RESULTS
Introduction
The expectation of this study was that the barriers to instructional technology incorporation are not based on extrinsic resource-type issues such as time, energy or money, but rather on intrinsic beliefs about teaching. My idea was that a faculty member's level of technology incorporation and willingness to do so must be internally dependent, and this dependence would be manifest through teaching style. Those who are more instructionist or teacher-centered would be less inclined to incorporate instructional technology into their teaching. Conversely, those who were more constructionist or student-centered would be more inclined to incorporate instructional technology. Thus, to understand the rate and level of instructional technology incorporation into the teaching and learning process, the beliefs that a faculty member holds toward the construct of teaching were examined.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study was to explore how intrinsic fundamental beliefs about teaching, the notion of who a person is as a teacher, not extrinsic resource-based barriers, may influence faculty instructional technology incorporation.
Research Question
How does the way faculty members perceive themselves, meaning their beliefs about themselves as teachers, influence incorporation of instructional technology?
Instruments
There were three sets of data sources for this study: a Teaching Style self-assessment instrument based on Grasha's work (Appendix D), the Grasha-Reichmann Teaching Style Inventory (Appendix B) and three separate versions of a qualitative interview instrument, one for each group, (Appendixes E, F, G).
The Teaching Style self-assessment instrument was presented on paper in chart format, and listed Grasha's five categories of teaching styles with a brief description of each style below the category name. The study participant was asked to read the descriptions and to fill in the bubble next to the category that best fits the participants' self-assessment of their own teaching style. The participant was informed that the fit would not be exact, but to choose the closest match.
The Grasha-Reichmann Teaching Style Inventory is a web-based assessment, available at various web sites, that asks for a Likert-type response to a series of questions designed to objectively categorize teaching style.
The qualitative instrument was designed to elicit information in their own words on faculty attitudes and beliefs about technology, extent of technology use, attitudes and beliefs about teaching. This qualitative instrument was a semi-structured interview designed to assess a broad overview of the subject's current teaching methodology, teaching beliefs, use of technology and attitudes toward technology in instruction. All comments from the participants are taken from the qualitative instrument of this study.
The data in this study are first presented in narrative form. Each subject is introduced with demographic information along with results of the self-assessment and of the Grasha-Reichmann Inventory. Following these results is a short narrative that addresses several questions from the interview, including why the subject became a professor, what the subject likes best about his/her position as a university professor, a summary of the subject's teaching philosophy, how the subject became involved in instructional technology (if applicable), and how the subject views instructional technology. Following a short narrative of each subject, the data from the self-assessment, the Teaching Style Inventory, and the qualitative interview are presented in table form, with short explanations following each table.