JOURNAL ARTICLE REVIEW TEMPLATE

North American University

Education Department
M.Ed. in Educational Leadership / M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction
EDUC 5324 Integrating Technology into Education
Name: Samim Cetinkaya

Date:10/18/2015

Cite the reviewed article in APA format:

Bulent Dogan & Kadir Almus (2014) School Administrators Use of iPads: Impact
of Training and Attitudes Toward School Use, Computers in the Schools: Interdisciplinary
Journal of Practice, Theory, and Applied Research, 31:3, 233-250
INTRODUCTION
Research Questions (if research questions are not specifically mentioned, what is
the theoretical background or overarching theme):
This study intended to answer the following
questions:
1. What is the impact of the training process on school administrators use
of iPads for administrative tasks and personal organization in their professional
duties?
2. What is the impact of the training process on school administrators beliefs
regarding how teachers should use iPads in the classroom?
3. Are there any differences in school administrators survey responses based
on gender, age, years of experience in school administration and e

Purpose of the research:

There is a lack of researchon how school administrators use iPads for their
professional duties and the potential effects on their work-related tasks and personal
organization. In a recent study, iPads were purchased and implemented in a school
system based on the assumption that they would enhance the productivity of school
administrators, thus improving school functionality and promoting a technology-rich
school climate (Winslow, Dickerson, Cheng-Yuan Lee, & Geer, 2012). Even though
Winslow et al. (2012) provided insightful information on how iPads are used by
principals, the literature review conducted for this study revealed that there was no
research examining the impact of receiving specific iPad training on school

administrators attitudes toward iPad use. In order to determine potential impacts in this
area, a research study involving a training process, which included workshops, online
resources, and ongoing support, was designed.

METHODOLOGY
What is the methodology for the research or approach used to understand the
issue? Provide information regarding the following:

Participants:
Elementary and secondary school administrators (i.e., principals and
assistant principals) working in one of the largest public charter school systems
in a southwestern state were the target population for the study. This school
system was selected for the study due to fact that iPads were provided to its
administrators for managerial duties. The criteria for study participation included
being employed as a school administrator and having an iPad provided by the
school system. Participation in this study was voluntary.
Procedures:
Training was designed based on feedback from participants and delivered
through an interactive webinar session. The training of school administrators
included topics intended to develop iPad skills and use certain workflow, notetaking, calendar, productivity, file-sharing, remote-desktop, presentation, and
screen-sharing applications covered specifically from a principals perspective.
Additional resources reinforcing the topics covered in the initial training session
were provided later to school administrators in the form of video and written
tutorials for their convenience. Technical support regarding the training topics and
study was available to participants on an ongoing basis. Researchers provided
technical support to school administrators via e-mail and telephone.
Data Collection Methods/Data Source:
Participants in this study were contacted by email through the school
systems central office, after securing approvals from the school district an the
university. The initial communication included information on the purpose,
structure, and schedule of the research study along with information on training
and resources to be provided throughout the spring semester of the 20122013
school year. Participants were asked to complete consent forms prior to the study
as required by the school district and the universitys Institutional Review Board

(IRB). Fifty-one participants who owned iPads volunteered to complete the presurvey out of approximately 120 school administrators in the school system
Data Analysis:
A descriptive analysis of the demographic and contextual data for the
presurvey participants was conducted. The average age of school administrators
who participated was 34.16 years. The average years of experience in education
was 8.45, and the average years of experience as a school administrator was
2.04. The average school size of participants was calculated as 618.50. All
participants in this study owned an iPad. While 27.45% of participants purchased
their own iPads, the majority of the iPads (72.55%) were given to school
administrators by their school district. While all participants used Microsoft
Windows Vista, 7, or 8 as their computer platform, 52.94% used the iPhone (iOS)
as their mobile platform, followed by Android (37.25%), BlackBerry OS (1.96%),
and other (7.84%). The majority of participants schools were classified as
elementary, middle, and high school (K12) (62.75%), followed by elementary
and middle school (K8) (19.61%), middle and high school (612) (9.80%),
and elementary (K5) (7.84%). Participants were also asked in the pre-survey
about the highest level of education that they had attained. According to the
results, 50.98% of school administrators held a bachelors degree and 49.02%
held a masters degree.
The paired sample t-test analysis indicated that for the 37 subjects, the
mean score on the post-survey (M = 4.27) was significantly greater than the
mean score on the pre-survey at conditions t (36) =2.25, p = 0.03, d = 0.57
(Table 1). These results suggest that the overall training process in this study had
a statistically significant effect on participants beliefs about the effectiveness of
iPads as a tool for administrative tasks and personal organization. The analysis
of the question measuring the frequency of how school administrators responded
to, I use my iPad for administrative tasks and personal organization in following
areas, in the pre-survey yielded mean scores ranging from 2.57 to 3.84 (Table
2). Data analysis of the same item yielded mean scores ranging from 3.32 to
4.00 in the post-survey. A mean scale score close to the value 5 indicated that
the participants always used their iPads in the stated area, whereas a mean
scale score close to the value 1 would indicate that the participants never used
their iPads in the stated area. These results suggest that there were overall
increases in the mean scores of postsurvey responses for participants. In order
to determine if these increases in mean scores were significant, a paired sample
t test was conducted. The increase in the frequency of participants use of iPads
was significant for four of the measured items at the p 0.001 level (Table 2).

