Laura King

“Simply the best”: Professors nominated by students for their exemplary technology practices in teaching

Our goal was to explore the technology related pedagogical practices of college professors deemed by their students to be excellent in using technology in their teaching. We explored the views of 114 community/junior college professors who were nominated by their students as excellent in using technology in their teaching using both questionnaires and interview methods. Results were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results show no gender or years teaching in college differences in professors’ self rated proficiency or comfort with technologies. Results also show that most professors taught themselves how to use technologies with the help of online resources, through trial and error, and with help from colleagues and support staff. Challenges using technology were related primarily to technical problems, such as technologies not working and the institution’s computers and networks being slow. However, professors in our sample usually had a back-up plan and found ways to carry on even if the technology failed. Our findings report on the most and least frequently used technologies in face-to-face teaching, on how professors typically used the course management system, on how professors communicate with students, including the very small number who used social media to do this, and the likelihood of allowing students to use their personal mobile technology in class. Our findings also show that the professors showed their students how to use technologies required for the course. We discuss the practical significance of our findings and their implications for faculty, students, and the institution itself. In particular, we make recommendations about the need for ongoing collaboration between the institution, the professors, and the students and about technology related professional development professors would like to see their college provide.