Development of a valid and reliable survey instrument to assess teacher practice as a function of technology support & training

The study focused on how a survey examining teacher's patterns of technology use and practice at seven high schools in Southern California as a function of their training and support can be used for the construction of valid and reliable scales of technology use among teachers. As such, this study is equally centered on looking at school improvement by utilizing the study's 2nd through 4th questions demonstrate how these patterns of technology use vary in their state and opportunities to use. To accomplish the preceding, the, the study employed various best practice methods for scale development recommended by DeVellis, 1991; Clark & Watson, 1995; Hinkin, 1995; Worthington & Whittaker, 2006. These included the conceptualization of the construct, item selection for each scale and the psychometric evaluation of the operational characteristics of the survey instrument. The results of this study indicated that a valid and reliable survey may be constructed and utilized to assess the broader implications of training and support for teachers in ways that can be expected to impact student opportunities to use ICT for learning. In particular, the results provide evidence that both valid and reliable scales can be developed if well established scale development practices are followed and implemented.;Supported by a research based literature analysis of the constructs to be measured, the patterns of results uncovered in this study through the newly developed survey instruments indicated that teachers varied in their state of use and opportunities to use technology. The result was that teachers either faced a feast or famine situation when looked at in terms of their access and support to ICT. In addition to this, use of the instrument showed that the teachers surveyed received inadequate training opportunities in computer use along with along with a lack of release time, and that a need for administrative support was reported as a barrier for some of the teachers. Equally, teachers reported a lack of good or appropriate software and a lack of funding as barriers to implementing and using technology within their classrooms. A third result derived from administration of the survey instrument was that teaching practices and views of the benefit of technology can be influenced by the type and level of training teachers receive. Finally the application of the survey instrument with the sampled teachers indicated that the type of course taught did not factor into the perception of barriers. In fact, somewhat of the opposite occurred, as instructors of A-G courses indicated at a higher rate that ICT use had changed their teaching practice, towards the positive.