Agriculture Teachers’ Use of Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs): Teachers’ Perceptions of Innovativeness and Technology Integration

Abstract

The purpose of this descriptive-correlational study was to assess the level of innovativeness of Oklahoma secondary agricultural education teachers regarding their use of the interactive whiteboard (IWB). The study also sought to determine if relationships existed between teachers’ IWB innovativeness scores and selected personal and professional characteristics. The findings of this study revealed that as a teacher’s age and years of teaching experience increased, his or her perceived level of innovativeness regarding use of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) decreased. Therefore, younger and less experienced teachers were further advanced in Rogers’s (2003) innovation-decision process. In addition, this study found that a majority of the agriculture teachers were in the implementation and confirmation stages of the innovation-decision process. Implications and recommendations point to creating professional development experiences for teachers in the knowledge and persuasion stages of the innovation-decision process to learn about effective use of IWBs, to acquire procedural or “how-to” knowledge of the IWB, and to have opportunities to practice using it. Additional research should examine how the use of IWBs affects student learning and achievement in school-based agricultural education.

Keywords

• adoption
• agriculture teachers
• innovativeness
• interactive whiteboard
• stem