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: Seyma Demir

Date: ____June 4th 2016_______________________

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):
The present study specifically examines the following two research questions:
(a) What are principals perceptions of the
importance of technology? and
(b) Do principals perceptions of technology differ by years of
experience and gender?

Purpose of the research:

The purpose of the research is to examining of principals perspectives and
orientations toward technology.
METHODOLOGY

What is the methodology for the research or approach used to understand the
issue? Provide information regarding the following:

Participants:
Total 310 principals from a large metropolitan area in the southwest
region of the United States
126 Male
184 Female
104 Participants has 0-3 years of experience
82 Participants has 4-7 years of experience
55 Participants has 8-11 years experience
32 participants has 12-15 years of experience
31 Participants has 15 (or more ) years of experience
Procedures:
The survey was conducted by students in Leadership programs located
in the south central region of US.
As part of the principals certification course requirements, students
were trained on how to administer the instrument and required to
interview a specific number of current public school principals. The
survey instrument was designed specifically for this purpose and
included both qualitative and quantitative questions.
Data Collection Methods/Data Source: Data for this article was collected
by interviews and surveys.
Data Analysis:
Analysis of the interview data began with a process of data reduction.
The participants responses were read several times to become familiar
with the data.
The data was then coded into meaningful categories.
Once the categories were established, another researcher
independently coded a 10% sample of responses to determine the
consistency of the coding. The inter-coder reliability results revealed a
high level of agreement

RESULTS
Findings or Results (or main points of the article):
Here are the findings for this article:
One-third (35%) of the principals indicated that technology was used as a primary
communication tool.
Over one-quarter (28%) of principals responded that technology was integrated in
teachers classroom instruction
14% using technology for data sharing and management .
15 % Using technology as a resource to find information.
10% used for administrative tasks, such as taking attendance .
10% uses Technology for student learning.
DISCUSSIONS
Conclusions/Implications (for your profession):
The results from the present study suggest that principals view technology as
important for carrying out communication and instruction. They also see the
importance of using technology for data sharing and management, as a resource,
for administrative tasks and for student learning. This indicates that principals have
a positive view of technology and are using technology themselves.
REFLECTIONS
Students Reflections (changes to your understanding; implications for your
school/work):
After reading the article I was surprise that most of the school leaders uses
technology mainly for communication tool. Whereas it has to be focusing on
student learning in a school settings. Depending on this research only 10
percent of the school leaders uses technology for the students learning. There
could be couple reasons for this.
1- Technology is chasing rapidly and it may be very hard to catch up for the
people who are not tech savvy.
2- Professional development for school leaders are not really addressing the
needs for technological improvements.
Overall, in 21st century technology should play more and effective role in
student learning. This article was one of the eye opening articles for me.