Social Studies Instruction: Changing Teacher Confidence in Classrooms Enhanced by Technology

This study sought to determine to what extent seasoned educators' perceived confidence, competence, and resultant content-specific self-efficacy could be altered as a result of three different workshops geared toward the use of technology in social studies classrooms. Through analyses of pre- and post-test surveys, results indicated that participants gained statistically significant changes in their self-reported levels of confidence and competence using various educational technologies over a relatively brief period of time. Results are summarized in light of current empirical literature pertaining to the intersection of social studies pedagogy and technology integration specifically, and more broadly, professional development overall.