JOURNAL ARTICLE REVIEW TEMPLATE

North American University

Education Department
M.Ed. in Educational Leadership / M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction
EDUC 5324 Integrating Technology into Education

Name: Tugba Nur UZAN Date: 7/14/2019

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), 233–250. 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: iPads were purchased and implemented in a school system based on
the assumption that they would enhance the productivity of school administrators, thus
improving school functionality and promoting a technology-rich school climate (Winslow,
Dickerson, Cheng-Yuan Lee, & Geer, 2012). Even though Winslow et al. (2012) provided
insightful information on how iPads are used by principals, 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. We developed this study based on our
experiences as a faculty member in the field of educational technology and as a faculty member
in the field of educational leadership—at a small private university located in a southwestern
metropolitan city.
 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 participated.
 The criteria for study participation included being employed as a school administrator
and having an iPad provided by the school system.
 Participants were volunteer.
 Collectively, 51 participants attended to the pre survey. 21 of them were female and 30
of them were male.
 21 male and 16 female, totally 37 pre-survey respondents completed the post-survey.

Procedures:
 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 2012–2013 school year.
 Participants were asked to complete consent forms prior to the study as required by the
school district and the university’s Institutional Review Board (IRB).
 Fifty-one participants who owned iPads volunteered to complete the pre-survey out of
approximately 120 school administrators in the school system.
 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.

Data Collection Methods/Data Source:

 Researchers developed two survey instruments as a mechanism to collect data, which
were administered online through the survey submission system hosted at the
university’s 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.
 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 Downloaded by [76.31.198.76] at 18:17 03
November 2014 School Administrators’ Use of iPads 237 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.

Data Analysis:

 The survey responses were reported as frequencies. 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
classi- fication, and school size. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)
software was used to conduct the data analysis.
 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):
These results suggest that, overall, the training process had a positive effect on the development
of iPad skills and knowledge.
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.
DISCUSSIONS
Conclusions/Implications (for your profession):
After I reviewed the article, I understand the importance of training for technological tools and
how ipad can be very useful for the school settings. As far as I understand, these kinds of
technological tools trainings should be continuous for the schools since the technology is
evolving and changing unbelievably fast. In this technology era, in order to be effective and
helpful for the students, as teachers and admins, we need to learn the latest improvements and
the effective usages of educational tools.

REFLECTIONS
Student’s Reflections (changes to your understanding; implications for your
school/work):
I found this article very useful and the results of the research was as I expected because I am
observing the benefits of being trained to use new technology as a teacher and ipads are the one
important member of the educational technological tools. Technology is evolving, so does the
engaging the technology of students. To accomplish the goal of assisting the students in the
best conditions, catching the era and being trained in the last technological tools has a vital role.
My understanding from the research that ipads are not only for teaching technology to the
students but also they are beneficial using them to organize our teaching plans, sending mails,
communicating parents and even to have fun etc. It is also useful teaching this tool to school
administrators for all the school community on the long run.