Technology Courage: Implications for Faculty Development

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Purpose: From a decade of technology-focused faculty development, the authors recognized that academic physicians adopt educational technology at varying rates and with variable confidence. This work is an exploration of the phenomenon of technology courage and how the concept can inform faculty development. Method: Qualitative methods of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) were used. Faculty interviews were transcribed using Google Docs voice typing. Data were analyzed, themes developed, and supportive narratives were identified using IPA methodology. Results: Two themes emerged. The theme of Willingness includes willingness to try, explore, or risk learning a new technology; and willingness to persist in the face of fear or anxiety. The theme of Benefit Evaluation relates to motivators for technology courage, i.e., assessing benefit to self and learners before learning and using a new technology. Conclusions: From a theme analysis, a definition of technology courage has emerged: willingness to try and to persist when using a new technology because of perceived benefit to self and/or others. The authors discuss how further research of the construct might be guided by theoretical frameworks of grit, self-efficacy, teacher identity, and generational learning differences. Recommendations are offered on how the construct of technology courage can be valuable for technology-focused faculty development.