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The two purposes of the study were: to investigate the attitudes of Special Education teachers toward the use of computer-assisted instruction (CAI); and to measure changes in Special Education teachers' attitudes toward computer education through use of a software selection program.
A total of fifty-five special education teachers from twenty-two schools in Hawaii volunteered to participate in the study. The majority of the participants were elementary special education teachers in self-contained classrooms.
Participants were pretested with instruments, based on a Likert scale, to measure attitudes toward CAI. After completion of the attitudinal scale, they were trained to use a software selection program, "Special Guide." They completed an evaluation with multiple choice and open ended questions. The software program and all testing instruments were created specially for the study. The participants were posttested three to six months later.
The results suggest that (over 90%) of the participants had positive attitudes toward CAI and computer technology. Also, they reported intentions to increase use if they had appropriate software. The participants viewed "Special Guide" as a useful program and indicated they would use it again in the future.
There was no significant difference in attitude change between the pretest and posttest, suggesting that the participants already held positive expectations toward the use of CAI before the study.
Many of the educators' difficulties incorporating technology in their classrooms were expressed in the evaluations. While these problems and barriers did not affect their positive attitudes toward CAI they did prevent many of the teachers from implementing CAI in their classrooms.