This survey is a descriptive study and analysis of
a random sample of the private schools in the southeastern United States of
America. Descriptive studies attempt to provide an accurate reflection (in this
case--of the current state of technology) in regard to a particular issue. All steps involved in creating, printing,
submitting, collecting, analyzing, and summarizing the data are supplied in
this section. Additionally, this section includes descriptions of the sample
selection, related variables, and methods to ensure validity and reliability of
the data. An accurate status can be
obtained through analysis of all the available facts. It is the job of the
researcher to interpret, subdivide, analyze, and summarize, and draw
conclusions for making recommendations (Turney and Robb, 1971).
Through this survey, the researcher hopes to offer
descriptive and comparison data for other researchers to use as a base for
their independent study.
Definition of
Terms
The following Internet related terms are used in the survey:
-AUP: Acceptable Use Policy.
This document, signed by the student and parent is used to explain is what
appropriate use of the Internet while at school. Students who violate any of the
provisions of the contract will lose Internet privileges for a specified amount
of time.
-Chat room: An interactive center where
users can log in and interactively communicate, via keyboard, with other users
in the room. All users can see all other users typing
-Download: Programs, data, or
information, that is available for a user to have sent interactively to his/her
own computer.
-Internet: A worldwide system of
networked computers which allows for transparent navigation to any of the
included networks.
ISP: Internet Service
Provider. This entity is responsible for users accessing the Internet from
their own PC
-Measurable
improvements: Any improvement noticed
by teachers that can be objectively measured without any subjectivity.
-N/A: Not applicable. Questions
from the survey that did not apply to the teacher
-N.R.: No response. Answers
that were not entered on returned surveys.
-Newsgroups: E-mail and discussion groups
dealing with one specific topic
-On-line: The condition of being
connected to the Internet
-PVN: Private Virtual Network. A Wide Area Network
which uses the Internet
as the media for connection
-Search
Engines: Large database web
sites maintained by a variety of entities on the Internet which keep accurate
databases with lists of every available site on the Internet. Users will use
these sites as a starting point to research a specific topic. Users may search
via a very sophisticated method of criteria definition to ensure accurate
results.
-Southeastern
United States: South Carolina, North
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Tennessee
-Non-measurable
improvements: Any improvement
noticed by teachers that cannot be accurately or objectively measured. A certain degree of subjectivity or
observational conclusions are necessary to identify.
-Web Site: A page or series of pages maintained by
one entity. The pages are
accessible via the WWW and offer data in the form
of text, picture, animation, video, database, audio, related links, data
collection, or even interactive business. It is the network of these sites that
make up the WWW.
-WWW: The World Wide Web is a system of
networked computers, world wide, in which one can navigate to any other
network, just by clicking the appropriate link button with a computer mouse.
Sample Selection
Based on the The Handbook of Private Schools (1998), there are
two hundred seventy-eight (278) private and independent schools in southeastern
United States. From these two hundred seventy-eight (278) schools, a random
selection of thirty (30) schools (n=30) was obtained using a random number
generator that returned thirty (30) numbers between the numbers one and two
hundred seventy-eight (278) . These numbers corresponded with an alphabetical
list of every school in the indexes of the book.
A total of one hundred two (102) surveys were
returned from a total of thirteen (13)
schools. As there is no way to know how many teachers received the survey at
each school, so we must use the school as the response rate indicator. There was a forty-four (44%) return rate by
school with an average of 6.5 surveys returned per school.
Variables
1) Personal and
Professional
2) Computer in classroom
3) Internet connection in
classroom
4) Frequency of Internet
use in classroom
5) Improvements in
classroom
6) Use of Internet for
self-learning
7) School support and
training
The 'personal and professional' variable includes
sex, age, subject taught, years of experience, whether they have a home PC, and
highest degree held. This data will be used to determine if there are any
correlations between Internet usage and personal characteristics.
The 'Classroom computer' variable will be used to
determine the level of technology at both the school and for the individual
teacher classrooms.
The
'Internet connection' variable will be used to determine if this is a
factor in whether or not teachers are using the Internet it the classroom. It
will be used to help establish the philosophy of computers and Internet for the
school.
The
'Frequency of Internet use' variable will be used to determine whether teachers
are using the Internet in their classes.
It will also be used to relate student improvements vs. frequency of
use.
The 'Improvement in classroom' variable will be
used to determine if students are benefiting directly because of the use of the
Internet in class. This variable will be used for both its objective and
subjective answers.
'The Internet for self-learning' variable will be
used to determine if teachers are using the Internet for personal development.
It will be used to draw correlations to Internet usage in the classroom.
The 'School support and training' variable will be
used to determine if the schools are supporting the efforts, both positive and
negative, of teachers using the Internet in the classroom. It will also be used
to determine the philosophy of the school concerning the use of the Internet by
teachers in the classroom.
Instrumentation
The instrument used in this survey was one designed
by the researcher (See Appendix B ). A simplified beta test of part of the
survey was conducted at a private school, not used in the sample. Three
techniques were used in the questionnaire. 'Yes/No' questions, check boxes, and
'circle-one' items were used to determine objective questioning and open-ended
short answer questions were used for the subjective comments. The closed-form nature of the 'Yes/No',
check boxes, and 'circle-one' questions provided an effective way to quickly
tabulate and analyze the data. However, in an area as subjective and new as
this topic, many opportunities were available for the respondents to write
their own comments or 'add an answer' when needed. Though these will not be as easily included in generalizing the
data, some will be used in the analysis.
Data
Collection
The data was sent via Express Mail to each of the
selected schools on September 20, 1999. Included in the packet was a letter to
the administrator (See appendix A) asking for cooperation from them in handing
out and collecting the completed surveys. Attached to each individual survey
(See appendix B) was a letter of
introduction to the researcher.
Teachers were asked to complete and return the surveys by October 8,
1999, via a supplied self-stamped addressed envelope. The returned survey data
was entered into Microsoft Works 4.5(Microsoft, 1999) database for interpretive
and analytical purposes.
The data analysis was concerned with providing a
thorough description, and summarization, of the objective data, intermingled
with subjective comments that are relative. The data gathered was synthesized
and presented with the aid of tables, which appear in Chapter 4.