Technological Diffusion within Educational Institutions: Applying the Technology Acceptance Model

Expectancy models of behavior such as the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) offer guidelines that aid efforts to facilitate use of new technology. These models remind us that both acceptance of and resistance to technology use are grounded in beliefs and norms regarding the technology. Although TAM is widely used to model user acceptance of technology, it is suggested that the model fails to capture all of the relevant components to technology acceptance in the context of educational organizations. This paper discusses the application of expectancy models to educational institutions and identifies relevant aspects of technology use that are accounted for by TRA. The introduction describes initiatives to support faculty in technology adoption at the University of Arizona. The next section presents TRA and TAM, as well as a survey designed to measure a broad set of potentially relevant beliefs in faculty acceptance of technology. Two pervasive faculty development strategies (i.e., incentives and training) are then considered, using TRA to illuminate the process by which these strategies might affect behavior and using the model to generate new strategies. (Author/MES) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** Technological Diffusion within Educational Institutions: Applying the Technology Acceptance Model PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY