The Implications of Teachers' Professional Attributes on Assimilating a Computerized Learning and Management System in an Israeli School: A Case Study

doi:10.4236/ce.2012.38B024

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Creat ive Educati on

2012. Vol.3, Supplement, 116-119

Published Online December 2012 in SciRes (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ ce) DOI:10.4236/ce.2012.38b024

116

The Implications of Teachers’ Professional Attributes on

Assimilating a Computeri z e d Learning and Management System

in an Israeli School: A Case Study

Orit Avidov -Ungar1, Noga Magen-Nagar 2

1The Open University, Achv a A cade mic Co l l ege

2Ministry of Education, Gordon College

Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Received 20 1 2

Assi mil ating proc esses of cha nge in teachi ng methods a nd their ap plication in school ent ail cons iderable

difficulty. The teachers’ ability and skills as a professional-pedagogic entity in the process of change is

the first factor for the occurrence of radical change. This study examines the extent to which teachers'

professional attributes predict resistance to change when assimilating a computerized learning manage-

ment and t ea c hing s ystem (L MS) in school . Tea c her s fr om an exp eri menta l high sc hool i n Isra el , whic h is

participating in a comprehensive reform to integrate a computerized LMS system into schools in Israel,

participated in this study. A questionnaire regarding resistance to change was distributed to 60 teachers

and ana lyzed us ing pa th a nalysi s in s truct ura l equat ion model ing wit h the s ta tist ical AM OS 7.0 ( Anal ysis

of Mo ment Struc tures) softwa re (Arbuck le, 2006 ). The findi ngs in dicate t hat a hi gh level of computer li-

teracy amongst teachers predicts low resistance to change; school seniority predicts high resistance to

change, as does a key role in school. The contribution of the study lies in understanding that, till now,

these attributes were considered to be background attributes. The study identifies their unique impact on

the teachers ’ readiness to assi milate change in sc hool.

Key words:

Introduction

This study aims to examine the assimilation of a compute-

rized system for managing learning and teaching (LMS) from

the professional perspective of the school teacher. The compu-

terized system explored in this study is the LMS software that

was developed in Israel, and is in use in schools worldwide

(Macfadyen & Dawson, 2010). This system is based on the

approach that teachers are all principals in their subject, and

therefore need organized information that will help them from

the ad ministrati ve and p edagogic p erspecti ves (Blau & H ameiri,

2012 ). R esearch find s that assimilat in g pro cesses o f chan ge in

teaching methods and their application in school entail consi-

derable difficulty. The teachers’ ability and skills as a profes-

sional-pedagogic factor in the process of change is the prime

cause of radical change in innovative pedagogic perception in

the education system (Fullan & Smith, 1999; De Freitas &

Oliver, 2005; Cunningham, 2009; Halverson & Smith, 2010;

Selwyn, 2010). Apart from the teachers’ professional abilities,

the conditions and organizational culture were also found to

affect their approach to the change (Coppieters, 2005), and

accordingly, to impact the effectiveness of the assimilation of

innovative technologies (Zimmerman, 2006; Avidov-Ungar,

2010).

This study assumes that the teacher is an important and key

figure, whose professional attributes are therefore a significant

factor in the processes of change in school (Collinson, Kozina,

Lin , Yu-Hao Ling, Matheson, Newcombe & Zogla, 2009). The

teachers' professionalism in assimilating the innovative tech-

nology is described in this study from several professional

perspectives, such as teaching seniority, school seniority, and

role in school. Studies find that the resistance which is hardest

to handle stems from the teachers' perception that the change

harms their strength and status as professionals (Buchanan &

Boddy, 1992; Chong, 2008). In other words, the greater the

teachers' professional and school seniority the stronger will be

their resistance to change. The more a teacher fills a dominant

role in school, the more involved and committed the teacher

will be, and thus will contribute to the change that the school

adopts (Baskin, 2004). The additional variable, computer lite-

racy, is included in th e research as an importan t and influential

component in assimilating the technological LMS (Woodrow,

1992; Virkus 2003; Koschmann, 2005; Harris & Hofer, 2009).

