Factors Related to the Tennessee K-12 Educators\u27 Implementation of the Internet into Classroom Activities and Professional Development

The purpose of this study was to determine what factors influence educators to use the Internet in classroom activities or in their own professional development. A random sample of 325 educators was selected from a population of Tennessee K-12 educators who were identified as having completed Internet training. Surveys were received from 198 educators. The instrument was developed by the researcher for this study. Educators were asked to respond to questions regarding access to computers and the Internet, types of Internet classroom activities, types of professional development activities, types of Internet tools used, and training. Respondents were also asked to respond to 23 item likert-type statements regarding their beliefs about technology, training, and the educational use of the Internet. Data was analyzed using the Chi-square and Mann-Whitney U statistical tests. Findings include the determination that the Internet is being used by educators who have attended Internet workshops or seminars. There is little organized staff development about the Internet available in Tennessee K-12 schools. There is a significant difference between those educators who use the Internet and those who do not use the Internet in relation to their beliefs about Internet training. There is also a significant difference in relation to beliefs about school support for Internet activities. E-mail and gopher are the Internet tools the most often used by Tennessee K-12 educators. Tennessee K-12 educators would like to receive more training on how to use the Internet for both classroom activities and professional development