| The purpose of this study was to determine the communication technologies preferred by school based administrators. This study surveyed and interviewed 96 school based administrators in a mid-sized suburban school system. The data show that individual emails, email lists, and cell phone technologies had the highest percentage effectiveness ratings by participants. Handheld computing devices, such as the Blackberry and IPhone / IPad, were also reported to be an effective communication tools. Technologies participants indicated were not effective included video-conferencing using computer equipment or large camera systems, blogs, social media sites such as LinkedIn, and Facebook.;Female respondents were significantly more positive about the use of individual emails for communication purposes than their male counterparts. Females were 12% more likely to use face to face communication in difficult situations than men. No significant difference in technology use was found between older and younger administrators. Follow up interviews yielded results similar to the survey responses. The major limitation of this study was the small sample size. |
