celiker Date: October 25, 2018

Cite the reviewed article in APA format:
Waxman, H., Boriack, A., Yuan-Hsuan, L., & MacNeil, A. (2013). Principals'
Perceptions of the Importance of Technology in Schools. Contemporary
Educational Technology, 4(3), 187-196.

INTRODUCTION

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

Purpose of the research:

This research focuses on school principals’ perceptions of the technology. Although
there is some research documenting there are few studies that specifically focus on how
principals view the importance of technology. The few studies that have examined
principals’ perspectives on technology planning, access, and orientations used survey
questions that required narrow, dichotomous yes or no responses (e.g., Leonard &
Leonard, 2006).

This research study builds on the prior research and includes an open ended, cognitive
interview question that allows for the examination of principals’ perspectives and 191
orientations toward technology.

Previous studies have explored differences by type of school; this research study
focuses on principal characteristics such as years of experience and gender.
The present study specifically examines the following two research questions:
(a) What are principals’ perceptions of the importance of technology?
(b) Do principals’ perceptions of technology differ by 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: 310 principals from a large metropolitan area in the southwest

region of the United States, 126 males and 184 females.

Procedures: A cognitive interview questionnaire was given to principals which

asked about their perceptions regarding the importance of technology for their
schools.

The sample consisted of 126 males and 184 females.

A range of years of experience was present with 104 participants having 0-3
years of experience, 82 participants having 4-7 years, 55 participants having 8-
11 years, 32 participants having 12-15 years, and 31 participants having greater
than 15 years of experience.

Data Collection Methods/Data Source:

The questionnaire was administered by graduate students in the Educational
Leadership program at a major, urban doctoral-granting university located in the
south central region of the U.S.
Principals’ cognitions and perceptions have been found to be valid and reliable
and the use of cognitive interviewing further improves the validity of the data
(Desimonte & Le Floch, 2004). For this study, only the data from the interviews
was used. The interview questions were “Has technology had an impact in your
school?" and "If so, in what specific ways has it made a difference?

Data Analysis:

Analysis of the interview data began with a process of data reduction. The
participants’ responses were read several times to become familiar with the data.
The data was then coded into meaningful categories. Once the categories were
established, another researcher independently coded a 10% sample of
responses to determine the consistency of the coding. The inter-coder reliability
results revealed a high level of agreement (Cohen’s kappa = .94).

RESULTS

Findings or Results (or main points of the article):

The principals’ responses for the major functions of technology were grouped into six
categories:
1. About one-third (35%) of the principals indicated that technology was used as a
primary communication tool. Example answers given by Principals:
“Technology helps with sending out newsletters using an e-mail blast system, and
teachers can e-mail parents to communicate in a more improved way.”
“Communication within the building and within the district is quicker and more accurate.”

2. Over one-quarter (28%) of principals responded that 192 technologies was integrated
in teachers’ classroom instruction. Example answer by Principals:
“The school's computer lab also plays a big role in teaching kids; through collaboration
between the computer teacher and the classroom teacher, instruction can be planned for
to reteach particular learning objectives stemming from the classroom.”

3. The third category was using technology for data sharing and management (14%).
Example answer given by Principals:
“We can access data quick and fast and use it to make instructional decisions therefore
impacting student learning for the better.”

4. Using technology as a resource to find information (15%) Example answer given by

Principals:
“It [technology] reduces the time to reach resources and also increases the number of
resources.”

5. Administrative tasks, such as taking attendance (10%).

Example answers given by Principals: “Technology is a wonderful tool. It has increased
our efficiency with record keeping, developing instructional materials, and numerous
administrative tasks.”

6. Technology was used for student learning (10%). Example answer given by
Principals:
“For students, when utilized sufficiently, can provide tremendous steps to learning,
learning how to find information and what to do with it.”
DISCUSSIONS

Conclusions/Implications (for your profession):

This study shows that school leaders find technology important and effective in 6
different areas; carrying out communication and instruction, data sharing and
management, resource, administrative tasks and student learning.

From this result we understand that principals’ understanding of technology usage at

schools is positive and they are indeed using technology in their own work areas.
MacNeil and Delafield (1998) found that when administrators act as technology leaders,
the teachers and students integrate and use technology more successfully. Therefore,
it’s extremely important that the school principals keep themselves up do date in terms
of technology and be a good leader in supporting the teachers use technology in their
classrooms. Schmeltzer (2001) argues that administrators need a broad set of
experiences; they need to develop an understanding of how technology can improve
instructional practices and a repertoire of strategies for supporting teachers’ efforts to
use technology in the classroom.
From the study, we can also conclude that the gender and the year of experience of the
principals have an effect on how they perceive the major functions of technology. They
need to be educated and trained in implementation of technology so that they can better
carry the role of leadership in the technology into education.

REFLECTIONS

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

school/work):

As mentioned in the article, even if the Principals are aware of it or not, it is an

undeniable fact that they are the technology leaders at schools. Therefore, it’s very
important that the Principals are educating themselves in this regard and keep
themselves up to date in order to better implement the technology at their own schools. I
have had the chance of working with several principals and clearly experienced it that if
the Principal believes that a particular technology will be effective in a way or other,
he/she consistently draws the staff’s attention to it by arranging seminars, workshops,
training etc. Once the Principal believes in the need and trains the staff, it’s inevitable to
see the implementation of the technology. It’s technology age and we, as educators,
both the Principals and the teachers, have to keep up to it to be able to better reach the
minds of this generation.