| Community Colleges are well known for their vocational and technical educational programs that provide students with the necessary technical training and related job skills that meet the demands of today's technical workforce, which leads to gainful employment (Gray & Herr, 2008). The technical workforce of today is required to possess specific training, targeted skill sets, and certifications to design, operate, and repair equipment, machinery, and systems. These required workforce skill sets create a demand for technically competent vocational and technical community college faculty that can provide the necessary training, knowledge, and education to their students so they can satisfy the technical workforce demands (Purdue, 2012). The purpose of this study was to examine North Carolina community college vocational and technical faculty's level of technology adoption and integration (technology use), and other related factors such as; age, gender, years of teaching experience, education level, technology training sources, technology anxiety and barriers that might be used to predict their level of technology use (technology adoption and integration) in their teaching and learning process. The research methodology was a quantitative study that consisted of a simple survey design based upon the theoretical frameworks of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by Davis (1989) and utilized the Kotrlik & Redmann (2005) Technology Integration Scale (KRTIS) for determining faculty technology use. The targeted population was all North Carolina community college vocational and technical full-time faculty. Therefore, the sample was obtained from various institutions within the 58 North Carolina community colleges located throughout the state. The study was expected to confirm that not all community college vocational and technical faculty were effectively integrating technology into their classrooms and/or andragogical philosophy. The explanations for such decisions were due to the influence of demographic factors, technology perceptions, technology anxiety & barriers such as; confidence, training, time, and resources. These findings will be of significance to better understand why only some vocational and technical faculty are integrating technology and what can be done to improve this situation. In addition, findings from the study will assist administrators in recognizing the demographic and characteristics of potential vocational and technical faculty new hires that best support technology integration Administration will also better understand and recognize the training needs and required resources to best support and improve the level of technology integration in the classroom, laboratory, and androgogical beliefs in order to meet both workforce demands and institutional needs. |
