Teachers belief and the use of technologies for instruction

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Teachers belief and the use of technologies for
instruction
Prepared by Farrah Dina Yusop
01 May 2006, N047 Lagomarcino CI 511 Final Paper
Spring 2006
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Rationale of using technology

• Motivate students to learn
• multimedia
• Provide unique instructional abilities
• simulation
• Supports new instructional approaches
• problem solving, creative thinking, collaboration
  across boundaries
• Increases teacher productivity
• Grading, accessible communication eg YM
• Required skills for Information Age
• Address the needs of low-performing, at risk and
  learning disabilities students

Introduction
Source Roblyer M.D. 2004 http//wps.prenhall.com/
chet_roblyer_integrate_4
Source Center for Applied Research in
Educational Technology (CARET)
http//caret.iste.org
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Implications for instruction

• Motivate students to learn
• Unique instructional abilities
• Supports new instructional approaches
• Increases productivity
• Required skills for Information Age
• Address the needs of low-performing, at risk and
  learning disabilities students

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Implications into teaching
Needs
Classroom practices
Enhance problem solving skills
Student-centered approach
Ability to work collaboratively in teams
Student responsibility towards learning
Ability to get relevant information
Increase productivity
Aware of equity and equality
Factors influence
Technology in classroom
Scaffolding
Teachers belief about ways technology should be
used to support teaching learning
Active learning
Constructivist approaches
Multi-literacies
Cross-curricular
Process / strategies
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Research objectives

• To understand how teachers philosophical belief
  relate to their practices in integrating
  technology in their instruction

To identify the possible factors affecting
teachers belief and their instructional
practices using technology
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Theoretical framework

• Age
• under 30
• Subjects
• high school English, middle school Science
• Grade level
• Elementary teachers
• Gender
• female teachers
• Computer expertise
• High expertise
• Academic background
• Higher the better
• Environment
• Not in low SES environment

Teachers belief (ie. teaching philosophy)
Affected by
Affect on
Strategies of using technology in classroom
Source Ravitz and Becker (2000)
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How do I measure it?
Hypothesis / Expectations
Constructivist approaches towards using
technology in classroom
Teachers with constructivist belief
Will likely to apply
Characteristics
Characteristics

• Group work
• Project-based
• Problem solving
• Reflective tasks
• Meaningful tasks

• Use variety of software
• Frequent student use of computer

Source Ravitz and Becker (2000)
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Context

• Setting
• Teacher Education Course teaching reading and
  language art for primary grade
• No research evidence associate this subject with
  technology use
• Goals Introducing theories and teaching
  strategies pertinent to teaching reading,
  writing, listening speaking to primary grades
  children
• Subject
• Assistant Prof in CIT Department
• Academic background Special Education, Reading
  and Language Art
• Highest degree PhD (1992)
• More than 17 years experience teaching and doing
  research in the area of reading and language art

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What literature said?
Comparing the previous literature with the actual
setting
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Methodology

• Observation
• 1 in-class observation (3 hours)
• To observe the instructional practices
• Observe and document whats happening in the
  class every 5 minutes
• Interview with the teacher
• 1 structured interview, open-ended and reflective
  questions
• To understand her belief and its relation with
  her instructional practices
• Conducted right after class period

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Methodology

• Data triangulation
• Peer review of the observation
• Compare observation with another researcher
• Interview another observer who had spent more
  observations with the subject
• To identify accuracy and reliability of data
  collected
• Conducted during and after the class observation
  and interview

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Findings

• Philosophical teaching belief
• Match the constructivist belief
• Evidence
• Favor student-centered learning
• Believe in variety ways of teaching and learning
• Learning should be as similar as it is in the
  real world eg. Museum trip (min. 4.10)
• Simulation and modeling techniques are the best
  for pre-service teachers to apply in real eg. ABC
  (min. 5)
• Adjusted teaching-learning activity depending on
  situations ie. Flexibility, semi-structured

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Findings contd

• Instructional practices
• Applied constructivist strategies in teaching and
  learning
• Evidence
• Seating arrangement Groups of 4, mix groups
• Active learning student-led discussions,
  reflective QA, physical movement
• Provide scaffoldings learning materials,
  guidelines and examples before class,
  sign-language assistants
• Tasks individual and group, problem solving
  project-based eg. The ABC of me, story
  simulation

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Technology use

• Technology is used to support instruction and
  help students visualize thinking
• Eg Palm activity
• Types of implementation
• Variety technology eg WebCT, PP, ALMO
• Show and tell eg. Website, PPoint
• Demonstration eg hands-on practice, examples
• Give students access to technology after class
  practice using it
• Provide access to learning resources online

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Discussion Objective 1

• Teaching belief
• Consistent with constructivist believe
• Instructional practices
• Student-centered (min. 8)
• Teachers roles planner, manager, facilitator
• Make the assessment transparent to students
  create trust among them

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Discussion Objective 2

• Factors affecting technology use
• Age, gender, grade-level and subject taught,
  academic background and performance in schools do
  not directly influence the use of technology
• Strongest factors are
• Prior experience or exposure to variety
  instructional strategies and technology used
• Impact Modeling is very crucial in teacher
  education
• Awareness about the rationale of using technology
  in teaching-learning
• Knowledge about the ability of the software

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Discussion Objective 2

• Computer expertise serves as basic in providing
  knowledge about the technology and develop
  confidence of using it
• BUT teachers who is still in the early adoption
  stages (Rogers model of adoption) can always
  seek help from others eg. Invite guest speaker,
  media specialist (min. 6.38)
• Quality planning is the most important factor in
  integrating technology into classroom
• Instructor needs to plan activities, variety of
  instructional strategies
• Access to variety technology resources eg.
  Hardware and software is important to assist in
  integrating technology
• Gives time for instructor to research and play
  around with it

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Interpretation 1
Objective 1 To understand how teachers
philosophical belief relate to their practices in
integrating technology in their instruction
Support hypothesis that teachers with
constructivist belief are more likely to
integrate technology in their classroom
meaningfully to enhance students learning
Support other research findings related to
constructivist belief and ways technology are
used in the classroom
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Interpretation 2
Objective 2 To identify the possible factors
affecting teachers belief and their
instructional practices using technology
Did not support Ravitz and Wong (2000) research
findings about factors influence constructivist
belief and instructional practices in terms of
(1) age (2) subject taught (3) computer expertise
(4) grade level taught

• Connection with Ravitz and Wong (2000) research
  findings in terms of
• Academic background
• not directly related BUT the exposure and
  experience to variety instructional practices and
  technology use has impact on belief and use
• SES background
• Not directly related BUT access to variety of
  technology resources eg hardware and software has
  impact on the use of technology

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References

• Riel, Margaret and Becker,Hank (May 2000). The
  beliefs, practices and computer use of teacher
  leaders.
• Ravitz, J. Wong, Y. How Teaching Philosophies
  Relevant to Computer Use Originate Effects of
  Educational Background, Teaching
  Responsibilities, and Computer Use. Paper
  presented at American Educational Research
  Association, New Orleans, LA - April 24th - 28th,
  2000