The study focuses on a high school in Israel, one of the pio-

neering schools leading change in assimilating a computerized

LMS as part of a national reform.

The Research Objective

The study aims to explore the degree to which the teachers'

professional attributes predict resistance to change in assimilat-

ing a computerized LMS in school, from the cognitive, emo-

tional and behavioral aspects.

The Research Hypotheses

Professional attributes contribute to the explanation of the

O. AVIDOV-UNGAR, N. MAGEN-NAGAR

117

variance in the level of resistance to change relative to assimi-

lating the computerized LMS, from the cognitive, emotional

and behavioral aspects, as follows:

a) The greater the teaching and school seniority the greater

will be the resistance to assimilating the computerized system.

b) The more central the role in school , the less will be th e re-

sistance to change regarding assimilating the computerized

s yst em.

c) The greater th e teacher's co mputer l iteracy the less will b e

the resistance to change regarding assimilating the compute-

rized system.

The Research Participants

Sixty out of 96 teachers (62/5%) in the experimental high

school participated in the study, 40 of whom were female

(66.7%) and 20 male (33.3%). Most of the teachers (60%) had

considerable teaching seniority and had been teaching for more

than ten years; 40% of the teachers had worked there for one to

five years and another 35% had worked in school for more than

five years. Those working in the school for one year account for

12%.

The Research Tools

The degree of resistance to assimilating a computerized sys-

tem was measured using a questionnaire developed by Goldrat

(2001). It included 16 statements that refer to three components

of resistance to change – cognitive, emotional and behavioral.

Cronbach's alpha for the reliability of the questionnaire was

0.92.

The Researc h Findings

A path analysis was conducted using structural equation

modeling to explore the impact of the teachers' professional

attributes on their attitudes towards assimilatin g a co mpu teri zed

LMS in school, using the AMOS 7.0 (Analysis of Moment

Structures) statistical software (Arkbuckle, 2006).

In this path analysis, independent (exogenous) variables were

defined that were the professional attributes, and included the

teacher's role in school and teaching seniority. This was fol-

lowed by the mediating (endogenous) variables which were the

teacher's seniority at school, and the level of mastery of com-

puter literacy (CL). The additional endogenous variables were

the three indices of resistance to the use of the computerized

system. At the first stage of the analysis, the measurement

model was evaluated using the four indices - χ2, RMSEA, NFI

and CFI – that are used to examine the model most suited to

reality (Bentler & Bo nett, 1980).

The results of the measurement model show that the value of

0.77 (df = 2) χ2 is not statistically significant (p = .681). The

RMSEA index (.000) is lower than .05; the NFI index (.992) is

very high and approaches 1; and CFI (1.000). These measure-

ments provide the most fundamental indication of how well the

proposed theory fits the data. The second phase evaluated the

structural model that categorizes the relationships and effects

among the variables as shown in Figure 1.

Examination of Figure 1 shows that teaching seniority ex-

plains the variance in the teacher's seniority in school (24%).

Teaching seniority, school seniority and CL together explain

the variance in the cognitive and the behavioral resistance to-

wards the use of the computerized system (29% and 20% re-

spectively). The school's role and CL together explain the va-

riance in emotional resistance towards the use of the compute-

rized system (28%). Hence one may claim that the factors in-

cluded in the model explain well the teachers' resistance re-

garding the cognitive, the emotional, and the behavioral facets

relative to the use of the computeri zed system.

Figure 1.

The results of the path analysis for predicting opposition to the use of the computerized system.

