Perceptions of Physical Education Teachers Regarding the Use of Technology in Their Classrooms

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of physical educators regarding their accessibility to educational technology, the availability of technical help, and specific obstacles to incorporating technology in their classrooms. Respondents were 201 adapted and general physical education instructors who taught at middle and high schools in two large school districts in the Southwestern United States. Respondents completed three sections of a previously validated survey utilized in a nationwide 2011 educational technology study involving literacy teachers. Results indicated the top available technologies for instruction were laptop computers, digital projectors, computer labs with Internet connections, iPods, and pedometers. High percentages of respondents indicated they had a sufficient level of available technological support from library/media specialists, school administrators (for obtaining resources), in-school and district technology coordinators, and other teachers in their building. The top perceived barriers to implementing educational technology were lack of understanding of how to integrate technology, lack of incentives to use technology, lack of time because of high-stakes testing, difficulty of managing a classroom when students are using computers, and lack of technical support. A comparison of these results with previous research demonstrates a rapid recent increase in school use of educational technology and underscores the need to help physical education teachers better incorporate new technology in their classrooms. Results also provide a baseline from which future studies may track the progress of technology use in physical education classrooms.