JOURNAL ARTICLE REVIEW TEMPLATE

North American University

Education Department
M.Ed. in Educational Leadership and M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction
EDUC 5324
Name: _Emrah Akay_

Date: 06/30/2015

Cite the reviewed article in APA format:

Waxman, H., Boriack, A., Yuan-Hsuan, L., & MacNeil, A. (2013). Principals' Perceptions of the
Importance of Technology in Schools. Contemporary Educational Technology, 4(3), 187-196.

INTRODUCTION
Research Questions (if research questions are not specifically mentioned, what is
the theoretical background or overarching theme):
What are principals perceptions of the importance of technology?
Do principals perceptions of technology differ by years of experience and gender?
A research is done so as to target principals work perceptions, and attitudes to determine if
principals behavior influences students learning and teachers behavior. There have been 311
principals who are from a big metropolitan area within the southwest region of the U.S. They
answered a questionnaire that addressed public school principals perceptions associated with
major functions of technology in their schools.

Purpose of the use:

The purpose of this research is to determine how principals' gender and years of experience
influence how they perceive the functions of technology in their schools.
METHODOLOGY
What is the methodology for the research or approach used to understand the
issue? Provide information regarding the following:

Participants: 310
Procedures: 310 principal responded to a cognitive interview questionnaire that asked
principals about their perceptions regarding the importance of technology for their schools. The
sample consisted of 126 males and 184 females. A range of years of experience was present with
104 participants having 0-3 years of experience, 82 participants having 4-7 years, 55 participants
having 8-11 years, 32 participants having 12-15 years, and 31 participants having greater than 15
years of experience.

Data Collection Methods/Data Source: Table data collection

Data Analysis: Principals Perceptions of the Major Function of Technology by Sex; Males
and females differed in their perceptions of the other four categories. Communication: males
32.5% females 35.9%- Instruction: males32.6% females 24.6%. In order of decreasing
percentage for males the last four categories were using technology: as a resource (16%), for data
sharing and management (15%), for administrative tasks (12%), and for student learning (10%).
The percentages for females in decreasing order were using technology: for data sharing and
management (15%), as a resource (14%), for student learning (12%), and for administrative tasks
(9%).

RESULTS
Findings or Results (or main points of the article): According to result of Principals

Perceptions of the Major Function of Technology data; +

The Major Function of Technology data;
34.5% of principals use technology for communication,
27.7% of principals use technology for instruction,
13.6% of principals use technology for data sharing and management,
14.5% stated that they use as a resource,
10% of them use it for administrative tasks,
9.7% of principals use technology for student learning.
DISCUSSIONS
Conclusions/Implications (for your profession):
I would like to say that, as a teacher I am on same page with principals idea because today
technology plays a key role in society. Technology is used for communication, instruction,
sharing data, resources, administrative task, and student learning etc. Technology should be
integrating in schools and principals play a significant role in order to integrate technology in
their schools. I think in todays century, with technology involved in education, the students are
more active in their learning. According to my experience in education, technology in classrooms
let students be more active learners with opportunity of communication information and their
motivation increases when they use technology in classrooms. "Technology is the ultimate carrot
for students. It's something they want to master. Learning to use it enhances their self-esteem and
makes them excited about coming to school," stated a fifth grade teacher (Cradler p. 5)

Principals need to provide enough resources in schools and teachers should have opportunity to
get trained in order to make teaching happen.

REFLECTIONS
Students Reflections (changes to your understanding; implications for your
school/work):
I want to reflect on a statement from the article, As society increases as a technology-rich
environment, school leaders are faced with how to support the integration of technology into
meaningful learning activities and how to evaluate the use of technology within their schools (Yu
& Durrington, 2006). MacNeil and Delafield (1998) found that when administrators act as
technology leaders, the teachers and students integrate and use technology more successfully.
As a science teacher, I was using only textbooks for lecturing which was very boring for student.
I have seen that students are more active and self-motivated after I start using some technology
tools in my class such as Chromebook, laptops and some different tools for demonstrations. It is
obvious that students could do more because of the capabilities of technology. Technology tools
may help students promote knowledge gain, personal growth, and also it provides better
education for students.