Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

The relationship between technology leadership and teacher ICT competency in higher education

  • Published:
Education and Information Technologies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Ever-changing educational technology brings new challenges and opportunities in higher education. To keep up with the trends of the digital era when technology integration is emphasized as one key feature, university leaders should take technology-related responsibilities on motivating and cooperating with teachers to achieve effective technology integration. However, existing explorations mainly discussed the effects of technology leaders on organizational effectiveness or students’ learning outcomes. This study applies descriptive-correlational design to investigate the relationship between university leaders’ and teachers’ technological behaviors and practices. Quantitative data was collected from a Likert questionnaire of 298 teachers in a public university in China and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings indicated a significant direct relationship between technology leadership and teacher ICT competency, all five dimensions of technology leadership showed significant positive effects on teachers. Also, implications and suggestions for current practices and future studies are presented.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams, D. (2018). Mastering theories of educational leadership and management. University of Malaya Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, & Dexter. (2005). School technology leadership: An empirical investigation of prevalence and effect. Educational Administration Quarterly, 41(1), 49–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161X04269517

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baartman, Bastiaens, Kirschner, & der Vleuten, V. (2007). Evaluating assessment quality in competence-based education: A qualitative comparison of two frameworks. Educational Research Review, 2(2), 114–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2007.06.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blau, & Shamir-Inbal. (2017). Digital competences and long-term ICT integration in school culture: The perspective of elementary school leaders. Education and Information Technologies, 22(3), 769–787. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-015-9456-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bush. (2011). Theories of educational leadership and management (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chang. (2012). The effect of principals' technological leadership on teachers' technological literacy and teaching effectiveness in Taiwanese elementary schools. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 15(2), 328–340.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chua. (2013). Mastering research statistics. Mc-Graw Hill Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chua, & Chua. (2017). Developing a grounded model for educational technology leadership practices. Education and Science, 42(189), 73–84. https://doi.org/10.15390/EB.2017.6705

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cordie, & Lin. (2018). The e-revolution in higher education: E-learning and e-leaders. Journal of Leadership Studies, 12(3), 76–78. https://doi.org/10.1002/jls.21602

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daugherty, Mentzer, Lybrook, & Little-Wiles. (2013). Philosophical perspectives on technology leadership. In Technology integration and foundations for effective leadership (pp. 42–56).

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Dexter, & Barton. (2021). The development and impact of team-based school technology leadership. Journal of Educational Administration, 59(3), 367–384. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-12-2020-0260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dexter, & Richardson. (2020). What does technology integration research tell us about the leadership of technology? Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 52(1), 17–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2019.1668316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fatykhova, Rakhmanina, Vasilenko, Vasilenko, & Gereеv. (2018). Development of corporate standard model of ict-competence of academic staff of a modern university. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 9(13), 1027–1034. Retrieved from http://www.iaeme.com/ijciet/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=9&IType=13. Accessed 20 Oct 2021.

  • Ferede, Elen, Van Petegem, Hunde, & Goeman. (2021). Determinants of instructors’ educational ICT use in Ethiopian higher education. Education and Information Technologies, 1–20.

  • Hair, Black, Babin, & Anderson. (2010). Multivariate Data Analysis (7th ed.). Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hero. (2020). Exploring the principal's technology leadership: Its influence on teachers' technological proficiency. International Journal of Academic Pedagogical Research, 4(6), 4–10.

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • House. (1996). Path-goal theory of leadership: Lessons, legacy, and a reformulated theory. The Leadership Quarterly, 7(3), 323–352. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1048-9843(96)90024-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang. (2020). Successes and challenges: Online teaching and learning of chemistry in higher education in China in the time of COVID-19. Journal of Chemical Education, 97(9), 2810–2814. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00671

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ISTE. (2018). ISTE Standards for Education Leaders. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-education-leaders. Accessed 20 Oct 2021.

  • Keengwe, Kidd, & Kyei-Blankson. (2009). Faculty and technology: Implications for faculty training and technology leadership. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 18(1), 23–28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-008-9126-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krejcie, & Morgan. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30(3), 607–610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kundu, Bej, & Dey. (2020). An empirical study on the correlation between teacher efficacy and ICT infrastructure. The International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, 37(4), 213–238. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJILT-04-2020-0050

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leong. (2017). Principal technology leadership practices, teacher ICT competency, and teacher acceptance of school management system (SMS) in Negeri Sembilan secondary schools. (doctoral thesis). University of Malaya.

