Craig A. Mertler

Faculty Use of Instructional Technology in the University Classroom

The new methods of communication provided by technology and the impact of the Internet have changed our economy from the “Industrial Age” into the “Information Age” and have transformed higher education. These changes call into question the traditional ways in which faculty and institutions of higher learning have functioned. The aim of this study was to examine faculty use of instructional technology in the university classroom. For the purposes of this study, instructional technology has been limited to Internet-related technologies including e-mail, the World Wide Web, newsgroups, file transfer protocol (FTP), and Gopher. The study addressed the strengths of the relationships between the use of instructional technology and 1) faculty demographics, 2) teaching styles, and 3) faculty perceptions of the effectiveness of instructional technology, access to technology, and administrative support. All of the full-time faculty at a four-year, doctorate I granting institution in the Midwest were surveyed.