Creative Education
2013. Vol.4, No.9, 620-625
Published Online September 2013 in SciRes (http://www.scirp.org/journal/ce) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ce.2013.49089
Copyright © 2013 SciRe s .
620
Teachers’ Use Intention of Multimedia Instruction Resources
among Rural Primary Schools in China*
Chun Mao1, Xiao Hu2
1Southwest University, Chongqing, China
2Chongqing Youth Vocational and Technical Co llege, Chongqing, China
Email: maochun1981@hotmail.com, simple8022@hotmail.com
Received May 11th, 2013; revised June 11th, 2013; accepted June 18th, 2013
Copyright © 2013 Chun Mao, Xiao Hu. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original work is properly cited.
Based on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this research imports the degree of Computer Self-Ef-
ficacy, Resource Appropriateness, Superior Support and Convenience to Use into TAM, constructs
Structural Equation Model to study the factors of teachers’ use intention of multimedia instruction re-
sources among rural primary schools in Chongqing China. Structural Equation Modeling reveals that
teachers’ resource using doesn’t follow the TAM exactly. On one hand, the influence of Perceived Ease
of Use is not notability, on the other hand, the Superior Support, Perceived Usefulness and Resource Ap-
propriateness are very significant. Especially, the degree of Superior Support is the most important.
Keywords: Teacher of Rural Primary School; Multimedia Instruction Resources; Use Intention; TAM
Introduction
With the advent of the information age, the application of
information technology in educational field brings the innova-
tion of education. In 2012, the Ministry of Education of the
People’s Republic of China released Education Informatization
Ten Year Development Plan. Teacher is the key and main prac-
titioner of education informatization in China, especially in
rural primary schools. Teachers’ use intention of multimedia
instruction has an appreciable effect on the quality of teaching
in rural primary schools in Chongqing.
Chongqing is the fourth municipality directly under the Cen-
tral Government in China. It’s an extra large city in southwest
of CHINA, whose territory area is about 82,400 square kilome-
ters, total population is 33,298,100. The effective use of multi-
media instruction resources is significant for promoting the
balanced development of compulsory education and improving
rural school conditions in Chongqing.
This study based on the Technology Acceptance Model
(TAM), proposes 8 hypotheses, constructs the model of teach-
ers’ use intention of multimedia instruction resources among
rur al prim ary schools in China, adopts the structure of close ended
questionnaire, surveys 18 rural primary schools in Chongqing,
hands out 300 questionnaires , adopts SPSS for reliability analysis
and validity analysis, AMOS for model evaluation and validation,
discusses the factors which impact teachers’ use intention of mul-
timedia ins truct ion amon g rural pri mary scho ols in Chi na.
Theoretical Foundations
TAM
“Technology Acceptance Model” which put forward by
Davis in 1989 is used for predicting and explaining the use
action of information systems. The investigation focuses on two
theoretical constructs, perceived usefulness and perceived ease
of use, which are theorized to be fundamental determinants of
system use. This model believes people tend to use or not use
an information technology to the extent they believe it will help
them perform their job better and the given systems are hard or
easy to use.
The research about education technology which basis on the
TAM is seldom seen in Chinese Mainland (Chen, 2005), but
the TAM has been proved to be a credible model in many re-
search in HONGKONG or other countries (Stoel, 2003; Hua,
2008). Most of the research of explain the distance education
systems use is not only explain by TAM alone, but also com-
bine TAM with other theories. (Gong, 2004).
We assume that the acception and use of multimedia instruc-
tion resources among rural primary schools in China can be
explained by TAM. So we use the same define of perceived
usefulness and perceived ease of use as David used. Perceived
usefulness is defined here as “the degree to which a person be-
lieves that using the Multimedia Instruction Resources would
enhance his or her job performance”.
Perceived ease of use, in contrast, refers to “the degree to
which a person believes that using Multimedia Instruction Re-
sources would be free of effort”. This follows from the defini-
tion of “ease”: “freedom from difficulty or great effort”.
Theory of Reasoned Action
In 1985, Ajzen put out the theory of planned behavior, which
postulated three conceptually independent determinants of in-
tention: Attitudes, Subjective Norms, and Perceived Behavioral
Control. The more subjective norm with respect to a behavior
the stronger should be an individual’s intention to perform the
*Supported by “the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universi-
ties” SWU11090 56.
C. MAO, X. HU
Copyright © 2013 SciRe s . 621
behavior under consideration (Ajzen, 1985). The Subjective
Norm refers to the perceived social pressure to perform or not
to perform the behavior.
In our research, Subjective Norm mainly reflects in Superior
Support, which is defined as the perceived encouragement and
pressure of the school leader about use or not to use the Multi-
media Instruction Resources.
