Factors influencing middle school teachers' positive attitudes toward technology in the classroom

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influencing teachers' positive attitudes about technology in the classroom. Research was conducted in one middle school in Orange County, California. There were 47 teachers who participated in an online survey about their access and use of technology, professional development, technology support, and general feelings about technology. Both qualitative and quantitative data was analyzed by comparing percentages of teachers who responded positively to research questions and negatively to research questions. The results showed that 95% of the teachers wanted to use technology in their classrooms more, but 71% said that they did not have access to all of the technology that they needed for their classrooms. There were 46% of the teachers who reported feeling pressured to try new types of technology with their students and 42% who said that they have not participated in a sufficient amount of technology based professional development. These findings indicated the need for a full-time technology coordinator who was on-site and available to help support teachers with technology integration. In addition, results showed a definite need for quality professional development which was hands-on, small group, and based specifically on the needs of the teachers' subject matter and curriculum.\ud Keywords: teacher attitudes, technology, support, access, professional developmen