Exploring Educators' Perceptions of Internet Technology for Classroom Education in Northern Virginia Schools

The pervasiveness of Internet technology in the educational environment of the United States has altered the way educators present information in the classroom. The schools of Northern Virginia, located in several of the financially wealthiest suburbs of the United States, provide a technologically advanced school system to explore Internet technology in the educational environment. This study was performed to explore educators' perceptions of Internet technology for classroom education in the Northern Virginia schools, specifically the public school system located in Loudoun County with the financial means to populate schools with Internet technology. Identifying the impact of Internet technology on educators and students was the cornerstone of this research. The problem addressed in this study was that the Loudoun County public school students were educated differently than students without advanced Internet technology. The research involved a qualitative case study methodology that was reliant on questionnaires from educators in the Loudoun County public school system located in Northern Virginia. The population for the study consisted of 50 educators (40 teachers and 10 administrators) who voluntarily responded to the randomly distributed questionnaires. The overall educational impacts on both educators (administrators and teachers) and students of an educational system known for having advanced Internet technologies were identified. The majority of the educators verified that they embraced technology and found the Internet to be a viable resource for immediate information for classroom instruction. The educators clarified their increased use of Internet technology in the classroom which confirmed the outcome of this research. The educators complained that classroom Internet connectivity was too slow. The educators also documented that Internet connectivity for educators was too restrictive. The recommendations for future research should include (a) a case study exploring schools located in other geographic regions, (b) a qualitative study to observe students in the classroom to help provide further insight into better techniques for capturing the students' attention during classroom instruction, or (c) a quantitative study surveying educators about the effectiveness of Internet technology training.