Social Cognitive Theory and Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy is the core-concept of social cognitive theory
(Bandura). It refers to people’s judgments of their capabilities
to organize and execute courses of action required to attain
designated types of performances. It is concerned not with the
skills one has but with judgments of what one can do with
whatever skills one possesses (Bandura, 1986).
Some of the researchers believe that the higher the individ-
ual’s computer self-efficacy, the lower his/her computer anxiety
(Compeau, 1995). Almost all the Multimedia Instruction Re-
sources is used through computers. At present, to enhance the
teachers’ ability of operating computer is a very important part
of the teacher information technology training in CHINA. So
we assume that Computer Self-Efficacy is positive correlated
with Perceived Usefulness and Percei ved Ease of Use.
Computer self-efficacy, refers to a judgment of one’s capa-
bility to use a computer. It is not concerned with what one has
done in the past, but rather with judgments of what could be
done in the future. Moreover, it does not refer to simple com-
ponent subskills, like formatting diskettes or entering formulas
in a spreadsheet. Rather, it incorporates judgments of the ability
to apply those skills to broader tasks (e.g., preparing written reports
or analyzing financial data). Below, the dimensions are defined
further in the context of computer self-efficacy (Compeau, 1995).
Resource Appropriateness
A good teaching system should provide good resource that
corresponds to the textbooks. The lower relations between in-
struction resource and textbooks which the teachers use, the
less teachers willing to use the resources. So we take the Re-
source Appropriateness into account. It refers to the degree to
which the Multimedia Instruction Resources match with the
textbooks that the teachers use.
Research Model and Hypotheses
The research model tested in this study (Figure 1) was de-
veloped with reference to all the theories mentioned above.
According to the present situation of computer based education
(CBE) among rural primary schools in China, we propose 8
hypotheses influence teachers’ use intention of multimedia ins-
truction resources.
H1: Convenience to use is positive correlated with Perceived
Ease of Use;
H2: Computer Self-Efficacy is positive correlated with Per-
ceived Ease of Use;
H3: Computer Self-Efficacy is posi tive correlated with Per-
ceived Usefulness;
H4: Resource Appropriateness is positive correlated with
Perceived Usefulness;
H5: Perceived Ease of Use is positive correlated with Per-
ceived Usefulness;
H6: Perceived Usefulness is positive correlated with Use In-
tention of multime di a instruction resources;
H7: Perceived Ease of Use is positive correlated with Use
Intention of multimedia instruction resources;
H8: Superior Support is positive correlated with Use Inten-
tion of multimedia instruction resources.
Methodology of the Study
Questionnaire
This study adopts the structure of close-ended questionnaire,
adopts the Likert-Scale five-point measure questionnaire to
explore Teachers’ Use Intention of Multimedia Instruction Re-
sources among rural primary schools in China. There were 22
items of teachers’ use intention asked. The items are measured
on a 5-point scale with 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 =
slightly agree, 4 = agree, and 5 = strongly agree. Each ques-
tionnaire took 15 - 20 minutes to complete. The questionnaire
was developed in Chinese.
Procedure
Test Investigation
After we finished the original questionnaire, we sent the
questionnaires to 30 teachers of a middle school in Yongchuan
Chongqing for a preliminary investigation and analysised the
Validity and Reliability of the test paper. According to the re-
sults, we deleted some items, and revised statement of some
items and layouts of the paper, then we got the formal ques-
tionnaire. The measure items was provided in the formal ques-
Superior Support
Perceived Usefulness
Perceived Ease of Use
Resource Appropriat eness
Computer Self-Efficacy
Convenience to Use
Use Intention
H8
H1
H3 H6
H7
H5
H2
H4
Figure 1.
Conceptual model of the study.
C. MAO, X. HU
Copyright © 2013 SciRe s .
622
tionnaire as app endix.
Formal Investigation
The target population for the validation study was rural pri-
mary school teachers in Chongqing.
We selected the samples by stratified random sampling. First,
There are 19 Districts, 17 Counties and 4 Minority Autono-
mous Counties. We numbered the districts and counties, then
sample 4 Districts, 3 Counties and 1 Minority Autonomous
County by systematic sampling. Second, we randomly selected
18 rural primary schools in the districts and counties, and then
hand out the paper to the teachers at these schools.
Data for the investigation were collected for three months,
from October 2012 to December 2012. We totally hand out 300
questionnaires, recall 263 questionnaires. The response rate was
88 %, 234 questionnaires were available. There are 125 males and
109 females. The respondents for teaching years are presented in
Table 1 while for th e teaching d iscip line shown in Table 2.
