Teachers’ Perspectives on Factors that Affect Computer Use

This article reports results of a study that focused on computers and teachers’ work. K–12 teachers were surveyed about their current computer use for noninstructional activities and about their perspectives on facilitating and impeding factors. The highest percentage of subjects used computers for preparing instructional materials (94.4%); the second most popular use was looking for information in a particular subject area (58.3%). Multiple linear regressions analyzed the collective predictiveness of organizational factors (time, training, technology-related support, access to computers, and collaboration) and individual characteristics (gender, age, experience, self-perception of computer expertise, and source of computer learning) on frequency of use for each activity. Of 14 tasks, 11 had at least one significant predictor, and 7 of these bad more than one predictor.