The role of media specialists with respect to instructional technology in an urban school district in Georgia

Due to the absence of a Georgia Educator Certificate in instructional technology, and the lack of state-wide staffing guidelines or requirements for instructional technology specialists, there is a lack of consistency in the qualifications and staffing of P--12 instructional technology specialists in Georgia public schools. The result is a lack of standardized support for the integration of technology into teaching and learning. Conversely, the state of Georgia provides standardized support for school library media programs through the certification and staffing of media specialists in every public school. In the absence of consistently staffed, certified instructional technology specialists, media specialists may be playing an increasingly larger role in instructional technology support and focusing less on other vital media specialist roles and responsibilities. A deeper understanding of the role of media specialists with respect to instructional technology may provide insight into determining a need for instructional technology certification and support in Georgia public schools.;The purpose of this quantitative survey study was to examine the role of media specialists with respect to instructional technology in an urban school district in Georgia. Practicing media specialists' perceived use, and perceived ideal use, of instructional technology specialist and media specialist job competencies were examined. These data could be used to inform the need for the support of certified instructional technology specialists in public schools.;The data revealed an overall difference among the four dependent variables (a) perceived current use of media specialist competencies, (b) perceived ideal use of media specialist competencies, (c) perceived current use of instructional technology specialist competencies, and (d) perceived ideal use of instructional technology specialist competencies. Within-subjects contrasts revealed significant pairwise differences among all the variables except the comparison of the use of media specialist competencies and the use of instructional technology specialist competencies. These findings suggest that in the absence of consistently staffed, certified instructional technology specialists, media specialists are playing an increasingly larger role in instructional technology support and focusing less on other essential media specialist roles and responsibilities.