| This study investigated the relationship between faculty orientation to instruction and use of technology. Two major questions examined are: (1) what are the factors that influence faculty orientation to instruction? and (2) does faculty orientation to instruction and its influencing factors affect faculty members' use of instructional technology? Two instructional orientations of interest to the study are the lecture and the discussion approaches.; The study hypothesized that predictor variables within the broad categories of personal characteristics, background and experience, institutional and disciplinary factors, employment status, support and incentives, and workload all affect faculty orientation to instruction and their use of technology.; The study utilized a large secondary data set consisting of 25,780 cases of postsecondary faculty from the National Survey of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF-93) sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics.; Bivariate correlation analysis shows that while 83.3 percent of 276 interactions were statistically significant at α = .05, the ratios were too small to yield confidence that these associations are representative of postsecondary faculty more generally. Regression analysis indicates that only about 14 percent of the variability in faculty orientation to instruction is due to the selected predictors. Results indicate no significant relationship between faculty orientation to the student-oriented instructional approach and their use of technology. Female faculty were more likely than male faculty to employ the student-centered approach to teaching and to use technology. Faculty associated with private institutions and liberal arts colleges were more likely than those at comprehensive institutions to adopt the student-centered approach to instruction. Faculty associated with business, engineering, health sciences, and natural sciences were less likely than humanities faculty to adopt the student-centered approach but were more likely to use technology in their instruction. |
