Technology has become an integral part of American society, and its role in education has continued to increase. The purpose of this study is to examine athletic training educators’ attitudes toward instructional technology and their extent of utilization of that technology. Attitudes and extent of utilization are examined to determine whether differences exist among participants based on their gender and age.
Participants were certified athletic trainers teaching in entry-level athletic training education programs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP). Data were collected from 260 participants using an on-line questionnaire developed by the researcher. The questionnaire contained three sections, including demographic information, attitudes toward instructional technology and instructional technology use. Internal consistency of the attitude and extent of utilization sections yielded alpha coefficients of .90 and .91 respectively.
The research design was a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) utilizing summated scores for attitudes toward and extent of utilization of instructional technology as the dependent measures. The independent variables were gender and age. Data analyses revealed no statistically significant differences for each of the main effects of gender and age or for the interaction effect of gender and age and attitudes toward instructional technology. Additionally, data revealed no significant differences for each of the main effects of gender and age and extent of utilization of instructional technology. However, a significant finding is noted for the interaction of gender and age and extent of utilization. Further review indicates males 57 years of age and older utilize instructional technologies to a greater extent than females in the same age group. However, females between the ages of 46 and 56 utilize instructional technologies to a greater extent than males in the same age group.
Limitations, conclusions, practical implications, and recommendations for further study are provided.