What makes teachers use technology in the classroom? Exploring the factors affecting facilitation of technology with a Korean sample

The purpose of this study was to identify factors influencing teachers' decisions about using technology in the classroom setting and examine the degree to which teaching experience affects these decisions. Specifically, the items employed in this study were derived from the teachers' perceptions of technology use. We discovered six factors which influenced teachers use technology in their classroom: adapting to external requests and others' expectations, deriving attention, using the basic functions of technology, relieving physical fatigue, class preparation and management, and using the enhanced functions of technology. Interestingly, these factors do not correspond to the common sense theory of instructional technology. Additionally, we analyzed the patterns of factors' scores by teachers' level of teaching experience. From this study we deduced that although the majority of teachers intend to use technology to support teaching and leaning, experienced teachers generally decide to use technology involuntarily in response to external forces while teachers with little experience are more likely to use it on their own will. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.