THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON,1999
 
                         SOCIAL WORK (0452); EDUCATION, TECHNOLOGY (0710); EDUCATION, HIGHER (0745)
 

                         Distance education is increasingly being used throughout higher education and social work education
                         due to recent technological advances in the areas of television and the Internet. Faculty in these
                         programs has responded with a variety of attitudes and perceptions regarding these innovative
                         educational tools. This study examines the relationship of 19 variables hypothesized to be correlated
                         with usage or likelihood of usage of the distance education media of television and the Internet by social
                         work faculty. Rogers' (1983) Diffusion of Innovation theory was used to identify these variables that
                         included six innovational attributes, six individual attributes, five institutional attributes and two
                         organizational function attributes. In order to answer the above questions, a study sample of social work
                         faculty in the United States (n = 428) was surveyed about their attitudes and perceptions regarding their
                         usage and likelihood of usage of the distance education media of television and the Internet. Nineteen
                         hypotheses were tested utilizing logistic regression analysis. The analysis indicated five main findings:
                         (1) The innovational attributes are all significantly associated with the outcome variables of usage
                         and likelihood of usage of distance education media, television and the Internet by the study sample of
                         social work faculty. (2) The individual attributes of the study sample of social work faculty were not
                         as important as hypothesized. Most of the individual attributes were not significantly associated with the
                         outcome variables. (3) The institutional attribute of institutional support was significantly related to
                         usage and willingness to use the distance education media of television and the Internet by the study
                         sample of social work faculty. (4) The organizational function attributes of organizational support
                         and plan were significantly associated with all of the outcome variables. (5) The predictor variables
                         for usage and likelihood of usage of distance education media do not vary considerably for the study
                         sample of social work faculty. The variables that are associated with faculty using and willingness to use
                         distance education media in teaching have implications for how social work programs can impact the
                         development of faculty adopting the use of the distance education media, television and the Internet.
 

Social Systems Simulation Group P.O. Box 6904 San Diego, CA  92166-0904 Roland Werner, Principal Phone/FAX  (619) 660-1603