increasing preservice teachers' capacity for technology integration through the use of...
Post on 19-Dec-2015
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Increasing Preservice Teachers' Capacity for
Technology IntegrationThrough the Use of Electronic Models
Melissa Dark
Purdue University
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Background
• 70% of teachers report not feeling well prepared to use technology
• Even new teachers feel ill-equipped to integrate technology
• Growth in ideas about, and confidence for, technology integration have not kept pace with growth in skills
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Why is Integration Hard to Achieve?
• Teachers don’t know what technology integration should look like or how to accomplish it
• They lack confidence for achieving something they have neither observed nor experienced
• Teachers need information about why and how to use technology in meaningful ways
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Increasing Capacity for Technology Integration
• Increase Ideas– Create a vision– Delineate strategies
• Increase Self-Efficacy– Personal mastery – Vicarious experiences– Social persuasion– Physiological indicators
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Vicarious Experiences: A Powerful Option
• Personal experiences are difficult to arrange
• Use of models provides information about how to accomplish the task
• Observing models can also increase confidence for performing similarly
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Should We Use Electronic Models?
• Avoid logistical problems associated with real-time observations
• Guarantee that certain performances are observed
• Multimedia capability can bring models “to life”
• Will learners feel removed or isolated from classrooms observed electronically?
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Methods
• Pretest-posttest research design• Examined preservice teachers’ ideas
about, and self-efficacy for, technology integration before and after interacting with electronic models of exemplary technology-using teachers
• Quantitative data triangulated with qualitative data
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Participants
• 69 students enrolled in 6 sections of a one-credit undergraduate technology course– Age Range: 18-25 (x = 20)– Gender: 65% female– Class: 71% Sophomores or Juniors– Major: 60% Elementary Education
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Description of Modeling Tool
VisionQuest– CD-ROM tool incorporating video,
audio, text, and electronic artifacts– Illustrates the beliefs and practices of
six classroom teachers– Allows users to explore teachers’
classrooms one at a time or thematically
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Procedures—Timeframe
• Week 1– Demographic information and consent obtained
• Week 10– Students completed (pre) idea and self-efficacy surveys– Students evaluated VQ using a software evaluation
form• Week 11
– Students used VQ to learn about classroom organization issues
– Students completed (post) idea and self-efficacy surveys
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Data Sources
• Demographic Questionnaire• Online Surveys (pre and post)
– Ideas: “I have specific ideas about how to use one computer effectively during large group instruction.”
– Self-Efficacy: “I am confident I can use one computer effectively during large group instruction.”
• Software Evaluation Questions• Observations and Interviews
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Data Analysis
• Frequencies and percentages
• Paired t-tests
• Pearson correlations
• Qualitative pattern seeking
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Results-Changing Ideas and Efficacy
• Two-tailed paired t (df = 68) indicated significant increase in students’ ratings of perceived ideas (t = 8.85; p < .0000) from pre- to post survey
• Two-tailed paired t (df = 68) indicated significant increase in students’ ratings of confidence (t = 3.34; p < .000) from pre- to post survey
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Results-Relationships among Variables
• Significance level set at p < .0005 (critical r = .35)
• No significant relationships among demographic characteristics (age, gender, class) and pre- and post- ideas and efficacy
• No significant relationships among ratings of computer skills (novice, beginner, etc.) and pre- and post- ideas and efficacy
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Significant Relationships
• Ideas for technology integration, pre and post, were significantly correlated (r = .61)
• Confidence for technology integration, pre and post, was significantly correlated (r = .50)
• Perceptions of ideas and confidence were significantly correlated, pre (r = .72) and post (r = . 84)
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Students’ Perceptions of Learning from Electronic Models
• On a scale from 1 (low) - 5 (high), students rated the classroom activities observed as realistic (x = 4.46)
• On a scale from 1-5, students rated the video examples observed as relevant (x = 4.31)
• Student interview comments were overwhelmingly positive
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Students’ New Ideas Included:
• Using new assessment techniques
• Organizing group work
• Using different activities to teach same content
• Using HyperStudio in a music class
• Establishing a good climate
• Using stations
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Discussion
• Electronic models can be used to increase ideas and self-efficacy for technology integration
• Models were considered realistic and relevant• Medium - high levels of skills do not
translate into ideas or confidence• Increasing teachers’ specific ideas for
technology use may be one way to increase confidence
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Implications
• VisionQuest can be used as the “textbook” for technology integration courses.
• Within a “one-computer classroom,” VisionQuest can be used to provide visual classroom scenarios for discussion or analysis.
• Individually or collectively, students could investigate different portions of VisionQuest within a lab-setting.
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Limitations/Future Research
• Lack of control group
• Homogeneous group of participants
• Perceptions may not translate into action
• Long-range benefits are unknown
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Conclusion
• Many teachers lack ideas and confidence for integrating technology into their classrooms
• Self-efficacy theory suggests that observing models can serve informational and motivational functions
• Electronic models increase educators’ options for providing future teachers with exemplary models
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