Faculty Perceptions about Virtual World Technology: Affordances and Barriers to Adoption

233 Pages·2015·2.06 MB·English

by  Linda W. Wood

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Department of Middle-Secondary Education and
Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional
Instructional Technology (no new uploads as of
Technology Dissertations
Jan. 2015)
Fall 12-12-2010
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Linda W. Wood
Georgia State University
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/msit_diss
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Wood, Linda W., "Faculty Perceptions about Virtual World Technology: Affordances and Barriers to
Adoption." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2010.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/1650092
This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Middle-Secondary Education and
Instructional Technology (no new uploads as of Jan. 2015) at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been
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ACCEPTANCE

This dissertation, FACULTY PERCEPTIONS ABOUT VIRTUAL WORLD
TECHNOLOGY: AFFORDANCES AND BARRIERS TO ADOPTION, by LINDA
WIEDEMAN WOOD, was prepared under the direction of the candidate’s Dissertation
Advisory Committee. It is accepted by the committee members in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Education, Georgia State
University.
The Dissertation Advisory Committee and the student’s Department Chair, as representatives
of the faculty, certify that this dissertation has met all standards of excellence and scholarship
as determined by the faculty. The Dean of the College of Education concurs.

______________________________ ______________________________
Stephen W. Harmon, Ed.D. Laurie B. Dias, Ph.D.
Committee Chair Committee Member

______________________________ ______________________________
Daphne Greenberg, Ph.D. Marshall G. Jones, Ed.D.
Committee Member Committee Member

______________________________
Date

______________________________
Dana L. Fox, Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology

______________________________
R. W. Kamphaus, Ph.D.
Dean and Distinguished Research Professor
College of Education
AUTHOR’S STATEMENT

By presenting this dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the advanced
degree from Georgia State University, I agree that the library of Georgia State University
shall make it available for inspection and circulation in accordance with its regulations
governing material of this type. I agree that permission to quote, to copy from, or to publish
this dissertation may be granted by the professor under whose direction it was written, by the
College of Education’s director of graduate studies and research, or by me. Such quoting,
copying, or publishing must be solely for scholarly purposes and will not involve potential
financial gain. It is understood that any copying from or publication of this dissertation which
involves potential financial gain will not be allowed without my written permission.

______________________________________
Linda Wiedeman Wood
NOTICE TO BORROWERS

All dissertations deposited in the Georgia State University library must be used in accordance
with the stipulations prescribed by the author in the preceding statement. The author of this
dissertation is:

Linda Wiedeman Wood
3615 Sope Creek Farm, SE
Marietta, GA 30067

The director of this dissertation is:

Dr. Stephen W. Harmon
Department of Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology
College of Education
Georgia State University
Atlanta, GA 30303-3083
VITA

Linda Wiedeman Wood

ADDRESS: 3615 Sope Creek Farm SE
Marietta, GA 30067

EDUCATION:

Ph.D. 2010 Georgia State University
Instructional Technology
M.S. 2004 Western Illinois University
Instructional Technology
B.F.A. 1976 University of Georgia
Graphic Design

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

2005 – present Academic Department Director
Design College
2000 – 2005 Adjunct Faculty – Photography
Design College
1995 – 2003 Adjunct Faculty – Graphic Design
The Creative Circus
1992 – 1995 Academic Director – Graphic Design
Southeastern Center for the Arts
1976 – 2006 Thirty years experience in the graphic design field
as an art director, graphic designer, and creative
professional in the field of visual communication

PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS:

Wood, L. W. (2010). Virtual Worlds: Affordances and Barriers for Higher
Education Faculty in the Classroom. A brief paper and presentation at the Society
for Information Technology & Teacher Education Conference, San Diego, CA.

Wood, L. W. (2010). Digital Photographic Manipulation (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley
& Sons.
Wood, L. W. (2010). Introduction to Design Applications (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley
& Sons.

PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES AND ORGANIZATIONS:

2009 – Present Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education
2006 – Present American Institute of Graphic Arts
2005 – Present National Association of Photoshop Professionals
2005 – Present Advertising Photographers of America

SERVICE ACTIVITIES:

2008 – Textbook reviewer for Designing Brand Identity (3rd ed.), by Alina Wheeler,
Wiley & Sons, New Jersey
2008 – Textbook reviewer for How to Be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing Your Soul,
by Adrian Shaughnessy, Princeton Architectural Press, New York
ABSTRACT

FACULTY PERCEPTIONS ABOUT VIRTUAL WORLD TECHNOLOGY:
AFFORDANCES AND BARRIERS TO ADOPTION
by
Linda Wiedeman Wood

Providing instruction using different instructional delivery methods allows the learner to
absorb content in a way that fits the individual learner. Today’s students have grown up
immersed in digital technology. However, many higher education faculty are still not
speaking the same digital language as their students. The issue may be that the
pedagogical and epistemological beliefs of faculty who are “digital immigrants” affect
the teaching methods used in the higher education classroom today. The purpose of this
mixed methods study was to explore design college faculty perceptions of the adoption of
virtual world technology into the classroom. Diffusion and adoption theories, adoption
models, and patterns of adoption provided a conceptual framework for this study. This
mixed methods study collected data through a survey and post-survey interviews
administered to faculty of 21 design colleges. The quantitative survey instrument
included questions about the usage of technology, including virtual world technology, in
the higher education classroom. A total of 309 faculty completed the survey. Descriptive
statistics, including frequencies, means, and standard deviations were used in the
analysis. A correlation analysis was performed to determine if there was a relationship
between selected variables and the survey responses. Post-survey semi-structured
interviews were conducted with 12 faculty participants who volunteered for the
interviews after participating in the survey. In this study, I used the constant comparative
open coding hybrid method for the interview analysis.
The specific research question posed in this study was: What are the perceptions
of design college faculty regarding the use of virtual world technology in their courses?
Guiding questions included: (a) What are faculty perceptions about virtual world
technology that potentially affect its adoption into the classroom? (b) What are faculty
perceptions of the affordances of using virtual world technology in the classroom? (c)
What are faculty perceptions of the challenges of using virtual world technology in the
classroom? In general, the results of this study indicate that while higher education
faculty perceive that virtual world technology has the potential to be a useful teaching
tool in the classroom, the faculty also perceive that they do not have the essential
software and hardware support from their colleges to adopt this type of technology as a
teaching tool in their courses.
FACULTY PERCEPTIONS ABOUT VIRTUAL WORLD TECHNOLOGY:
AFFORDANCES AND BARRIERS TO ADOPTION
by
Linda Wiedeman Wood

A Dissertation

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in
Instructional Technology
in
the Department of Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology
in
the College of Education
Georgia State University

Atlanta, Georgia
2010
Copyright by
Linda Wiedeman Wood
2010