Teachers' First-Year Experience with Chromebook Laptops and Their Attitudes Towards Technology Integration

There are...some types of laptops, which have some special ways for use. Chromebooks can be given as an example of laptops that are produced for particular use—they are affordable and useful mobile devices, which are very suitable for classroom settings. Their main distinction from regular laptops is being cloud based. That is, it is dependent on the Internet connection thereby employs cloud services. In other words, it requires an Internet connection in order to be operated with full functionality. Mainly, it uses the Internet connection to run programs or access files. This also makes Chromebook users meet online, share files and communicate mutually with its unique features. Because students are very familiar with web-based environments, Chromebook use may provide students numerous online opportunities for information access. It is important to note that new technologies, such as Chromebooks, require users to practice using new devices with their new features in order to become familiar with them so they can benefit from those for instructional purposes. The focus of the current study on teachers’ use of laptops in educational settings led us to develop these research questions: 1. What is the relationship between teachers’ years of experience, number of technological devices they have and their comfort level in teaching with technology? 2. To what extent did Chromebook integration change teachers’ attitudes towards technology use? 3. What do teachers who used Chromebook laptops think about their instructional use of the laptops? This article is excerpted from Technology, Knowledge and Learning, published online February 17, 2015. Read the full text by logging in at the AECT website, http://aect.org/, and clicking on Publications. Please note that all citations have been omitted from this excerpt.