This post is part of a series inviting discussion, comments and reflection on the results of my dissertation.
Remember as you review the results of my study that every variable was examined to see its relationship with how often the school was using curriculum videoconferencing and whether that variable could be used to predict the use of videoconferencing.
A major part of my study was the development of a scale for coordinators with questions related to their skill in coordinating VC and the staff attitudes about videoconferencing. For those interested in the details, the K12 Curriculum Videoconferencing Implementation Scale has good reliability and validity estimates. Cronbach’s alpha was .815, which means the scale can be used to predict a school’s use of videoconferencing based on an individual coordinator’s score. For full details, see p.55-59.
The K12 Curriculum Videoconferencing Implementation Scale has six subscales:
- The quality of the videoconference (audio and video)
- The coordinator’s ability to support videoconferencing
- The coordinator’s ability to integrate VC in the curriculum
- The coordinator’s ability to work with teachers
- The coordinator’s perception of the teachers’ attitudes towards videoconferencing
- The coordinator’s perception of the principal’s support of videoconferencing
To see the full scale, see Appendix A, and questions 27 through 51.
In this post, we’ll look at the relationship between subscales and the school’s use of curriculum videoconferencing.
Quality of the Videoconference
- The quality of the videoconference was not significantly correlated to the school’s use of VC. However, when it was included in multiple regression analysis with all the subscales (which hold all the other variables constant), the quality of the videoconference contributed negatively (b=-12.34, p=.002) to the prediction of the use of VC.
Coordinator’s Ability to Support VC
- The coordinator’s ability to support VC was not significantly correlated to the school’s use of VC.
- However, it was significantly correlated to the coordinator’s ability to work with teachers (r=.471), the teachers’ attitudes (r=.238), and the principal’s support of VC (r=.177). And these in turn were correlated with the school’s use of VC.
Coordinator’s Ability to Integrate VC in the Curriculum
- The coordinator’s ability to integrate VC in the curriculum was not significantly correlated to the school’s use of VC.
- However, it was significantly correlated to the coordinator’s ability to work with teachers (r=.688), the teachers’ attitudes (r=.296), and the principal’s support of VC (r=.176).
Coordinator’s Ability to Work with Teachers
- The coordinator’s ability to work with the teachers was positively correlated with the school’s use of videoconferencing (r=.139, p=.021).
Coordinator’s Perception of Teacher Attitudes
- The coordinator’s perception of the teachers’ attitudes towards videoconferencing was positively correlated with the school’s use of videoconferencing (r=.405, p=.000).
Coordinator’s Perception of Principal Support
- The coordinator’s perception of the principal’s support of videoconferencing was positively correlated with the school’s use of videoconferencing (r=.320, p=.000).
Recommendations/Discussion
- Why do you think some schools with better quality of videoconferencing are using it less than some schools that have more pixelation and breakup in their videoconference? This was one of the surprising findings of my study. Have you noticed that? I have some schools that have awful quality and yet their need is so great (very rural; not very many opportunities) and they love VC!
- Isn’t it interesting that the coordinator’s ability alone isn’t enough to get the school to use VC often? The teachers make a big difference! But… good VC coordinators find ways to encourage teachers to use VC. What are your most effective strategies to improve teachers’ view of using VC in the curriculum?
- Seeing that the principal support is so important to the successful implementation of VC, how do you gain that principal support? What strategies do you recommend?