TPC Journal V8, Issue 4- FULL ISSUE

370 The Professional Counselor | Volume 8, Issue 4 counseling profession (Tri Anni, Sunawan, & Haryono, 2018). Utilizing TAM as a guiding framework, this research extends and advances knowledge on factors that influence school counselors’ acceptance and use of technologies, specifically Naviance, an online college, career, and financial planning counseling platform. School Counselors’ Technology Acceptance Perceived Ease of Use Research has indicated that individuals are more likely to accept and use new technology if they perceive the technology as easy to use (Davis, 1993; Nair & Das, 2011; Saade & Bahli, 2005). Perceived ease of use is determined when a user believes that using a system is free of effort (Nair & Das, 2011; Tarhini et al., 2015). Previous studies reveal common themes of perceived ease of use of certain technologies in the school counseling profession. For example, many school counselors perceive that sending email communication, creating multimedia presentations and webpages, developing newsletters, and retrieving information from schools’ student information systems are relatively easy functions (Carey & Dimmitt, 2004; Carlson, Portman, & Bartlett, 2006; Kozlowski, Mikesina, & Genova, 2015; Loague, Alexander, & Reynolds, 2010; Steele et al., 2014; Van Horn & Myrick, 2001). Today, many school counselors find it easy to retrieve counseling-related information from the internet and create targeted presentations for students. Further, school counselors perceive that delivering counseling curriculum, disseminating information, and administering needs and career assessments require minimal effort (Hayden et al., 2008; Holcomb-McCoy, Gonzalez, & Johnston, 2009; Loague et al., 2010; Millsom & Bryant, 2006; Steele et al., 2014). School counselors have found certain types of technology easier to use. For example, in a quantitative study, Carlson et al. (2006) investigated how school counselors use technology and their comfort level. The results indicated that counselors felt comfortable or somewhat comfortable (92.7%) utilizing certain types of technology and software, such as desktop computers, VCRs and monitors, overhead projectors to create visual presentations, and Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint, as additional resources. However, most school counselors (76.9%) experienced low comfort levels and felt anxious or somewhat anxious using new software. Perceived Technology Usefulness Technology acceptance also is influenced by perceived usefulness. Perceived usefulness is determined by a user’s belief that a type of technology enhances job performance (Tarhini et al., 2015). Although a reasonable amount of literature exists on how school counselors use technology in the counseling profession (Carlson et al., 2006; Hayden et al., 2008; Steele et al., 2014), little exists on perceived usefulness (Tri Anni et al., 2018). Tri Anni et al. (2018) surveyed school counselors in Indonesia and found that counselors who perceived that technology was easy to use were more likely to determine that the technology was useful. However, Tri Anni et al.’s study did not focus on a specific type of technology such as Naviance to determine whether such a tool enhances job effectiveness. In another study, Steele et al. (2014) surveyed school counselors and found that many (45%) remained neutral when asked whether the advantages of online communication in their counseling practice outweighed the disadvantages. Furthermore, 61% felt slightly or not comfortable at all using online technology to perform counseling duties. When asked specifically about using Skype and other synchronous online communication technologies, researchers found a positive correlation among counselors’ level of training and comfort.