Date Approved

5-31-1996

Embargo Period

9-7-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A. in School and Public Librarianship

Department

Special Educational Services/Instruction

College

College of Education

Advisor

Pauly, Regina

Subject(s)

Computer-assisted instruction--New Jersey; Education, Secondary--New Jersey--Salem County; Educational innovations--New Jersey; Educational technology--New Jersey

Disciplines

Library and Information Science

Abstract

The high schools of Salem County were studied for their use of technology in general and the Internet specifically. Literature regarding the effective use of technology in education nationwide was researched. It was found that even though Salem County has access to much technology, it is underutilized, due primarily to lack of thorough professional development. Particular attention was given to Internet technology because of grants received by the county for the express purpose of establishing a local node for use by the schools in the county. A preliminary review of the literature indicated that the scope of the study needed to include technology in general, because the Internet is but one form of technology that education has embraced. The reviewed literature addressed the broad spectrum of technology: its potentials, its expected uses, its actual uses.

A survey, patterned after one studied in the literature reading, was distributed to all the high school educators, administrators, and school board members in Salem County. The information gathered from this local survey was used to focus recommendations to an area that will be most useful in the county, quality professional development. The findings of the national survey that measured telecommunications use in K-12 districts, the design of the local survey, and the results and implications of this survey have been discussed in detail; graphs comparing the local survey results to the national survey are also included. Based on this survey analysis, implications and suggestions are included that can help ensure that expensive technology that is regularly being brought into the high schools of Salem County will be effectively and routinely used to better education.

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