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Research Questions (if research questions are not specifically mentioned, what is
the theoretical background or overarching theme):
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 education, highest degree attained,
school classification, or school size?
Purpose of the research:
The purpose of this study was explaining how school administrators implement iPads in their
school and the possible effects on their tasks and personal organization.
Also in a recent study, school administrators would increase productivity in school by purchasing
and using iPads in a school system.
Moreover, this study aimed to examine the impact of receiving specific iPad training on school
administrators attitudes toward iPad use and their beliefs.
Study also wants to determine whether there were any differences in school administrators
responses to above issues by gender, age, years of experience in school administration and
education, highest degree attained, school classification, and or school size.
METHODOLOGY
What is the methodology for the research or approach used to understand the
issue? Provide information regarding the following:
Participants:
The target population for the study was elementary and secondary school administrators
working in one of the largest public charter school systems in a southwestern state where
iPads were provided to its administrators for managerial duties
51 subjects were selected through a purposive sampling from the target population who
owned iPads
58.8% (n = 30) of the participants were male, 41.2% (n = 21) of the participants were
female
Procedures:
Study components included a pre-survey, a training session, and a post-survey
Participants in this study were contacted by email through the school systems central
office, after securing approvals from the school district and the university
Participants were asked to complete consent forms prior to the study as required by the
school district and the universitys Institutional Review Board (IRB)
The study was conducted February through May 2013
51 participants volunteered to complete the pre-survey out of approximately 120 school
administrators in the school system.
37 of pre-survey respondents completed the post-survey, yielding a response rate of
72.55%
Training was designed based on feedback from participants and delivered through an
interactive webinar session.
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:
Pre-survey and post-survey which were administered online through the survey
submission system hosted at the universitys server
Survey instruments included multiple choice and Likert-type scale items.
Both instruments were reviewed for face validity by two education faculty members and
then were piloted using a group of school administrators in a local school district. Surveys
were finalized after the feedback on the pilot versions.
Data Analysis:
The survey responses were reported as frequencies.
In addition, paired sample t-test data analysis was conducted to understand the
differences in the responses between the pre- and post-surveys.
A one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test was conducted to see whether there were
any differences in school administrators responses by gender, age, years of experience
in school administration and education, highest degree attained, school classification,
and school size.
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used to conduct the
data analysis
RESULTS
Participants' Average
age of school administrators 34.16
years of experience in education 8.45
years of experience as a school administrator 2.04
school size of participants 618.5
Participants Percentage
owned iPads 100.00%
Participants' schools Percentage
their own iPad 27.45%
K-12 62.75%
given iPad by school 72.55%
K-8 19.61%
use Windows 100.00%
6-12 9.80%
use iPhone 52.94%
K-5 7.84%
use Android 37.25%
use Blackberry 1.96%
use other 7.84%
According to the results, 50.98% of school administrators held a bachelors degree and 49.02%
held a masters degree.
Percentages
Teachers should
Pre-survey Post-survey
use iPad for class communication 11.59% 13.22%
make specific application with iPad 10.30% 12.07%
use specific applications in iPad 15.88% 16.67%
project/stream lessons/presentation to the iPad 17.60% 18.39%
require creative assignments involving iPad use 18.88% 16.67%
reference/share a specific content item in iPad 17.17% 14.94%
encourage taking notes with iPad 8.15% 8.05%
4. Differences in Participants Responses by Their Demographic and
Contextual Data
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
REFLECTIONS