Personal uses of technology by teachers: A study of how teachers incorporate their personal uses of technology into their classrooms

The purpose of this study, which used a combination of quantitative and qualitative data collection, was to learn how teachers incorporated their personal uses of technology in the classroom. The data collected was analyzed in a single embedded case study. Through the use of the Survey of Teachers' Attitudes Toward Computers (TAC) version 5.1 and focus group interviews, information was collected from research participants. The study was conducted at a middle school located in a suburban school district, wherein 43 teachers were invited to participate in the study. There were 22 participants that answered the TAC survey and 27 participants in the focus group interviews. Data was collected from the study to answer and make connections to the research questions. Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions have been drawn. First, some teachers are regularly using their personally owned devices in the classroom. Second, teachers are implementing creative uses of technology. Lastly, teachers' concerns over students bringing in their own personal devices into the classroom persist. While this research study examined a small group of teachers in a small suburban school, it represented a contribution to the growing research of how teachers' uses of personal technology transferred into the classroom. Since this study provided a synopsis of teachers' experiences with technology integration in both their personal and classroom lives, replicating this study at a different school district would yield different results. Several recommendations for future study were suggested.;Data from this study provided an insight into the state of technology at this particular middle school. It also provided administrators information about what teachers needed in order to integrate technology in their classrooms. Future research is suggested to find out whether or not an increase in technology spending would result in an increase of confidence using technology and implementation of technology by all teachers. Another suggestion for future research is to study technology use in the classroom to explore any correlations between a teacher's age and trust or confidence issues using technology.