Education Technology Standards Self-Efficacy (ETSSE) Scale: A Validity and Reliability Study

The educational technology standards which are set by International Society for Technology in Education standards for teachers (the ISTE Standards-T) represent important framework in point of using technology effectively in teaching and learning processes and are used in widespread by universities, educational institutions and schools. The contemporary ISTE standards for teachers those proposed in 2008 have five dimensions. As the standards created a vision to the educational technology field, to determine how prospective teachers or in-service teachers meet these standards need to be measured with valid and reliable instruments. Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this study was to develop and validate education technology standards self-efficacy (ETSSE) scale which is based on the ISTE Standards-T. Method: Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted in order to determine the factor structure of the scale. The scale items were constructed based on the ISTE Standards-T and performance indicators, later to define the content validity values of the items in the scale, views of 12 academics who were specialist of the area were collected. The data of the study is collected from prospective teachers (CFA1 group, n=473) and teachers (CFA2 group, n=394). Owing to the fact that the theoretical structure of the standards defined by ISTE, both first order and second order confirmatory factor analyses were applied to the datasets of the CFA1 and CFA2 groups separately without exploratory factor analysis. Findings: Through two CFAs the ETSSE scale was validated in five dimensions as ISTE Standards-T 2008 identified. According to the results of the first order and second order CFAs of the two different groups, it is concluded that the scale is acceptable (CFA1 1st order [?2 (734, n= 473)= 1857.23, p<.000, RMSEA=.057, S-RMR=.053, NFI= .95, NNFI=.97, CFI=.97, IFI=.97]; CFA2 1st order [?2 (727, n= 394)= 1886.31, p<.000, RMSEA=.064, S-RMR=.056, NFI = .95, NNFI=.97, CFI=.97, IFI=.97]). Concurrent validity results showed positive and significant correlation between the two scales.83 (p<.01). The reliability of Cronbach Alpha is .95 and McDonalds Omega is .96. The item analyses showed that all the items in the scale discriminated both for prospective teachers and teachers (Corrected Item-Total Correlation>.30). Independent group t-test results for 27% upper and 27% lower groups in the five sub-factors showed significant difference (p<.01). Conclusion and Recommendations: The research results have demonstrated that the developed ETSSE scale consisting 40 items and five subscales is valid and reliable, and can be used both with teachers and prospective teachers.