Year

2019

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

School of Education

Abstract

The rapid growth of technologies in modern society has brought significant changes to teaching and learning. In higher education, there is an expectation that university teachers will integrate technologies into their teaching to enhance student learning and study. Technologies in higher education have provided teachers with many choices in how to design and implement their teaching practice. Whilst university teachers can use technologies in varying ways in online and face-to-face environments, little empirical evidence has explored in depth how and why teachers integrate technologies into their teaching. Previous research has identified factors that influence university teachers’ technology integration, such as teacher knowledge, self-efficacy and ‘technology value’ (Benson & Ward, 2013, Chen, Liao, Chang, Hung & Chang, 2019; Khan, 2011; Mishra & Yahya, 2007; Horvitz, Beach, Anderson & Xia, 2015; Robinia & Anderson, 2010; Ajjan & Hartshorne, 2008); however, these studies have mainly examined these factors in isolation. The purpose of this study was to explore university teachers’ integration of technology in teaching by investigating the influences of knowledge, self-efficacy and technology value in a single study addressing how and why university teachers integrate technologies in different academic contexts.

A qualitative case study was conducted within one Australian university. Seven university teachers across different academic contexts in Education, Psychology, Information Technologies and Arts were interviewed and observed for one teaching semester. The research was guided by the question: In what ways does a university teacher’s TPCK, self-efficacy, and value of technology integration influence their use of technology in their teaching? The theoretical framework underpinning this research drew on three constructs to account for various factors that influence technology integration that have been identified in the literature: Mishra and Koehler’s (2006) Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) Framework, Bandura’s (1977) Theory of Self-Efficacy and Eccles et al.’s (1983) Expectancy-Value Theory. The TPCK Framework was used to conceptualise the technological, pedagogical and content knowledge teachers possess and how these forms of knowledge interact to enable the effective integration of technology in teaching. Bandura's Theory of Self-Efficacy framed teachers’ levels of selfefficacy when completing specific technology-based tasks. Eccles et al.’s Expectancy-Value Theory helped to account for the value that university teachers place on the use of technology in their teaching.

Download

Share

COinS
 

Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong.