JOURNAL ARTICLE REVIEW TEMPLATE

North American University

Education Department
M.Ed. in Educational Leadership and M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction
EDUC 5324
Name:__Ali Gumus___________________

Date: ______7/12/2015___________

Cite the reviewed article in APA format:

Dogan, B., & Almus, K. (2014). School Administrators Use of iPads: Impact of Training
and Attitudes Toward School Use.Computers in the Schools, 31(3), 233250.
doi:10.1080/07380569.2014.932660
INTRODUCTION
Research Questions (if research questions are not specifically mentioned, what is
the theoretical background or overarching theme):

1. What is the impact of the training process on school administrators use of iPads for
administrative tasks and personal organization in their professional duties?
2. What is the impact of the training process on school administrators beliefs regarding
how teachers should use iPads in the classroom?
3. Are there any differences in school administrators survey responses based on gender,
age, years of experience in school administration and education, highest degree attained,
school classification, or school size?

Purpose of the research:

The literature review conducted for this study revealed that there was no research
examining the impact of receiving specific iPad training on school administrators
attitudes toward iPad use. In order to determine potential impacts in this area, a research
study involving a training process, which included workshops, online resources, and
ongoing support, was designed.
METHODOLOGY
What is the methodology for the research or approach used to understand the
issue? Provide information regarding the following:

Participants:
Elementary and secondary school administrators (i.e., principals and assistant principals)
working in one of the largest public charter school systems in a southwestern state were
the target population for the study

Procedures:
Collectively, 51 subjects were selected through a purposive sampling from the target
population.
Participants in this study were contacted by email through the school systems central
office, after securing approvals from the school district and the university. The initial
communication included information on the purpose, structure, and schedule of the
research study along with information on training and resources to be provided
throughout the spring semester of the 20122013 school year. Participants were asked to
complete consent forms prior to the study as required by the school district and the
universitys Institutional Review Board (IRB).
Study components included a pre-survey, a training session on the effective use of iPads
for administrative tasks and personal organization, specially designed resources
expanding the topics covered in the training session, on-going support, and a post-survey.
The study was conducted February through May 2013. They developed two survey
instruments as a mechanism to collect data, which were administered online through the
survey submission system hosted at the universitys server. The pre-survey was
administered at the beginning of the spring 2013 semester and the postsurvey was given
at the end of the four-month study period. Both instruments were reviewed for face
validity by two education faculty members and then were piloted using a group of school
administrators in a local school district. Surveys were finalized after the feedback on the
pilot versions. Demographic information collected on the pre-survey included age, years
of experience as a school administrator, years of experience in education, highest degree
earned, school classification, and school size. The pre-survey also included questions
measuring if and how school administrators were currently using their iPads for their
daily school-related tasks, their beliefs about the effectiveness of iPads for administrative
tasks, and if and how school teachers should be using iPads in the classroom.
Training was designed based on feedback from participants and delivered through an
interactive webinar session. The training of school administrators included topics
intended to develop iPad skills and use certain workflow, note-taking, calendar,
productivity, file-sharing, remote-desktop, presentation, and screen-sharing applications
covered specifically from a principals perspective. Additional resources reinforcing the
topics covered in the initial training session were provided later to school administrators
in the form of video and written tutorials for their convenience. Technical support
regarding the training topics and study was available to participants on an ongoing basis.
Researchers provided technical support to school administrators via e-mail and telephone.
Data Collection Methods/Data Source:
Designed as a closure to the study, the post-survey instrument included questions
intended to measure self-reported improvements in certain tasks after completing the
training, as well as items regarding the evaluation of training session and resources
provided to school administrators during the study. In addition, some of the questions of
the pre-survey were repeated in the post-survey to assess the change in responses during
the study. Survey instruments included multiple choice and Likert-type scale items. The
survey responses were reported as frequencies.

Data Analysis:
In addition, paired sample t-test data analysis was conducted to understand the
differences in the responses between the pre- and post-surveys. A one-way Analysis of
Variance (ANOVA) test was conducted to see whether there were any differences in
school administrators responses by gender, age, years of experience in school
administration and education, highest degree attained, school classification, and school
size. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used to conduct the
data analysis.

RESULTS
Findings or Results (or main points of the article):

DISCUSSIONS
Conclusions/Implications (for your profession):

Regardless of age, years of experience in school administration and in education, highest

degree earned, school size, or gender, school administrators responded similarly to items
in this study. School administrators responded somewhat differently to the self-reported
level of iPad skills and knowledge by school classification. According to the results,
school administrators in K5 reported their level of iPad skills and knowledge higher
than administrators of K8 and K12 schools. Furthermore, administrators in K-12
schools reported significantly lower level of iPad skills and knowledge than
administrators of K-5 and K-8 schools
A majority of school administrators reported that they used specific iPad applications for
work-related purposes in this study. According to the results, Eduphoriaan iPad
application used for the Eduphoria CMS with modules designed for storing student data,
district curriculum, resources, lesson planners, and teacher appraisalswas the most
commonly used iPad application as reported by school administrators. Apparently, this
CMS was commonly implemented on all campuses of the school system under study.
One of the traits of a strong school leader is the ability to be visible and get out of the
office (Principals Identify Top Ten Leadership Traits, 2008). School administrators in
this study reported valuing the iPads mobility, the touchscreen, and the ability to use
various application features for workrelated purposes. Thus, iPads as mobile devices with
touchscreens may have the potential to help school administrators become more visible.
Prior to the training process, almost 68% of the school administrators rated their iPad
skills and knowledge as intermediate to advanced. After the training process, school
administrators reported increases in their iPad skills and knowledge. According to the
results of the post-survey, nearly 80% of school administrators considered their iPad

