Date of Graduation

1999

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine factors that would have an impact on training development for an established workforce facing reform initiatives. A two-part literature section includes an examination of existing research from educational theory, memory research, adult development theory, cognitive psychology, organizational, industrial, and personnel psychology, and instructional design models. The result is a set of guidelines for the training program developer who is concerned about implementation of reform strategies and resistance-to-change issues. The target workforce for this study was the West Virginia public school teacher. The reform initiative was the introduction of computer technology into the instructional objectives of the core curriculum by the WV Department of Education in 1996. A separate literature review shows the national call for reform within the public school industry and the events which led to the inclusion of computer technology into the core curriculum of West Virginia schools. Five research questions examined the following: (a) differences in perceived confidence for performing and for teaching computer technology among elementary, middle, and high school teachers, (b) relationship between perceived confidence in performing and perceived confidence in teaching computer technology, (c) the effect of time since college graduation on teachers' perceived confidence for performing and for teaching computer technology, (d) teachers' preference for source of training (college/university courses, inservice training, community services, or self-help tutorials), and (e) the determining factors for teachers' choice of training (professional application, personal application, college credit, cost, and scheduling convenience).

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