Characteristics of students assigned to technology‐based instruction

Previous research has examined factors influencing teacher decisions to integrate technology using between‐teacher designs. This study used a within‐teacher design to compare students who were assigned multi‐media learning objects for learning fractions with students taught by the same teachers who were not assigned to the technology. There were two conditions: (1) teachers were asked to limit the number of assigned students to 25% of their class ( N = 375 grade 7–10 students) and (2) teachers could assign as many students as they wanted ( N = 149 grade 7 students). In the constrained decision setting, students assigned to the technology were more likely than students not assigned to score lower on a fractions achievement test, have dysfunctional attitudes towards mathematics learning, have low self‐efficacy, exert low effort, and be male. In the unconstrained decision setting, 70% of students were assigned the technology and the only statistically significant predictor was prior achievement. Teachers' criteria were congruent with research identifying correlates of mathematics achievement and comfort with technology.