These items included task delegation, organization, calendar, and

document sharing. In addition, the increase for the items researching through
Internet and using specific applications for my work was significant at the p
0.01 level. The same test yielded no significant increases in taking notes, walk
through and observations, and reading articles and books related to my work
items
RESULTS
Findings or Results (or main points of the article):
The analysis of a question asking how school administrators would like to see
their teachers using iPads in the classroom revealed that there were slight increases
between the pre- and post-survey in the following responses: using iPad for class
communication (e-mail, messaging, contacting parents, etc.) (11.59% vs. 13.22%);
making specific applications (created by the teacher) that might help students (10.30%
vs. 12.07%); using specific applications (created by others) that might help students
(15.88% vs. 16.67%); and projecting/streaming lessons/presentation to the iPad
(17.60% vs. 18.39%). Alternately, there were slight decreases between pre- and
postsurvey regarding the number of responses selected for remaining items, such as,
Requiring creative assignments involving iPad use (18.88% vs. 16.67%),
Referencing/sharing a specific content item (picture, document, video, etc.) as an
example (17.17% vs. 14.94%), and Encouraging taking notes (8.15% vs. 8.05%).
School administrators were further solicited to evaluate the training process that
they participated in during the study. A majority (81.08%) responded that they would like
to continue receiving training and resources on the use of iPads for administrative tasks
and teaching. Furthermore, 48.65% of participants found the training session and the
resources provided afterward very useful, followed by 43.24% finding them useful,
and 8.11% finding them somewhat useful.

DISCUSSIONS
Conclusions/Implications (for your profession):
According to results, school administrators believed that iPads were effective tools
for administrative tasks and personal organization. Additionally, administrators were
even more in agreement with this idea after completing the training process. Overall,
there were increases in the frequency of school administrators use of the iPad for
administrative tasks and personal organization in all measured areas. Specifically, the
increases in task delegation, organization, calendar, document sharing,

researching through Internet, and using specific applications for my work areas were
statistically significant. Overall, these results were in alignment with Winslow et al.
(2012) in which school principals also believed that iPads provided measurable
productivity gains in school administrator tasks. Almost all school administrators prior to
or after this study reported that they would like to see their teachers using iPads for
classroom teaching. Specifically, administrators wanted to see their teachers project and
stream lessons or presentations from their iPads, use specific iPad applications that may
help students, and use their iPads for class communication. In addition, school
administrators desired to see teachers using iPads in the aforementioned areas more
after completing the training process. The majority of school administrators believed that
iPads would be replacing computers in the future. This belief was more prevalent in
school administrators who completed the training process. These results suggest that
school administrators in this study had positive views regarding the potential of iPad
current and future use in the classroom by teachers. The encouraging position of
principals regarding iPad use may contribute to the successful implementation of iPads
in the school, as principals are the instructional and technology leaders of their schools
(Dawson & Rakes, 2003; Lashway, 2002; McLeod, 2008). A majority of school
administrators found the training process useful (92% with combined categories of very
useful and useful), and they Downloaded by [76.31.198.76] at 18:17 03 November
2014 School Administrators Use of iPads 247 also desired ongoing training and
resources on using iPads for administrative tasks and teaching. Overall, these data
suggest that providing ongoing training opportunities may help school administrators
success in using iPads for professional duties as well as implementing iPads in the
classroom
REFLECTIONS
Students Reflections (changes to your understanding; implications for your
school/work):
Use of the IPad has increased for the past couple of years and obviously it will
increase. Key point for using the IPad is training, because every year so many new
applications are publishing for education use. Those applications needs to be introduced
to the administrators so that they can use them effectively.