Tertiary Educators’ Perceptions of and Attitudes Toward Emerging Educational Technologies

ABSTRACT

A small initial study aimed to find out what values, perceptions and attitudes educators from a sample tertiary faculty (the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia) have towards a group of new and emerging educational technologies. A questionnaire was formulated which was administered as a written survey or telephone interview. The study found that the respondents are most familiar with and have useful knowledge about CD‐ROM technology, and most are also familiar with video‐conferencing. These technologies are seen as the most potentially useful. Lack of knowledge, display/delivery equipment, and the time‐consuming nature of making such educational material are the major barriers which hinder their use of them. The study recommends further inquiry into the barriers that prevent the integration of such technologies into tertiary learning.