Data Analysis
Reliability and Validity Analysis
In result of reliability analysis, CITC (Corrected Item-Total
Correlation) of each item is big than .5, and Cronbach’s Alpha
is big than .7, According to Anne M. Smith, the internal con-
sistency of items meet the reliability requirements.
Construct validity contains convergent validity and discri-
minant validity.
According to Fornell and Larcker, convergent validity must
come up to three standards: 1) factor loading > 5; 2) composite
reliability (CR) > 8; 3) average variance extracted (AVE) > 5.
In our vestigation, the data meet the convergent validity. Ac-
cording to Fornell and Larcker, if average variance extracted
(AVE) of factor itself is big than AVE of factors between each
other, it is shown that the data meet the discriminant validity.
In summary, the study meets the convergent validity and dis-
criminant validity, in other word, has good construct validity.
Model Evaluation and Explanation
In order to evaluation the model shown in Figure 1, it is es-
sential to examine the goodness of fit between model and data.
We use AMOS7.0 to implement structural equation analysis, all
fit indexes shown in Table 3.
According to Table 3, fit indexes of the model are meet the
requirement, in other word, the model can be used to verify hy-
pothesis.
Based AMOS, we get Figure 2, which shows completely
standardized path coefficient within latent variables of the mo-
del.
According to Figure 2, the result of the hypothesis verifica-
tion as follows in Table 4.
Conclusions
There are 4 factors affect teachers’ use intention of multime-
dia instruction resources among rural primary schools in China,
including Superior Support, Perceived Usefulness, Resource Ap-
propriateness and Computer Self-Efficacy. Superior Support
and Perceived Usefulness have direct influence on Use Inten-
tion, also Resource Appropriateness and Computer Self-Effi-
cacy have indirect influence on Use Intention.
It is a cheering thing that the Chinese government has been
paying more and more attention on education informatization.
Table 1.
Respondents for teaching years.
Teaching Years 1 - 5 6 - 10 11 - 15 16 - 20 21 - 25 26 and more Total
Number of Pepole 63 56 55 40 14 6 234
Table 2.
Respondents for teaching discipline.
Discipline Chinese Math English Art Music Social Science Sport
Number of Pepole 83 76 22 14 11 10 10 8
Table 3.
Fit indexes of the mode l.
Fit Index Recommende d Value The Model’s Value
χ2/df χ2/df < 3 2.903
Normal Fit I nd ex (NFI) >9 .848
Increme ntal Fit Index (IFI) >9 .925
Comparative Fit Index ( CFI) >9 .924
Goodness- of-Fit Index (GFI) >8 .804
Adjusted Goodness-of-Fit Index (AGFI) >8 .783
Root Mean Squ are Error of Approxim at i on (RMSEA ) <1 .090
C. MAO, X. HU
Copyright © 2013 SciRe s . 623
Table 4.
Result of the hypothesis verification.
Hypothesis Result
H1: Convenience to Use is posit ive correlated with Perceived Ease of Use. YES
H2: Computer Self-Efficacy is positive correlated with Perceived Ease of Use. YES
H3: Computer Self-Efficacy is positive correlated with Perceived Usefulness. YES
H4: Resource Appropriateness is positive correlated w ith Perceived Usefulness. YES
H5: Percei ved Ease of Use is positive correlate d with Perceived Usefuln ess. NO
H6: Perceived Usefulness i s positive correlated w i t h Use Intention of multimedia instruction resources. YES
H7: Perceived Ease of Use i s positive correlated w ith Use Intent ion of multimedia instruction resources. NO
H8: Superior Support is positive correlated with Use Intention of multimedia instruction resources. YES
Perceived
Ease of Use
Perceived
Usefulness
Convenience
to Use
Computer
Self-Efficacy
Resource
Appropriatenes
Superior Support
Use
Intention
.178***
.181
.107
.633***
.398***
.406***
.135*
.438*** *** p<.001
** p<.01
* p<.05
Figure 2.
Completely standardized path coefficient within latent variables of the model.
We should develop multimedia instruction resources based on
needs of rural teachers and help teachers sharpen up their com-
puter skills. Although there is a long way to go, we have good
faith in that rural teachers are ready to contribute our wisdom
and diligence to create a new education prospect in the infor-
mation era.
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Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social
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Davis, F. D. (1989). Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and
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Hua, Y.-D. (2008). Using TAM to explore children’s moodle learning
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364-374. doi:10.1108/10662240310501649
C. MAO, X. HU
Copyright © 2013 SciRe s .
624
Appendix
Questionnaire of Teachers’ Use Intention of Multimedia Instruction Resources
附录 农村小学教师多媒体教学资源使用意愿调查问卷
尊敬的老师:
您好!为了解教师对多媒体教学资源的使用意愿,我们特进行这次调查。
所有回答无关对错,您只需要按照您的真实感受填写即可。本次调查结果仅用于学术研究并一律匿名,对于您提供的信
息我们绝对保密。衷心感谢您的支持!
