What Affects Teachers’ Use of Technology: Teachers’ Beliefs Regarding Technology, Teachers’ Technological Skills, or Available Sources of Support?

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Unfortunately, the manuscript poses serious concerns in its present state.

-          The key words are too long

-          There are statements or discussions that require references to evidence the claims stated (e.g., p.2, para. 2 & para. 3;

-          The manuscript requires a through review for language use, including grammar, sentence structure and spelling)

-          What does the following statement mean ? « A study that examines the relationship between teachers’ attitudes toward technology use in education and between teacher behaviours of autonomy shows that  teacher attitudes concerning technology use in teaching are affected by their personal level of education but not by the type of school where they teach, while teacher behaviors of  autonomy are affected by the type of school where the teachers work but not by their personal level of education. » The relationship between which variables ? Which study ? Does this sentence have to be so long ?

-          The data for the study is gathered through a questionnaire completed by teachers. However, the aim and the scope of the study involve « teachers’ actual use of technology ». So the question is, how was it possible to verify the research questions and to claim, for example, « The first research hypothesis is that there exists a relationship between teacher beliefs in favour of technology use in education and between teachers’ actual use of such  technology. » (p. 8, para.2) ; or « The second hypothesis is that there exists a relationship between teachers’ 335 technological skills and between teachers’ use of technology in teaching and education. » (p. 8, para.3)

Overall, the aim and the design of the study, particularly data collection method and tools, are neither compatible nor justified.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

 The manuscript requires a through review for language use, including grammar, sentence structure and spelling)

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Finding ways to motivate teachers to use technology is a complicated endeavor. I applaud your attempt to explore this in your context. However, here are several issues that I see. 

1. I would like to see more attention to literature supporting use of technology as being important for student learning. You seem to make that assumption without support. 

2. It is interesting that several of your findings contradict existing literature. You do not give enough attention to why this might be, but make several unsupported assumptions about causes. 

3. The creation of the sample seems suspect. Distributing it solely by social media may bias your users to those who use technology in everyday life and are predisposed to supporting it in education. 

4. After noting that you did not explore the demographic information that you collected, a significant portion of the article makes broad, lightly supported statements about how these may impact the findings. There is no real connection between your data and the discussion, as you have not analyzed this portion of the data. 

5. The final section of the survey is not a scale, and it may have been confusing to participants. It is difficult to see how you connected the data to your conclusions. 

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is much improved. All of my concerns were addressed. I would encourage you to continue this line of inquiry to support teachers as they foster learning for their students.