Understanding factors that influence teachers' acceptance of technology and actual computer use for teaching : the case of Greece

Abstract

During the past few decades, governments worldwide have been actively promoting the use of information and communication technologies in schools because of their potential to enhance teaching and learning. Despite several policies undertaken towards this end, the adoption of new technologies by teachers remains controversial. Teachers’ attitudes influence technology acceptance and actual usage in education. This paper introduces a new instrument that measures teachers’ attitudes towards computer use. The instrument, named the Attitude Scale towards Computer Use for Teaching (ASCUT), was developed following the Technology Acceptance Model and it contains four subscales: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, satisfaction expected and teacher’s image. It was completed by 450 Greek primary and secondary school teachers. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate it. Internal consistency reliability was found to be high. The role of demographic, end-user background and environmental variables on teachers’ attitudes were examined as well as the effect of attitudes on actual usage.