Standard V - Assessing/Evaluating

Artifact Description:

In the course GREV610 Educational Statistics II (Spring 2021) with Dr. Gibbs Kanyongo, my final project investigated whether preservice teachers' content areas (English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies) and gender (male, female) have an effect on technology acceptance in TinkerCAD. The project adopted the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1986) which is a well-known tool to assess and predict user acceptance of information technology. I applied formal inquiries in assessing and evaluating the integration of TinkerCAD in the instructional technology course. Participants who were preservice teachers responded to the Technology Acceptance Questionnaire including perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitude toward using TinkerCAD. The results of the study found that there were no significant main effects of content area or gender.

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Reflection and Rationale:

The term project demonstrated my ability to apply formal inquiry strategies in assessing and evaluating the process and resource (TinkerCAD) for learning and performance through the lens of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). TinkerCAD is an emerging 3D modeling and Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software for children who want to design and create 3D artifacts. Integrating TinkerCAD into K-12 curriculums has potential benefits for improving instructions. However, there were limited studies on preservice teachers' technology acceptance of TinkerCAD. Since TinkerCAD is a useful resource for STEM education, I originally hypothesized that the preservice teacher in Mathematics would have significantly higher technology acceptance in TinkerCAD. The second hypothesis stated that gender would affect preservice' teachers' technology acceptance because previous research has found that gender is a moderating factor in technology acceptance (Park et al., 2019; Venkatesh et al., 2003).

 

Surprisingly, the results showed that there was no significant difference in preservice teachers' technology acceptance based on gender or content area. In addition, students seem to hold negative attitudes towards TinkerCAD based on their responses to perceived ease of use and usefulness. The results validated the need to help preservice teachers to reverse their negative attitudes towards emerging technology and to make wise decisions in the integration of technology into their instructions. To support students’ learning and performance in the emerging technology, I plan to demonstrate more successful examples of the integration of TinkerCAD into content areas such as ELA in the future class. I have found formal inquiry strategies effective in assessing processes and resources to improve learning.

 

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Reference: 

Park, C., Kim, D.-g., Cho, S., & Han, H.-J. (2019). Adoption of multimedia technology for learning and gender difference. Computers in Human Behavior, 92, 288-296. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.11.029

Venkatesh, V., Morris, M. G., Davis, G. B., & Davis, F. D. (2003). User acceptance of information technology: Toward a unified view. MIS Quarterly, 27, 425–478.