Transformational leadership, teacher self-efficacy and effective use of instructional technology within online communities of practice

Technology has altered the classroom instructional paradigm. The transformational leadership of the principal is widely perceived as a necessary catalyst for the school community to transform itself by providing more opportunities for professional growth, collaboration, innovation, and reflection among teachers about pedagogy and student learning. Teacher self-efficacy is also an important factor for the effective implementation of any new instructional strategy related to technology. This quantitative study examined the nature of the relationship between perceptions of principal transformational leadership, teacher self-efficacy in instructional strategies, and the effective use of educational technology for instruction. This research was guided by the following questions: 1) Does a teacher's perception of principal transformational leadership positively influence his or her self-efficacy in instructional strategies? 2) Does a teacher's self-efficacy in instructional strategies positively influence his or her effective use of educational technology? This research study utilized a cross-sectional survey approach. The survey instrument was composed of three validated surveys. Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale (TSES) was administered to measure a teacher's self-efficacy beliefs regarding instructional strategies. The Teachers' Use of Educational Technology in U.S. Public Schools (TUET) survey was administered to measure teacher and student use of educational technology for instruction. The Global Transformational Leadership Scale (GTLS) was administered to teachers to gauge their perceptions of their principal's leadership. The study sample consisted of 154 respondents who were K-12 teachers in the United States and participated in an online community of practice between July and September 2012.;One of the most salient results from this study was that despite research literature to the contrary, the researcher did not observe a statistically significant relationship at a 95% confidence interval between teachers' perceptions of their principals' transformational leadership and their own self-efficacy in using instructional strategies. Another key finding was that the self-efficacy of teachers who did participate in online communities of practice was positively correlated to the effective use of technology. Implications, limitations, and a discussion of the results are detailed accordingly.