My study found that there were some specific personal-level variables that correlated with teachers' use of "Google Docs" (including Drive and other GAfE). It also suggested (but didn't specifically prove) that teachers who had been in the profession for a while were more likely to use GAfE than inexperienced teachers or those teachers close to the end of their careers. Taken together, this suggests a very specific type of teacher that will generally come to use GAfE on their own; and also a type of teacher that is going to need more guidance. While the study focused specifically on GAfE, it most likely generalizes to other educational technologies.
Study Abstract - Technology has become an essential part of the world, both in people’s personal and professional lives. Digital assessments such as those being implemented in New Jersey as part of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) will soon be instituted on a large scale; these require students to be able to utilize computer technology in order to be able to complete the assessment. Therefore, it is imperative that administrators know the most effective ways to successfully diffuse and have teachers implement technology across their classrooms. This study examined how the technological innovation Google Docs has diffused through schools/districts in Monmouth County, NJ and determined that there are significant relationships between the frequency and complexity of professional use of Google Docs and personal-professional characteristics of middle school classroom teachers.
Using quantitative methods, this study determined that there was a statistically significant association between the frequency and complexity of teachers’ use of Google Docs and the following variables: optional decision method; innovator, early adopter, and early majority innovator types; the subject areas Mathematics and Visual and/or Performing Arts; the number of types of technology used professionally; and TPACK score. These findings provide administrators with several concrete variables to consider when attempting to encourage the diffusion of a technological innovation such as Google Docs into a school. Additionally, when combined with research by Wisnicki (2014), it was found that personal factors have a larger impact on Google Docs implementation than do environmental factors. Limitations of the study might include sample size and the formulation of the Google Docs usage questions on the survey.