Data Collection

This study was structured in two phases.  The first phase required students (n=80) from Elon University in two sections of an introduction to leisure and sport management course and one section of a leisure and sport marketing course to utilize technology to complete assignments and reflections that are typical instruction of the course content.  For example, in one sport marketing course, technology was included in a marketing plan project that all students completed.  In one introduction course, students were asked to use technology to present and describe play theories; and in the other introduction course, students used technology to highlight career options in the leisure and sport industry.  Once the project was completed students were asked to complete a qualitative questionnaire reflecting on their use of technology to complete the assignment.  Students were specifically asked to examine the possible connection between technology and learning course content, as well as questions related to their previous experience with technology and additional interaction with other members of the college community.

The second phase included interviews conducted following the completion of the course which allowed participants the opportunity to discuss the use of technology as a learning tool for understanding theoretical applications, as well as provide deeper insight into the practical use of technology in the classroom.  Interview participants (n=10) were asked to answer questions from a semi-structured interview guide developed by the researchers.  The tool contained questions about students’ perceptions of the use of technology in the course.  Follow up probing questions were aimed at gathering more specific, detailed information about the process of implementing and utilizing technology.  Sample questions from the interview included:

• Prior to this particular class, have you ever used technology, beyond traditional Microsoft Word applications, to complete a course assignment?  
• Discuss the (specific) assignment and your use of technology in completing the assignment.
• In what ways did technology affect your ability to learn course content?
• If you were to design this project, what would you do differently?  Would technology be a part of the assignment?
• What advice would you give a faculty member on the use of technology in the classroom?

Additional data were collected from three leisure and sport management faculty that taught the targeted courses.  Faculty journals and notes were used to capture faculty attitudes, feelings, perceptions and strategies for utilizing technology in the classroom.  Journals and notes were used to record faculty observations of their students and the classroom environment before, during and after the technology assignment.

Because sources of evidence may be different from class to class, it was important to examine all types of information (Peterson & Spencer, 1993). Multiple sources of information allowed the researchers to assemble a wide range of concepts and also lend support to the researcher’s claims. As Yin (2003) explains, the researcher’s assertions gain strength if “converging lines of inquiry” point to the same conclusion (p. 92).