In the present day, technological development has substantively changed not only people’s lifestyles, working processes, and communication ways but the education system as well. Multiple studies that examine the impact of innovations on teaching and learning suggest that the appropriate use of technologies offers tremendous promises to engage students, increase their learning achievements, and facilitate teaching. However, regardless of the increasing accessibility of technological innovations in schools and their potentials, a substantive number of teachers remained as skeptical and reluctant technology users.
Despite educators’ conservative attitude toward technological progress in the classroom, this issue was supposed to be resolved with the help of the digital generation that subsequently enters the profession. Li et al. (2015) conducted the research that “aimed to examine the current technology usage of digital generation student teachers and the impact of possible internal and external barriers on their use of technology” (p. 1). Seventy-one teachers initially responded to a survey concerning their use of technologies in classrooms (Li et al., 2015). On the basis of their responses, six participants were chosen for follow-up interviews dedicated to potential challenges of technology integration in teaching and their attitude towards innovations.
According to the results of the research, the use of technology by digital generation educators was correlated with their perceived computer skills, self-efficacy, and technology support and access. However, the participants’ technological competency and the application of innovative techniques in classrooms were not related to their perceived level of risk-taking (Li et al., 2015). The study’s findings suggest that digital generation teachers may feel uncomfortable due to the necessity of keeping pace with rapidly changing technologies regardless of their awareness in this sphere.
Reference
Li, L., Worch, E., Zhou, Y., & Aguiton, R. (2015). How and why digital generation teachers use technology in the classroom: An explanatory sequential mixed methods study. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 9(2), 1-9.