Faculty Instructional Computer Use Model: Differentiating Instructional and Mainstream Computer Uses

Abstract

The purpose of this research study was to explore predictor variables for faculty instructional computer use. Analysis of data collected from 198 college of education (COE) faculty members indicated that instructional computer use and mainstream computer use form two strong and distinct variables. This study also proposes a faculty instructional computer use model that shows the relationships between these two types of computer uses and suggests different prediction paths for these two variables. While mainstream computer use was predicted significantly by personal computer access, collegial support, and mainstream computer expertise, instructional computer expertise and collegial support affect faculty attitudes toward instructional computer use. It is an important finding that collegial support is a motivation factor both to increase mainstream computer use and to change faculty attitudes positively toward instructional computer use. Finally, instructional computer skills, along with positive faculty attitudes toward computers as instructional tools, increase the likelihood of instructional computer use. The faculty instructional computer use model provides some key elements regarding how COE faculty use of instructional computer applications and software may be improved. Results from this study clearly suggest that faculty development programs should be focused upon instructional computer use and not on developing mainstream computer skills. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)