Profiles Of Internet Use In Adult Literacy And Basic Education Classrooms

Abstract

This study sought to create profiles of adult literacy and basic education (ALBE) instructors and their use of the Internet in their classrooms. Rogers’ theory of Diffusion of Innovations (2003) provided the theoretical framework for this study. A set of 50 surveys was mailed out to each of the fifty states. Twenty-four states distributed 1200 surveys and returned 219 surveys for a response rate of 18.25%. Of the respondents, 81% indicated they had computers available, 32.0% indicated they used e-mail with their class, and 67.3% indicated they used the Internet. Five scales were developed and used to construct profiles of ALBE instructors. Two profiles were developed that mirrored each other. The first profile showed instructors liked the Internet, used it often, found positive consequences, were neutral on negative consequences and did not find many barriers to using it. The second profile did not like the Internet, did not use it much, found few positive consequences, were neutral on negative consequences, and found many barriers to using it. Significant differences were found between the two groups based on average number of computers, use of e-mail in the classroom, average number of days using the Internet, average number of students served.