第一部分:基本信息。请在符合您情况的选项后[ ]中打“”,或在须填写的地方填写。
1. 您的性别: (A) [ ] (B)[ ]
2. 您所在学校位于重庆市_______区/县_______镇/乡,全称是_____________________。
3. 您所在学校的级别是:(A) 九年制学校 [ ] (B) 初级中学 [ ] (C) 完中[ ]
4. 您任教的时间:
(A) 1 - 5[ ] (B) 6 - 10[ ] (C) 11 - 15[ ]
(D) 16 - 20[ ] (E) 21 - 25[ ] (F) 26年及以上 [ ]
5. 文化程度:
(A) 小学 [ ] (B) 初中 [ ] (C) 技校 [ ] (D) 高中 [ ] (E) 中专/中师 [ ]
(F) 大专 [ ] (G) 本科 [ ] (H) 硕士 [ ] (I) 博士 [ ]
6. 您执教的科目(请注明):[ _______________ ]
7. 您曾经使用过多媒体教学资源进行教学吗?
(A) 使用过 [ ] (B) 从未使用过 [ ]
第二部分:请根据对题目陈述观点的认同程度,在相应的题号[ ] 内打“”(单选)。
1 = 完全不同意、2 = 不太同意、3 = 不能确定、4 = 基本同意、5 = 完全同意。
说明:多媒体教学资源指在教学中使用的基于计算机的各种资源,如课件、动画、视频、网络内容、课堂实录等。
第一组 (Perceived Usefulness) 完全不同意不太同意不能确定 基本同意 完全同意
1. 我认为使用多媒体教学资源对提高我的教学效率有帮助。…………………… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
2. 我认为使用多媒体教学资源可以改善我的教学方法。………………………… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
3. 我认为使用多媒体教学资源能提高我班学生学习成绩。……………………… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
4. 我认为使用多媒体教学资源对提高我的教学效率没有帮助。………………… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
第二组 (Perceived Ease of Use) 完全不同意不太同意不能确定 基本同意 完全同意
1. 对我而言,熟练使用多媒体教学资源很容易。………………………………… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
2. 对我而言,多媒体教学资源的使用很简单……………………………………… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
3. 我认为,多媒体教学资源容易使用。…………………………………………… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
第三组 (Computer Self-Efficacy) 完全不同意不太同意不能确定 基本同意 完全同意
1. 我自信能够顺利的运行、退出 Windows 环境下的各种应用程序和上因特网。 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
2. 我自信能够使用计算机收发邮件、使用 QQ MSN 交流。………………… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
3. 我自信能够在网上搜索需要的信息和下载自由软件。………………………… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
4. 我自信能够使用计算机进行文字处理和图形图像处理。……………………… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
第四组 (Resource Appropriateness) 完全不同意不太同意不能确定 基本同意 完全同意
1. 在多媒体教学资源中能找到与我目前教学进度相同的教学素材。…………… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
2. 多媒体教学资源提供的素材配套教材与我使用的教材相同。………………… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
3. 进行简单的编辑后,多媒体教学资源的素材可以很好地运用到我的教学中。 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
4. 多媒体教学资源的素材与我使用教材完全不同。……………………………… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
C. MAO, X. HU
Copyright © 2013 SciRe s . 625
Continued
第五组 (Superior Support) 完全不同意不太同意不能确定 基本同意 完全同意
1. 学校领导支持我们使用多媒体教学资源备课或教学。………………………… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
2. 学校政策鼓励我们使用多媒体教学资源备课或教学(如与评奖评职称挂钩等)。 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
3. 上级领导曾来校检查我校使用多媒体教学资源教学的情况。…………………. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
第六组 (Convenience to Use) 完全不同意不太同意不能确定 基本同意 完全同意
1. 学校设备充足,能随时满足我的使用需要。…………………………………… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
2. 学校农远设备运行正常,能够满足我的使用。………………………………… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
3. 学校多媒体教学资源有专人下载整理以满足教学需要。……………………… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
4. 学校给我充分的权限使用教学需要的多媒体教学资源。……………………… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
第七组 (Use Intention) 完全不同意不太同意不能确定 基本同意 完全同意
1. 我打算开始使用或继续使用多媒体教学资源。………………………………… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
2. 我愿意在教学中尝试更多的多媒体教学资源使用方式。……………………… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
3. 我愿意经常使用多媒体教学资源。……………………………………………… [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
问卷填写日期:_______年_____月_____日
问卷到此为止,谢谢您的合作,祝您工作顺利!