Title
Teachers’ Perceptions of Professional Development and Technology Integration in Classrooms in Rural Texas
Date of Award
Spring 2-1-2020
Document Type
Restricted Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctorate of Education, Ed.D.
College
College of Education
Department
Education
First Advisor
Donna Graham, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Dana Sheldon, Ph.D.
Third Advisor
Nicholas Markette, Ed.D.
Abstract
Public schools are attempting to meet the demands for 21st century technological skills. This qualitative research study sought to discover how rural Texas teachers perceive technology professional development and the integration of technology in the classroom. Twelve rural Texas teachers from East Texas, Coastal Bend Texas, and South Texas participated in this case study. These teachers were recruited by snowball sampling and participated in a survey, interviews, and a focus group via Qualtrics, phone, and WebEx. After manual and software coding, the data were analyzed according to themes of professional development and technology use and patterned according to confidence levels. In-vivo coding was used in order to gain an understanding of these confidence levels through the teachers’ words. The rural teachers perceived themselves in the early/developing stage of classroom technology use due to the lack of appropriate professional development. The implications of these findings are that more relevant professional development needs to be developed to assist rural teachers in classroom technology integration success.