Constraints, resources, and interpretative schema: Explorations of teachers' decisions to utilize, under-utilize or ignore technology

This three-year study examined how participation in a 10-month technology-enhanced professional development program (PDP) influenced K-12 teachers' decisions to utilize or ignore technology into teaching practices. Carspecken's (1996) qualitative research methodology of Critical Ethnography provided the theoretical and methodological framework to investigate teachers' subjective experiences. Through classroom observation of teaching practices and in-depth interviews, the study examined teachers' philosophies, attitudes, beliefs about education and technology, and classroom use of technology. A group of 13 K-12 teachers in the state of Indiana participated in the study. The results showed that teachers fall into three categories: Enthusiastic, Eskeptical, and Reluctant depending on their use of technology. Main findings include: (1) teachers' decisions to utilize or ignore technology are based on their beliefs, views of technology, vision of education, and professional identity, (2) teaching practices are influenced by teachers' perceptions of their role in the classroom, perception of technology, and experience with proven teaching practices that have worked well, (3) administrative tasks, focus on teaching content, and pressure to increase students' achievement overwhelm teachers to the extent that technology does not seem to be relevant, and (4) teachers have no compelling reasons to believe that technology improves learning but they had to use it due to investment in state-or-the-art technology.