JOURNAL ARTICLE REVIEW TEMPLATE

North American University

Education Department
M.Ed. in Educational Leadership and M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction
EDUC 5324
Name: Celal Aydar

Date: 7/12/15

Cite the reviewed article in APA format:

Dogan, B., & Almus, K. (2014). School Administrators Use of iPads: Impact of Training and
Attitudes Toward School Use. Computers in the Schools, 31(3), 233-250.

INTRODUCTION
Research Questions (if research questions are not specifically mentioned, what is
the theoretical background or overarching theme):

1. What is the impact of the training process on school administrators use of iPads for
administrative tasks and personal organization in their professional duties?
2. What is the impact of the training process on school administrators beliefs regarding
how teachers should use iPads in the classroom?
3. Are there any differences in school administrators survey responses based on gender,
age, years of experience in school administration and education, highest degree attained,
school classification, or school size?
Purpose of the research:

Try to understand how school administrators use iPads for their professional duties and
the potential effects on their work-related tasks and personal organization.
METHODOLOGY
What is the methodology for the research or approach used to understand the
issue? Provide information regarding the following:

Participants:
Fifty-one participants who owned iPads volunteered to complete the pre-survey out of
approximately 120 school administrators in the school system. While 58.8% (n = 30) of
the pre-survey participants were male, 41.2% (n = 21) of the participants were female.
Additionally, 37 of pre-survey respondents completed the post-survey, yielding a
response rate of 72.55%. Twenty-one (56.76%) respondents in post-survey were male,
and 16 (43.24%) were female.
Procedures:
Surveys were finalized after the feedback on the pilot versions. Demographic information
collected on the pre-survey included age, years of experience as a school administrator,
years of experience in education, highest degree earned, school classification, and school
size. The pre-survey also included questions measuring if and how school administrators

were currently using their iPads for their daily school-related tasks, their beliefs about the
effectiveness of iPads for administrative tasks, and if and how school teachers should be
using iPads in the classroom.
Designed as a closure to the study, the post-survey instrument included questions
intended to measure self-reported improvements in certain tasks after completing the
training, as well as items regarding the evaluation of training session and resources
provided to school administrators during the study. In addition, some of the questions of
the pre-survey were repeated in the post-survey to assess the change in responses during
the study.
Training was designed based on feedback from participants and delivered through an
interactive webinar session. The training of school administrators included topics
intended to develop iPad skills and use certain workflow, note-taking, calendar,
productivity, file-sharing, remote-desktop, presentation, and screen-sharing applications
covered specifically from a principals perspective.
Data Collection Methods/Data Source:
Study components included a pre-survey, a training session on the effective use of iPads
for administrative tasks and personal organization, specially designed resources
expanding the topics covered in the training session, on-going support, and a post-survey.
Data Analysis:
The survey responses were reported as frequencies. In addition, paired sample t-test data
analysis was conducted to understand the differences in the responses between the preand post-surveys. A one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test was conducted to see
whether there were any differences in school administrators responses by gender, age,
years of experience in school administration and education, highest degree attained,
school classi- fication, and school size. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)
software was used to conduct the data analysis.
RESULTS
Findings or Results (or main points of the article):

Regardless of age, years of experience in school administration and in education, highest

degree earned, school size, or gender, school administrators responded similarly to items
in this study. School administrators responded somewhat differently to the self-reported
level of iPad skills and knowledge by school classification. According to the results,
school administrators in K5 reported their level of iPad skills and knowledge higher
than administrators of K8 and K12 schools. Furthermore, administrators in K-12
schools reported significantly lower level of iPad skills and knowledge than
administrators of K-5 and K-8 schools. Further research is required to understand the
reasons behind this interesting finding.
A majority of school administrators reported that they used specific iPad applications for
work-related purposes in this study.
School administrators in this study reported valuing the iPads mobility, the touchscreen,
and the ability to use various application features for workrelated purposes.
Prior to the training process, almost 68% of the school administrators rated their iPad
skills and knowledge as intermediate to advanced. After the training process, school

administrators reported increases in their iPad skills and knowledge. According to the
results of the post-survey, nearly 80% of school administrators considered their iPad
skills and knowledge at the level of intermediate to advanced. These results suggest that,
overall training process had a positive effect on the development of iPad skills and
knowledge of the school administrators.
Results also indicated that applications in the educational category were the most used
types of iPad applications, followed by communication and books and reference
prior to the training. While the same trend was observed in the post-survey, the training
process seemed to have a positive impact on the use of applications in productivity and
tools categories as well.
According to results, school administrators believed that iPads were effective tools for
administrative tasks and personal organization. Additionally, administrators were even
more in agreement with this idea after completing the training process. Overall, there
were increases in the frequency of school administrators use of the iPad for
administrative tasks and personal organization in all measured areas.
Almost all school administrators prior to or after this study reported that they would like
to see their teachers using iPads for classroom teaching. Specifically, administrators
wanted to see their teachers project and stream lessons or presentations from their iPads,
use specific iPad applications that may help students, and use their iPads for class
communication.
Providing ongoing training opportunities may help school administrators success in
using iPads for professional duties as well as implementing iPads in the classroom.
In conclusion, overall results of this study suggest that in order for school administrators
to be successful in using iPads for professional duties, especially for administrative tasks
and personal organization, sufficient and ongoing training is recommended.
DISCUSSIONS
Conclusions/Implications (for your profession):

iPad technology in the classroom can be a powerful tool for learning and comprehension.
The interactivity it provides can make for a very engaging experience, definitely for
students. I think we will only continue to hear more studies and stories about how the use
of iPads in the classroom is improving education. In our school we have Naviance and it
has an application for both Apple and Android. Naviance Student mobile app will help
our high school students plan their college search, communicate with me (college
guidance), and stay on top of tasks and assignments related to their learning plan and the
college application process. I also would like to learn more how guidance counselors are
using ipad more effectively in college application process. I will search and try to find out
if there is any training available in this purpose.
REFLECTIONS
Students Reflections (changes to your understanding; implications for your
school/work):

Thanks to the Internet, students have college information available at their fingertips.
They can read through course catalogs and learn about campus activities on college

websites, participate in online college fairs, and even take virtual campus tours. Students
can interact with admissions officers, current students and alumni through college blogs,
Twitter handles, and Facebook pages. Using the Common Application, they can apply
easily to any of 456 member schools with just the press of a button.
As a result, students are learning about and becoming interested in applying to many
more schools. With the explosion of Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, interested students
can easily and readily learn about schools they are interested in and quickly communicate
with the admissions offices. In addition, smartphones drove many admissions sites to go
mobile, which makes it much simpler to do things like check your application status or
sign up for a visit. I encourage students to utilize the technology available because it is
there to provide a more beneficial network for communicating and make the whole
process less stressful.