Factors influencing future educational technologists' intentions to participate in online teaching

Abstract

Education through the Internet is being shaped by the next wave of Web technology where productivity, collaborative tools and the ubiquity of computers play a major role in changing methods of peer interaction and collaboration. Because future educational technologists will play vital roles in navigating through this technical complexity and exploring potential learning opportunities, it is imperative to understand their intentions to participate in online teaching. This study adopted Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior (TpB) as a theoretical framework, and used its four constructs (attitude, subjective norm, perceived control and intention) to survey 119 educational technology doctoral students' intentions to participate in online teaching. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis and content analysis were used to analyze the data collected. Results showed that the attitudinal and subjective norm constructs of TpB had significant impacts on prediction of participants' intentions to participate in online teaching. Results also indicated that age and online teaching experience played a significant mediating role in affecting participants' attitude toward online teaching. Implications of the findings were discussed. Practitioner Notes What is already known about this topic Concerns and issues related to personal dimension variables for the successful adoption of online teaching in higher education settings. Future educational technologists will play vital roles in navigating through this technical complexity and exploring potential learning opportunities. Successful online instructors are the ones who are equipped with effective pedagogical practices and technological know‐how to improve the quality of online learning experiences. What this paper adds Issues related to technology readiness with other personal dimension variables for the successful adoption of online teaching. Future educational technologists' positions and readiness toward online teaching. Age, computer usage and online teaching experience were factors that significantly differentiated respondents' intentions to participate in online teaching. Respondents' overall attitudes about the worth of online teaching and their concerns about the control of online teaching had an effect on their intentions to participate in online teaching. Similarly, respondents perceived that the public and colleagues' viewpoints about usefulness of online teaching also had an effect on their intentions to participate in online teaching. Implications for practice and/or policy Help educators, researchers, administrators and policy makers to obtain a baseline understanding of future educational technologists' intentions to participate in online teaching as well as factors that may affect the introduction of new technology into learning environments. Respondents cited features associated with the Internet (such as remote access, any time availability and rich resources) as the major reasons for them to consider teaching online. Another major reason for adoption...

Predicting Teachers’ Behavioral Intentions Regarding Web-based Professional Development by the Theory of Planned Behavior

“…Instead, the main factors influencing teachers' behavioral intentions were their personal or endogenous factors, including their attitudes and perceived behavioral control in relation to web-based professional development. The results of our study differed from the findings of Giannakos and Vlamos (2013) and those of Hung and Jeng (2013). This discrepancy may reflect the fact that these studies primarily considered the use of software or platforms; if the requirements for using these were standardized by education authorities, such external factors would have a direct impact on teachers.…”

“…We adopted the web-based Professional Development Attitude Scale developed by Kao and Tsai (2009) and evaluated elementary school teachers' attitudes toward web-based professional development from four perspectives: usefulness, ease of use, emotion, and behavior. Lee, Cerreto, and Lee (2010) found that the explanatory power of attitudes with regard to behavioral intention was twice that of subjective norms and three times that of perceived behavioral control, indicating that attitudes exert a critical influence on behavioral intention, a finding broadly supported by Hung and Jeng (2013). These studies showed that, as is the case with subjective norms, attitudes are closely related to behavioral intention and are therefore worthy of further investigation.…”

“…In a pertinent study, Giannakos and Vlamos (2013) examined the acceptance of educational webcasts as learning tools and found that learners' subjective norms affected their behavioral intentions regarding the use of webcasts. Similarly, Hung and Jeng (2013) discovered that subjective norms had a significant influence on the behavioral intentions of future educational technologists with respect to online learning. These studies indicate a close relationship between subjective norms and behavioral intentions.…”

“…We defined teachers' perceived behavioral control toward web-based professional development as the ease with which related resources can be controlled and web-based professional development can be implemented when considering the option of implementing web-based professional development in their teaching. Giannakos and Vlamos (2013) discovered that learners' perceived behavioral control affected their behavioral intentions to use education webcasts; however, Hung and Jeng (2013) found that perceived behavioral control had a limited and non-significant influence on the behavioral intentions of future educational technologists with respect to online learning. Thus, the relationship between perceived behavioral control and behavioral intention needs to be clarified.…”

“…Zhou (2014) discovered a significant difference between genders with respect to web search behavior, with male students engaging in more web search behaviors than female students. Furthermore, Hung and Jeng (2013) discovered that age had a significant influence on future educational technologists' attitudes toward online learning and thereby on their behavioral intentions. Given these findings, our study will also investigate the effects of gender and age and interactions between them on the other variables.…”