Developing and validating a scale for measuring changes in teachers' ICT integration proficiency over time

Many studies have investigated the level of teacher ICT integration proficiency, but few studies have examined changes in proficiency over time. This study describes the development of a scale for the purpose of evaluating changes over time in teachers' technology integration proficiency among Taiwanese grades 1-9 teachers. A follow-up and shortened scale was developed and administered to the same population after three years. A cross-validation method which involved split-half exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the six-factor scale structure was acceptable and stable (n = 5,938). An invariance test with structural equation modeling also revealed that the items in each scale were comparable. Thus, the follow-up scale was validated and also invariant to the first scale. The mean comparison of the 23 identical items included in invariance tests found little or no differences in most of the items. Only one item in the area of ethics and issues regarding Internet usage and health concern moderately increased (d = 0.68). The results suggest that teachers' pedagogical usage of technology may not have increased as sharply as the technology itself, though teachers' concerns about students' health and safety issues have been heightened regarding the Internet usage.