Relato biográfico 2: Contexto socio-personal:

As the researcher determined the significance of the study, several areas came into consideration. The areas included are knowledge generation, professional application,

and social change.

Knowledge Generation

This study hoped to expand the knowledge of school counselors by examining the effects of years of experience, technology training, gender, and age on middle school counselors’ comfort with technology. All school counselors, regardless of years of experience, technology training, gender, or age may benefit from the opportunity to receive

technology training. Professional school counselors adhere to particular standards and competencies set forth by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA). This organization established a set of school counselor competencies that “will equip new and experienced school counselors with the skills to establish, maintain, and enhance a comprehensive, developmental, results-based school counseling program addressing academic achievement, personal and social development and career planning. (ASCA, School Counselor Competencies, 2007)” These competencies include:

- I-B-1g. Uses technology effectively and efficiently to plan, organize, implement and evaluate the comprehensive school counseling program

- III-B-1f. Knows, understands and uses a variety of technology in the delivery of guidance curriculum activities

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- IV-A-6. Current and emerging technologies such as use of the Internet, Web- based resources and management information systems

- V-B-1f. Uses technology in conducting research and program evaluation As school counselors consider the expectations set forth by ASCA in regards to

technological competencies, it will be important to consider the knowledge generated by the current study. School counselors’ adherence to these competencies validates the need for the current study. If school counselors are not comfortable with using

technology, it will be more difficult to adhere to the competencies. School counselors can provide data from the current study to their school districts in order to request additional technological training. The knowledge gained by this study has the potential to encourage additional training for all K-12 school counselors who are experiencing lower levels of computer comfort.

Professional Application

The results from this study may be used by middle school counselors in South Carolina as a means for requesting technology training from their schools/school districts. This training may serve to increase school counselors’ comfort levels with technology in their work. The knowledge gained from the completion of this study may broaden beyond middle school counselors and extend to elementary and high school counselors.

Additionally, this research may have the possibility of being applied to school counselors beyond South Carolina. It was the researcher’s hope that the results of this study may help school counselors advocate for additional technology training that school counselors may receive in future years.

25 Social Change

When the researcher finds significant differences in middle school counselors’ comfort with technology, then change can be created for future school counselors. School counselors may face challenges in utilizing technology within the school setting.

However, it is the obligation of the school counseling profession to increase the efficacy of its counselors by supporting their efforts to gain additional technological knowledge. The social changes created by the results of this study include a better understanding of the needs of middle school counselors in regards to computers. Therefore, school districts can provide technology training to all of their school counselors, be they new or veteran school counselors. These appropriately trained school counselors will feel higher levels of comfort in using their computers as a means for integrating technology into their work.

SUMMARY

Technology has changed the ways in which humans live their lives in numerous ways. In both our personal and professional lives, technology has infiltrated our

existence and become a fundamental component of our daily functioning. In the work setting, technological advances have created ways for people to work more efficiently and become more creative in their work. As the counseling profession has progressed, technology has provided various ways for counselors to complete their work more effectively with clients, both directly and indirectly. Within the profession of school counseling, technological advances have changed a number of the ways in which school counselors perform their job responsibilities. School counselors may experience varying

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levels of comfort when working with technology, and the current study seeks to find out what differences may occur in those comfort levels. More specifically, the researcher hoped to determine the effects of years of experience, gender, and age on middle school counselors’ comfort with technology. These assumed differences may provide

implications for further study into this area as well as the need for additional technology training for school counselors in the future. Within chapter two, a literature review will be presented. Chapter three includes the research methodology used in this study, including descriptions of the Computer Attitude Scale (CAS), procedures for data

collection and analysis and study limitations. The results of the study will be presented in chapter four. Chapter five will provide an interpretation of the findings and implications for future research studies based on these findings.

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