“The only thing that never changes.” The Technology Acceptance Model – A Model for Change

By Nadine Bell

As the old Heraclitus saying goes, “the only thing that never changes is change itself”. Technology is one of the most consistent and fast pace changes and has an impact on every aspect of life today, including the field of education. There are many barriers and theories that look specifically at technology adoption.  The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is a concrete model that assumes that “individual’s behavior is a result of their attitudes about the expectations of a behavior and social norms about a particular behavior” (Straub, 2009).

TAM identifies perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness to predict individual’s perceptions and thus the usage outcomes. In other words, an educators perception and attitudes towards technology in the classroom greatly influence their willingness to accept and adopt the change in their practice.

The two external variables that influences a educators attitude are,  

1.    Perceived ease of use - “degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free of effort” (Straub, 2009).

The amount of time and resources it takes to implement technology in the curriculum influences overall adoption of the technology. If educators feel overwhelmed they are tempted to revert back to older practices that they are comfortable with.

2.    Perceived usefulness - “the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance his or her job performance” (Straub, 2009).

According to Davis, “perceived usefulness plays a more important role than ease of use, as users are often willing to cope with difficult of use in technology that provides critically needed functionality” (De Veer & Francke, 2010).

When trying to influence adoption of technology, one needs to highlight the enhancements it would result in and make the transition effortless by planning for potential problems. These two external variable’s have a direct impact on a educators attitude and intention towards adopting of technology. The TAM can help make technology changes in your school just a little bit easier!

To learn more check out the following videos: 

     

References

de Veer, A. J. E., & Francke, A. L. (2010). Attitude of nursing staff towards electronic patient records: A questionnaire survey. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 47(7), 846-854. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmurstu.2009.11.016

Straub, E. (2009). Understanding technology adoption: Theory and future directions for informal learning. Review of Educational Research, 79(2), 625-649. doi:10.3102/0034654308325896