Self-efficacy, the Innovation-Decision Process, and Faculty in Higher Education: Implications for Faculty Development

Situated within the belief that faculty development is a key institutional mechanism through which colleges and universities will be able to meet emerging social, cultural, and technological challenges in the coming years, this study sought to better understand the underlying psychological processes that facilitate the adoption of innovations by teaching faculty and GTAs in higher education. Specifically, three types of self-efficacy (college teaching, teaching with technology, and general) were considered in light of demographic variables and Rogers' model of the innovation-decision process. Most significant among the findings were that women have significantly higher college teaching self-efficacy and general self-efficacy than men; however, men have higher teaching with technology self-efficacy. Those in their forties, fifties and sixties have higher college teaching self-efficacy than those in their twenties. Full-time instructors have higher college teaching self-efficacy than doctoral GTAs and assistant professors. Those who rate themselves as having higher computer skills also have higher teaching with technology self-efficacy. When considering teaching with technology self-efficacy and instructional technology-based innovation-decision stage, it was found that this type of self-efficacy differs significantly between most stages and consistently increases from the knowledge stage through the confirmation stage.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Curriculum and Instruction

Department dc:contributor.department

Teaching and Learning

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Watson, Charles Edward

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Lockee, Barbara B.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Doolittle, Peter E.
• Burton, John K.
• Wildman, Terry M.
• Moore, David M.
• Head, J. Thomas

• faculty development
• innovation-decision process
• Self-efficacy
• Education, Higher
• change
• diffusion of innovations

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-04102007-220540

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/26751