Art teachers' attitudes toward and experiences in the use of computer technology to conform with the teaching strategies stipulated in the 2002 Taiwanese first to ninth grade curriculum alignment

This survey study investigated art teachers' experiences with and attitudes toward the use of computer technology to design appropriate in-service and pre-service art education programs to prepare art teachers to comply with the 2002 Taiwanese 1st--9th grade curriculum alignment.;Two subscales were designed to construct the questionnaire. The survey was aimed at Taiwanese in-service art teachers. A total of 293 representative sample of data were collected creating a response rate of 58.6%. The analyses of multiple regression supported the hypotheses that art teachers' experiences in the use of computer technology significantly influenced their attitudes toward integrating computer technology into art instruction and toward digital art. Six experience-factors developed show statistical significance in predicting art teachers' two attitude-factors.;The general tendency was that the more art teachers had positive experiences in using computer technology, the more they supported the integration of computer technology into 1st--9th grade curriculum alignment. To enhance art teachers' advanced competence in the use computer technology, especially the improvement of the competence in integrating computer technology with art making, was found to benefit their positive attitudes toward the artistic value of digital art.;Six descriptors were used to examine whether art teachers' socio-demographic backgrounds influenced their experiences in the use of computer technology. Age, the number of years taught, and size of the teaching school were the significant factors which resulted in art teachers' different responses to their experiences in using computer technology. Among these three variables, the number of years taught demonstrated the most influential effect.;When combining six demographic descriptors with six experience factors to predict art teachers' attitudes, demographic backgrounds did not demonstrate important influence, except regarding educational background. Thus specific educational backgrounds increased positive attitudes toward integrating digital technology in art teaching and art making, but did not increase their experiences with computer use in art education.;The impact of art teachers' number of years taught indicate that the more experienced art teachers are, the less competent they are in using computers. This suggests the need for in-service education in how to integrate computers in teaching and making art, and to increase art teachers' familiarity with digital art.