Attitudes of stakeholders toward computer use in schools.
Date
1995
Authors
Smith, Richard Walker
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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes, perceptions, and expectations of educators, students, parents, and business people regarding the use of computers in a K-12 public school jurisdiction, Peace River School Division No. 10, in northwestern Alberta. An eight page questionnaire was distributed to the four groups:. One of the main components of the questionnaire was the Attitude Toward School Computers Survey. Data was collected on a number of variables, including sex, age, educational position, grade level, owning a home computer, recent computer activity, location of school and business, size of business, and computer workshops taken. Responses from 147 educators, 220 students, 82 parents, and 51 business people were analyzed using descriptive statistics, ANOV A, and protected t test.
Attitudes toward the school use of computers revealed significant differences for some of the groups by grade level taught, whether respondents owned a home computer, frequency of computer use, and school location.
The results of the study suggest that all four groups have positive attitudes toward school use of computers and appear to show that they share more similarities than differences. All groups appear to feel that the present use of computers in schools is fairly limited, and the study suggests the major barrier to computer use is a lack of hardware. In addition, the results suggest that site-specific characteristics of schools are important factors in perceptions and expectations about the school use of computers. There is a definite indication that all groups expect that the use of computers in schools is important, and will be expanded in the future.