Teachers ' Computer Attitudes: Factors Influencing the Instructional Use of Computers

Both researchers and educators have been aware of teachers ' attitudes toward computers is an important factor to the successful use of computers in instruction. This paper aims to describe the development of a scale for measuring teachers ' attitudes toward computers. A Chinese Computer Attitude Scale for Teachers (CAST), partly adopted from Selwyn (1997) and partly developed specifically to teachers ’ perception on pedagogical use of computers which consisting of 20 items was administered to 216 secondary teachers. Factor analysis revealed four structurally independent attitude constructs. The scale was found to have a satisfactory internal reliability. Significant correlations were also found between computer experience/usage and the four subscales, suggesting a measure of construct validity for the scale. The results of regression analysis indicated that the set of variables contributed to the levels of computer use. It is hoped that the scale will be of use to researchers and educators in the educational setting