Title: Investigating teachers' adoption of information technology in teaching: a comparative analysis approach

Authors: Pei-Chen Sun, Ching-Chang Lee, Dowming Yeh, Sheng-Yi Wu

Addresses: Institute of Information and Computer Education, National Kaohsiung Normal University, 116 Heping 1st Rd., Kaohsiung 802, Taiwan. ' Department of Management Information System, National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology, 2 Juoyue Rd., Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan. ' Institute of Information and Computer Education, National Kaohsiung Normal University, 116 Heping 1st Rd., Kaohsiung 802, Taiwan. ' Institute of Information and Computer Education, National Kaohsiung Normal University, 116 Heping 1st Rd., Kaohsiung 802, Taiwan

Abstract: In this paper a predicting model was proposed based on the planned behaviour theory for investigating teachers| adoption of information technologies as an effective teaching tool. Empirical data with 404 usable responses were collected from school teachers by a survey instrument and the actual use was evaluated by school principals and directors in order to achieve objective and valid results. A comparative analysis of the neural network and a discriminative analysis were implemented. The results indicate that the neural network model provides a better fit to the data. The follow-up cross-validation also showed the model was satisfactory and has been accepted both by teachers and principals.

Keywords: information education; IT; information technology; IT education; teaching tools; planned behaviour theory; discriminative analysis; neural networks; neural network models; adoption behaviour; adoption level; teachers| attitudes; teacher selection; actual use.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIL.2007.012380

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2007 Vol.4 No.3, pp.237 - 254

Published online: 09 Feb 2007 *

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