skills and knowledge at the level of intermediate to advanced. These results suggest that,
overall, the training process had a positive effect on the development of iPad skills and
knowledge of the school administrators. Results also indicated that applications in the
educational category were the most used types of iPad applications, followed by
communication and books and reference prior to the training. While the same trend
was observed in the post-survey, the training process seemed to have a positive impact on
the use of applications in productivity and tools categories as well. This result was
expected, as iPad applications in categories of productivity and tools were covered in the
training session as well as in the resources provided after training. Among the iPad
applications highlighted during the training process, Google Drive storage and sharing
files, syncing Google Calendar to your iPad, and Dropbox for storage and sharing
files were the most used iPad applications. To a lesser extent, Evernote for note
taking/organizing and Go Tasks with Google Tasks were also used by school
administrators. This result suggests that iPads may have a potential to be used for
administrative tasks by school administrators. According to results, school administrators
believed that iPads were effective tools for administrative tasks and personal
organization. Additionally, administrators were even more in agreement with this idea
after completing the training process. Overall, there were increases in the frequency of
school administrators use of the iPad for administrative tasks and personal organization
in all measured areas. Specifically, the increases in task delegation, organization,
calendar, document sharing, researching through Internet, and using specific
applications for my work areas were statistically significant. Overall, these results were
in alignment with Winslow et al. (2012) in which school principals also believed that
iPads provided measurable productivity gains in school administrator tasks. Almost all
school administrators prior to or after this study reported that they would like to see their
teachers using iPads for classroom teaching. Specifically, administrators wanted to see
their teachers project and stream lessons or presentations from their iPads, use specific
iPad applications that may help students, and use their iPads for class communication. In
addition, school administrators desired to see teachers using iPads in the aforementioned
areas more after completing the training process. The majority of school administrators
believed that iPads would be replacing computers in the future. This belief was more
prevalent in school administrators who completed the training process. These results
suggest that school administrators in this study had positive views regarding the potential
of iPad current and future use in the classroom by teachers. The encouraging position of
principals regarding iPad use may contribute to the successful implementation of iPads in
the school, as principals are the instructional and technology leaders of their schools
(Dawson & Rakes, 2003; Lashway, 2002; McLeod, 2008). A majority of school
administrators found the training process useful (92% with combined categories of very
useful and useful), and they also desired ongoing training and resources on using
iPads for administrative tasks and teaching. Overall, these data suggest that providing
ongoing training opportunities may help school administrators success in using iPads for
professional duties as well as implementing iPads in the classroom. Educators are often
provided with technological tools but are given little instruction on how these tools can
be used meaningfully in the classroom. Even though teachers have more resources
available to them than ever before, they still do not receive sufficient training on the
effective use of technology to enhance learning (U.S. Department of Education, 2004).

Research suggests that professional development programs can help teachers integrate
new technologies into their instruction (Sivin-Kachala & Bialo, 2000). Similar to
teachers, school administrators effective use of technology depends on proper training.
Previous studies indicated that training has a direct effect on principals proficiency in
using hardware and software and, in turn, on their instructional and administrative
proficiency (Afshari et al., 2010; Hawkins, 2002). Further research showed that there is a
correlation between the amount of technology training principals receive and the
integration of technology in the school (Dawson & Rakes, 2003). In conclusion, overall
results of this study suggest that in order for school administrators to be successful in
using iPads for professional duties, especially for administrative tasks and personal
organization, sufficient and ongoing training is recommended. As school administrators
are seen as both the instructional and technological leaders of their schools, receiving
appropriate training would not only allow them to be efficient in performing work-related
tasks but also positively effect the successful implementation of iPads by teachers and
students.
REFLECTIONS
Students Reflections (changes to your understanding; implications for your
school/work):

My main concern in technology usage in education is how to train the administrators and
teachers in an efficient way. The tight administrator and teacher schedules throughout the
year is avoiding school administrator and district level officer to implement the
technology usage. I personally see the really good outcomes of the technology trainings
among the administrators. Young administrators are more eager than the experienced
administrators. Without appropriate training in any subject in education is waste of time
and fundings. Trainings should be provided to administrators accordingly. Those trainings
should be evaluated to increase their efficiency.

References;
Dogan, B., & Almus, K. (2014). School Administrators Use of iPads: Impact of Training
and Attitudes Toward School Use.Computers in the Schools, 31(3), 233250.
doi:10.1080/07380569.2014.932660