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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VisionQuest: Main Menu

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VisionQuest: Sample Screen

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VisionQuest: Sample Page

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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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Questions?

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For more information:

• Melissa Dark <dark@cerias.purdue.edu>

Paper available at: http://www.edci.purdue.edu/ertmer/conferences