O. AVIDOV-UNGAR, N. MAGEN -NAGAR

118

The path coefficients were examined according to the direct

impact and thereafter according to the indirect impact. The

chart shows that the “teaching seniority” variable does not af-

fect the variables of “level of CL”, “cognitive resistance”,

“emotional resistance”, and “behavioral resistance”. The varia-

ble “school seniority” has a distinct positive, strong impact on

cognitive resistance to using the computerized system (β

= .42***), and on behavioral resistance to using the compute-

rized system (β = .37**), but not significantly on emotional

resistance and on the level of CL. In other words, the more

years the teachers accumulate in school, the greater their resis-

tance to using the computerized system from the cognitive and

the beh avio ral aspect s. The "sch o ol role" variab le h as a d istin ct,

negative impact of moderate strength on the emotional resis-

tance to using the computerized system ((β=-.25 *) but is not

distinct regarding cognitive resistance, behavioral resistance

and the level of CL. In other words, the more teachers fulfill

key roles in school, (as year grade coordinator or subject coor-

dinator) the greater their emotional resistance to using the

computer ized s ystem. The "C L" variable h as a dist inct negati ve,

moderate to strong impact on cognitive resistance to using the

computerized system (β = -.33**), on emotional resistance to

using the LMS (β = -.39**), and on behavioral resistance to

using the computerized system (β = -.28*). In other words, the

greater the teachers' CL, the less their resistance to using the

computerized system from the cognitive, the emotional, and the

behavioral aspects.

Examination of the indirect impact finds that "teaching se-

niority" distinctly, strongly and positively affects "school se-

niority" (β = .49***) and cognitive and behavioral resistance -

β = .42*** and β = -.37 ** respecti vely. However, there is no

indirect impact on the variables “teaching seniority”, “school

seniority”, and “role in school” on the three components of

resistance when the mediating variable is the level of CL.

Discussion and Conclusions

The research findings support the hypotheses. The findings

of the SEM path analysis are innovative, and even expand the

significance of the professional attributes of teaching seniority,

school seniority, role in school, and level of CL relative to the

assimilation of technological change. Until now, these

attributes were considered to be the teachers' background and

personal attributes, each with its unique impact on their readi-

ness to accept change in general (Fullan & Smith, 1999; De

Freitas & Oliver, 2005; Cunningham, 2009; Halverson & Smith,

2010; Selwyn, 2010) and technological change in general (De

Freitas & Oliver, 2005). In the current study these attributes

were analyzed simultaneously along a sequence and found in-

fluences of varying intensity for predicting resistance to change.

The high level of the teacher's CL predicts low resistance to

change, particularly in the personal assimilation of LMS in

school. This finding complements other studies that find that

the teachers' technological knowledge is very important relative

to their attitudes towards technological change with LMS in

school (Ogobonna & Harris 2003; Carter, 2008; Coffman,

2009). Similarly, and as in other studies, greater school senior-

ity was found to predict high resistance to change (Hart, 1987).

The current study finds that a key role in school predicts high

resistance, in contrast to the findings of other studies (Baskin,

2004). The reason for this may stem from the perception of the

essence of the school role, that does not testify necessarily to

involvement and participation in decision-making and

processes of change, but to coordinating a subject from the

administrative, limited and narrow perspective (Avidov-Ungar

& Friedman, 2011).

The research findings further indicate that school seniority,

role in school, and CL predict resistance to change directly, in

contrast to teaching seniority that indirectly predicts resistance

to change. These findings indicate the differences between

types of professional attributes amongst teachers, thus teaching

seniority is a demographic–personal attribute, similar to gender

and edu cation , whi le sch ool sen iorit y, role i n scho ol and CL are

attrib utes that th e teacher “acqu i r es” i n schoo l, where he teach-

es, and they are inherently connected to the organizational cul-

ture (Borko, 2004). Therefore, attributes of this type may di-

rectl y affect res ist an ce to pr ocess es of chan ge in scho o l, as th ey

may also affect resistance to assimilating a computerized sys-

tem for teaching and learning. One may therefore also assume

that resistance to change will be manifested in all the compo-

nents of the attitude – cognitive, emotional and behavioral - and

they are likely to contribute to better understanding of the fu-

ture behavior of the teacher relative to the assimilation of the

computerized LMS. Furthermore, the research conclusions

testify to the fact that CL, school seniority and role in school

are pro fession al at trib ut es that reflect th e organizat io nal cu ltur e,

and their implications for the level of resistance to change are

direct and significant. Accordingly, improvement in school

culture, manifested mainly in nurturing the teachers' profes-

sional attributes, should be seen as a central element in reduc-

ing resis tance to change when assimilating the LMS in school.

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