  • Li. (2017). ICT in Chinese higher education: Opportunities and challenges. In Exploring the new era of technology-infused education (pp. 20–33). IGI Global.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lim, Yan, & Xiong. (2015). Development of pre-service teachers’ information and communication technology (ICT) in education competencies in a mainland Chinese university. Educational Media International, 52(1), 15–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523987.2015.1005425

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Zha, & He. (2019). Digital transformation challenges: A case study regarding the MOOC development and operations at higher education institutions in China. TechTrends, 63(5), 621–630. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-019-00409-y

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Hong, Wen, Xie, & Coates. (2020). Global university president leadership characteristics and dynamics. Studies in Higher Education, 45(10), 2036–2044. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2020.1823639

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MOEC. (2018). 教育信息化2.0行动计划, [education informatization 2.0 action plan]. Retrieved from http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A16/s3342/201804/t20180425_334188.html. Accessed 20 Oct 2021.

  • Mtebe. (2020). Applying UNESCO ICT competency framework to evaluate Teachers' ICT competence levels in Tanzania. In Handbook of research on innovative pedagogies and best practices in teacher education (pp. 350–366). IGI Global.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Muchiri, & Were. (2016). Influence of school leadership on information and communication technology integration in teaching and learning in iMlango project schools in Makueni County, Kenya. The Strategic Journals of Business & Change Management, 3(49), 924–939.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muijs. (2011). Doing quantitative research in education with SPSS (2nd ed.). Sage Publications.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Nahavandi. (2006). The art and science of leadership (7th ed.). Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Omar, & Ismail. (2020). Mobile technology integration in the 2020s: The impact of technology leadership in the Malaysian context. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 8(5), 1874–1883.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raman, & Shariff. (2017). Relationship between technology leadership, ICT facility, competency, commitments and teachers practices on implementations with effective teacher’s management tasks in schools. Scholedge International Journal of Multidisciplinary & Allied Studies, 4(9), 88–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raman, Thannimalai, & Ismail. (2019). Principals' technology leadership and its effect on teachers' technology integration in 21st century classrooms. International Journal of Instruction, 12(4), 423–442. https://doi.org/10.29333/iji.2019.12428a

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO. (2018). UNESCO ICT competency framework for teachers. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, & Dostál. (2018). Study of future EFL teachers’ ICT competence and its development under the TPCK framework. Paper presented at the International Symposium on Emerging Technologies for Education.

  • Webster. (2017). Philosophy of technology assumptions in educational technology leadership. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 20(1), 25–36. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/jeductechsoci.20.1.25. Accessed 20 October 2021.

  • Wei, Piaw, & Kannan. (2016). Relationship between principal technology leadership practices and teacher ICT competency. MOJEM: Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Management, 4(3), 13–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weng, & Tang. (2014). The relationship between technology leadership strategies and effectiveness of school administration: An empirical study. Computers & Education, 76, 91–107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2014.03.010

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woyo, Rukanda, & Nyamapanda. (2020). ICT policy implementation in higher education institutions in Namibia: A survey of students’ perceptions. Education and Information Technologies, 25(5), 3705–3722.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, Zhu, & MacLeod. (2018). Promoting education equity in rural and underdeveloped areas: Cases on computer-supported collaborative teaching in China. EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 14(6), 2393–2405. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/89841

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, García-Holgado, & Martínez-Abad. (2020). A study to analyze the digital competence of pre-service teachers and in-service teachers in China. Paper presented at the Eighth International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality.

  • Yieng, & Daud. (2017). Technology leadership in Malaysia's high performance school. Journal of Education and e-Learning Research, 4(1), 8–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu. (2020). A mixed-method investigation of the best practices of online education in southwestern China at four public universities. (doctoral thesis). Lindenwood University, Missouri, USA.

  • Zhang, & Wang. (2016). Curriculum system construction of information ICT ability for teachers based on ICT-CFT, [ICT-CFT框架下的职教师资信息技术应用能力课程体系建构]. Vocational & Technical Education Forum, 23, 51–54. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1001-7518.2016.23.013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Cao, Shen, & Qian. (2019). Examining effects of self-efficacy on research motivation among chinese university teachers: Moderation of leader support and mediation of goal orientations. The Journal of Psychology, 153(4), 414–435. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2018.1564230

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, Llorente, & Gómez. (2019). An empirical study of students and teaching staff's digital competence in Western China: Based on a case study of Gansu Agricultural University. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Donnie Adams.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

None.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 9

Table 9 Evaluation on technology leadership and ICT competency

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yuting, Z., Adams, D. & Lee, K.C.S. The relationship between technology leadership and teacher ICT competency in higher education. Educ Inf Technol 27, 10285–10307 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11037-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11037-0

Keywords

Navigation