Technology Acceptance Related to Second Life™, Social Networking, Twitter™, and Content Management Systems: Are Agricultural Students Ready, Willing, and Able?

Abstract

Technology has the potential to improve education but only if it is applied with purpose and consideration of the audience. Understanding technology’s role in education goes beyond the comparison of tools; there is a need to better understand student acceptance of technology so appropriate educational scaffolding and support can be provided. The absence of technology acceptance can become a barrier to the adoption, successful implementation, and use of new technologies. Therefore, the theoretical framework was based on technology acceptance. Described in this study is agricultural students’ acceptance and readiness to use specific technologies (i.e., Second Life™, social networking, Twitter™, and content management systems) as educational tools. The population was all students enrolled in eight courses at Texas A&M University during the Fall 2010 semester. A total of 716 completed surveys were analyzed. Findings revealed that students perceive each of the technologies studied (i.e., Second Life™, social networking, Twitter™, and content management systems) as unique entities that vary in regard to acceptance. Students overwhelmingly accept content management systems as a useful educational technology while Second Life™, Twitter™, and social networking are familiar but not as accepted. Findings reinforce the importance of instructors finding specific methods to successfully implement technology–specific educational tools.