| The purposes of this study were threefold: (1) to describe current computer applications and related tasks relevant to the work of school principals, (2) to identify computer applications and related tasks school principals are currently using, and (3) to identify demographic and school related factors that may be associated with school principals' use of computer applications and related tasks. Interviews were conducted to gather data from experts in the field of educational administration/computer technology and a mailed questionnaire was used to elicit responses from school principals.;Several conclusions were drawn from this study. First, it was determined that principals should keep student learning as the focus when integrating computer technology. The experts consistently referred to the principal's instructional role and the principals surveyed performed instructional computer related tasks more frequently than they did managerial computer related tasks. Second, it was determined that principals should obtain enough knowledge to express technology needs but should rely on a strong technical staff for support/service. The vast majority of the principals surveyed indicated having technical support staff who may have performed the managerial related tasks for the school principal. Third, it was determined that principals should model the use of computer technology. The survey findings indicated that school principals are performing many of the computer applications and related tasks described by the experts and that some of the performed applications and tasks are statistically significant with higher school technology integration levels. Some discrepancies existed between the suggested and actual use of certain computer applications (e.g., spreadsheets, databases, and e-mail). Furthermore, some uses of computer applications were found to differ significantly based on the principal's gender (females were more likely to use word processing and males were more likely to use a database program), school administrative level (elementary principals were more likely to consider the uses of computers in the classroom and to assess software for classroom use), and the number of years since the principal's last graduate course (principals who had taken graduate courses in the last nine years were more likely to use a computer network to access software and manage files). |
