BIOLOGY PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ MOTIVATION TOWARDS TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION IN EDUCATION

1. Objectives
The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between pre-service teachers’ levels of motivation toward technology integration in education and their personalities. Three research questions were addressed to help meet the purpose.
1. What are the levels of biology education pre-service teachers’ motivation toward technology integration in education?
2. Are the higher level students (seniors) more motivated toward technology integration than the lower level students (freshmen)?
3. Is there a relationship between pre-service teachers’ personalities and their motivation toward technology integration in the classroom? If “yes”, which personality dimensions are related to motivation toward technology integration?

2. Theoretical Framework

The Big Five Model of Personality is used as a theoretical framework in the current study: The model suggests that human personality can be examined under five dimensions. These dimensions include Neuroticism, Extroversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness.

3. Method
Two instruments were used in this study: The Intrapersonal Technology Integration Scale and the Adjective-based Personality Test. The 26-item Intrapersonal Technology Integration Scale (Niederhaser & Perkmen, 2008) was used in this study to assess participants’ motivation toward technology integration. Participants were seventy-five pre-service teachers (49 female) who were enrolled in a biology education department at a large Turkish university.

4. Results

Pearson correlations were calculated to examine the relationship between pre-service teachers’ personality and their level of motivation toward technology integration. The results showed that motivation toward technology integration was negatively related to Neuroticism (r = -.27, p < .05); and positively related to Extroversion (r = .36, p < .01) and Openness (r = .34, p < .01). The other two personality dimensions (Agreeableness, Conscientiousness) were not correlated with technology integration motivation.

Finally, regression analysis was used to examine relative contribution of personality dimensions to predicting motivation toward technology integration. The correlated personality variables served as independent variables and total score on the Intrapersonal Technology Integration Scale was the dependent variable. Findings revealed that only Extroversion made a significant contribution to the prediction of motivation toward technology integration (Rsquare = .13, p < .01).

5. Scientific Importance
These findings suggest that students who were more extroverted were more willing to “go out on a limb” and consider using technology with their future students. Extroverts tend to have a strong self-image and are less likely to be concerned about what others think of them. Teaching with technology raises the possibility that an uncomfortable role reversal might take place. Students often have more expertise with the latest technologies than do their teachers, causing a potential role reversal in which students are more knowledgeable than their teachers. Perhaps the more extroverted preservice teachers were better able to deal with this ambiguity and were confident enough in themselves to consider ways to use technology with their students.