Becoming more specific: Measuring and modeling teachers' perceived usefulness of ICT in the context of teaching and learning
Introduction
The development of students' digital competences has become an important goal in 21st century education (Griffin et al., 2012, OECD, 2014, Tristán-López and Ylizaliturri-Salcedo, 2014). Recent educational research is therefore concerned with the determinants of students' digital competences on the one hand (Aesaert et al., 2014, Fraillon et al., 2014, Fraillon et al., 2013, Kikis et al., 2009); and teachers' integration of ICT in classrooms on the other hand (Donnelly et al., 2011, Hernández-Ramos et al., 2014, Sang et al., 2010, Teo, 2011a). In particular, research has shown that there are a number of factors determining teachers' ICT integration such as teachers' attitudes towards ICT, ICT experience and skills, self-efficacy, and perceived usefulness of ICT (Govender and Govender, 2009, Hernández-Ramos et al., 2014, So et al., 2012, Teo, 2011b). Of the factors mentioned, teachers' perceived usefulness of ICT has received special attention in the context of technology acceptance and use: Perceived usefulness is regarded as the only construct which directly predicts teachers' intentions to use ICT and their attitudes towards computer use, which are determinants of the actual ICT use (Chien et al., 2014, Davis, 1989, Oye et al., 2014, Smarkola, 2008, Teo, 2011a, Teo, 2011b, Teo et al., 2009). Moreover, perceived usefulness is the strongest predictor of teachers' intention to use ICT (e.g., Teo, 2009).
The current conceptualizations of perceived usefulness of ICT operationalized the construct at a general level, referring to whether teachers generally regard ICT as useful to increase their job performance (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003). Hence, when studying the nature of the construct, most studies assumed unidimensionality and found support by using confirmatory factor analysis (e.g., Chien et al., 2014, Hernández-Ramos et al., 2014, Liaw and Huang, 2013, Teo, 2009). From a conceptual point of view, the unidimensional conceptualization is critical, as it does not account for the specific goals of teachers' job performance facilitating teaching and students' learning (Niederhauser & Perkmen, 2010). Since the specific purposes of using ICT for teaching and the specific goals to foster students' learning are multifaceted (e.g., using ICT for assessment, collaboration, feedback, skill development; Proctor and Marks, 2013, Schroeders and Wilhelm, 2011, Terzis and Economides, 2011), one may also conceptualize perceived usefulness as multidimensional. In other words, teachers' perceptions on whether ICT could improve their job performance may not only refer to the use of ICT in general (unidimensionality) but rather to the usefulness of ICT for specific teaching and learning purposes in classrooms (multidimensionality). In addition to this conceptualization, one needs to take into account that teaching and learning goals are often overlapping, thus challenging the modeling of the factor structure (construct overlaps). Consequently, there is a need for a modeling approach that represents the conceptualization of teachers' perceived usefulness with respect to the specific goals of using ICT in classroom instruction.
In light of this argumentation, the present study proposes a multidimensional conceptualization of perceived usefulness of ICT for teaching and learning and is aimed at (a) testing the hypothesis of a multidimensional factor structure of the construct and potential overlaps between the factors; and (b) investigating the relations to external variables (teachers' ICT self-efficacy, ICT use, age) as a step of construct validation. We use Bayesian analyses to address our aims. Since perceived usefulness is a key element of technology acceptance, our study provides insights into the nature of the construct, impacting future modeling of technology acceptance.
Section snippets
Conceptualizing teachers' perceived usefulness of ICT for teaching and learning
In the context of technology acceptance, researchers are concerned with the factors determining teachers' attitudes towards and their intention to use ICT (Davis, 1989, Teo, 2009), of which perceived usefulness is one of the most important determinants (e.g., Chien et al., 2014, Niederhauser and Perkmen, 2010, Oye et al., 2014, Teo, 2011a, b; Teo & Noyes, 2011). Perceived usefulness is part of teachers' belief system and refers to their individual beliefs that using ICT will help them improve
The present study
In the present study, we focus on teachers' perceived usefulness of using ICT, conceptualized in the context of teaching and learning: First, we study the factor structure of the construct by testing whether or not our assumptions of four factors (i.e., perceived usefulness of ICT for fostering interest and learning, collaboration and communication, and information retrieval; using ICT in teaching and learning causes problems and creates obstacles) and construct overlaps hold. Moreover, we
Sample and procedure
We used a nationally representative data set of 1653 Norwegian teachers who participated in the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) in 2013. The study administered a questionnaire on teachers' background, ICT use, ICT self-efficacy, perceived usefulness of ICT, and further constructs (Fraillon et al., 2014, Ottestad et al., 2014). Since a number of teachers did not take the entire questionnaire, the sample used in the present study consisted of N = 1190 teachers in 132
Factor structure of teachers' perceived usefulness of ICT for teaching and learning
On the basis of our theoretical assumptions on the structure of the construct, we hypothesized three positive factors of perceived usefulness of ICT for (1) fostering interest and learning, (2) fostering collaboration and communication, (3) fostering information retrieval, along with (4) a negative factor of perceiving ICT as causing problems and creating obstacles in teaching and learning. In order to test our assumptions of four correlated factors and construct overlaps, we compared a number
Summary of results
The main goal of the present study was to test hypotheses on the structure of teachers' perceived usefulness of ICT for teaching and learning (Research Question 1) and study its relations to constructs such as self-efficacy, ICT use, and age (Research Question 2). Using Bayesian analysis, we found that (a) four factors of perceived usefulness can be distinguished, representing different teaching goals in using ICT and the problems caused (i.e., fostering interest and learning, collaboration,
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to the Norwegian ICILS group for their support. We would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their thorough review and constructive comments on previous versions of the paper.
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