Predicting elementary student teachers’ technology acceptance

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate intrinsic factors associated with student teachers’ intentions to integrate technology during their first year of teaching in elementary school classrooms. Design/methodology/approach – The researchers surveyed 103 undergraduate teacher candidates who had completed student teaching. The survey measured five factors derived from three inter-related theoretical models. A four-step hierarchical multiple regression analysis determined the contribution of each variable (value beliefs, self-efficacy beliefs, perceived ease of use, and subjective norm) to the prediction of intentions. Findings – The best predictors were subjective norm and perceived ease of use, which predicted 65 percent of the variance in intentions. Student teachers tended to anticipate using technology in their future classrooms when they perceived that significant others expected them to do so and thought that it would be relatively easy to accomplish. Most believed that technology integration would be effective and were confident that they could accomplish it; however, their value and self-efficacy beliefs were not the best predictors of their intentions to integrate technology in elementary classrooms. Originality/value – This study contributes to the literature on modeling technology acceptance in education. The model developed is unique compared to those presented in related studies. The results provide insight into factors associated with elementary preservice teachers’ intentions to integrate technology and highlight the close association between intentions and subjective norm at a crucial transition point in new teacher development.