METHODOLOGY

An invitation to participate was sent via e-mail to all members of the association who utilize e-mail explaining the study and telling them that the 4-page survey was coming in the regular mail (Appendix A: E-mail Invitation to Participate). Responses were kept confidential and anonymous. In an effort to increase the response rate, a follow-up postcard was sent two weeks later to thank respondents and solicit any final responses. Fifty-five of 100 surveys were returned in the collection period for a response rate of 55 percent.

Results of this survey showed that the mean average age for journalism teachers (n=55) in Nebraska was 40.75 years of age, ranging from 24 to 58. The median age was 40, and the modal age was 51. Nebraska journalism teachers were 67.3 percent female and 32.7 percent male. They had been teaching for a mean average of 13 years, ranging from 1 to 32 years. Specifically, they had been teaching journalism a mean average of 9 years. One had not officially taught, but had been a school publications adviser for 3 years as an extracurricular activity within the school system. Exactly 80 percent of the journalism advisers in the state of Nebraska owned and used a home computer, and 83.6 percent used e-mail on a regular basis. Only 25.4 percent of them had a computer in their first classroom as a teacher, and only 20 percent of them used a computer in their own high school experience. One teacher even added a, "Yeah, Right!" comment on the survey next to that question. Only three of 55 teachers responding to this survey listed themselves as a "Certified Journalism Educator," a label created by the Journalism Education Association in 1990 as a method to promote professionalism, encourage journalism education and recognize experience among the nation's journalism teachers and school publication advisers. According to data at the headquarters of JEA at Kansas State University, Nebraska has eight "Certified Journalism Educators" (CJE) and no "Master Journalism Educators" (MJE). As of April 1999, there were 571 CJE’s nationwide, 100 of whom are also MJE’s. Certified teachers may apply for MJE status, which honors journalism educators with more than seven years of experience who have developed unusual expertise and achieved excellence in their programs.

The schools at which these journalism educators taught were varied in size and location. The mean average school enrollment in grades 10-12 was 409, with a range from 54 to 2,100. They ranged in classification system from A to D. Nebraska high schools are classified in the system by the Nebraska State Activities Association. For purposes of this survey, Class C1 and C2 were collapsed and so were D1 and D2. For state activity purposes, Class A schools have an enrollment of more than 500; Class B schools have at least 201 students but no more than 499; Class C schools enroll between 101 and 200 students and Class D schools have less than 100 students. A relatively even Class distribution of returned surveys (n=55) was noted with 22.2 percent Classes A and D and 27.8 percent in classes B and C. According to 1999 Nebraska State High School Activities Association records (note the total number of schools registered with NHSPA in 1999 was 116), there are 37 schools that qualify as class A, 29 as Class B, 25 as Class C and 25 as Class D. This survey population did not proportionally represent the population. It was lacking in Class A responses. The journalism teachers surveyed described their school location as urban, suburban or rural at a rate of 20 percent, 16.4 percent and 61.8 percent, respectively. This seems to be reflective of the state of Nebraska's demographic situation.

The items selected for inclusion in the questionnaire were determined through a review of the relevant literature. The questionnaire was field tested and revised before it was sent to respondents. Selected technology-using faculty members at the researcher’s high school participated in the pre-test.

Based on the pre-test, the survey questionnaire was divided into four sections. Section 1 consisted of demographic data concerning the respondents. Each respondent in the sample was asked to supply personal information necessary to generate variables pertinent to the study, such as those dealing with age, gender, educational qualifications, years of journalism teaching/advising experience, location of school, the size of the school, frequency and type of student publication advised. Section 2 included questions eliciting the basic views of respondents toward the use of technology in the classroom, their perception of administrative and actual support and their self-estimated use of technology. Section 3 asked the respondent to inventory technologies available to their students and Section 4 included open-ended questions for responses dealing with acquiring technology in the classroom and advice to other teachers.

A cover letter of explanation, similar to the participant invitation sent via e-mail, accompanied the questionnaire to explain its purpose and assure participating teachers that all responses would be kept confidential (Appendix B: Cover Letter and Questionnaire). Also enclosed was a signed exemption authorization obtained from the Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects (Appendix C: IRB Exempt Authorization). The Omaha Public School District required that an additional authorization letter from the Omaha Public School Research Department be enclosed if Omaha teachers were to respond to the questionnaire. This was obtained and enclosed (Appendix D: OPS Research Request Approval). Each questionnaire was self-addressed and stamped.

As questionnaires were returned, respondents were kept anonymous by destroying the reply envelope Confidentiality was protected of all respondents by keeping any individual descriptions to that of demographic school size and number of years teaching, although many respondents identified themselves to the researcher. A codebook was developed and data were entered into an SPSS 6.1 file. SPSS is a comprehensive and flexible statistical analysis and data management software program that allowed for simple creation of frequency tables, descriptive statistics, exploratory statistics and cross-tabulation tables.