teachers teaching teachers: a concerns based approach to computer inservice education

Australian Educational Researcher 53

TEACHERS TEACHING TEACHERS: A CONCERNS BASED APPROACH TO COMPUTER INSERVICE EDUCATION

David H. MeKinnon (Mitchell College of Advanced Eduoatlon) and Kenneth Sinelalr (University of Sydney)

The NSW Primary Correspondence School has been investigating the application of communications technologies in distance education. Trials have been in progress since 1984. The trials have been investigating the efficacy of these technologies for, amongst other things, reducing the turnaround time for students' lessons. The normal mode of correspondence education is based on the mail system. This means that the turnaround time between students completing work and receiving the marked work back from the school can be anywhere between two and six weeks. The potentially long delay before the teacher can provide feedback to the student is not a very desirable educational situation.

THE 1984 ELECTRONIC MAIL TRIAL

The 1984 trial focused on the use of Videotex and Facsimile as an electronic mail system to overcome isolation in Distance Education. The trial involved eight Year 2 students who were supplied with videotex terminals printers and, facsimile machines.

The 1984 trial was an exploratory attempt to come to terms with communications technology. Students had to phone the ICL videotex computer to download pages of information which were subsequently stored on audio cassette tape. The videotex terminals could only store 4 pages of information at a time before being saved to tape. This resulted in numerous telephone calls having to be made to store even one day's educational material which often extended to 16 or more pages of information.

An evaluation established that the turnaround time was much reduced (Bishop, 1984). In fact, the average turnaround time was cut to less than 24 hours. However, the reliability of the equipment was much less encouraging.

The main advantages of the trial were that it produced

54 Australian Educational Researcher

an increased awareness and interest in communication technologies, and highlighted the need to explore more efficient and powerful technologies such as the computer.

THE 1985 ELECTRONIC MAIL TRIALS

It was against this background that the 1985 trial was conceived. It was determined that the equipment be of a much higher standard to facilitate the transfer of information. In this trial nine families were chosen with children who were at about the same stage in their maths and language leaflets. These children were all in the equivalent of Year 5.

Originally, it had been intended that videotex terminals be used again as a means of contacting the videotex computer. IBM however, offered to loan the Correspondence School I0 IBM portable computers fitted with Videotex modems, and supplied with a colour monitor. The trial proceeded in much the same way as the 1984 trial with the exception that saving the pages of information was accomplished much more quickly.

THIRD TERM TRIAL 1985

The format of the third term trial was to be quite different from previous trials held at the Correspondence School. The trial was to be a much lower profile affair where students used the computer for only part of the day. The activities suggested were:

- investigate the use of process writing using a word p r o c e s s o r ,

- investigate the use of LOGO in some areas of the new mathematics curriculum,

- investigate the use of databases, specifically the First Fleet Database, in Social Studies,

- use an Electronic Mail system (Minerva) for the sending and receiving of educational material.

The students' lessons would be delivered by normal means, i.e., using leaflets. The computer was to be used to supplement the leaflets where possible according to


teacher/student interest, and using several specially prepared software packages. In this way the computer was not used so much as a tutor to teach specific course content, but as a tool to assist the student with learning and information processing generally (see e.g., Sinclair, 1985).

An attempt was also °made to widen the trial to increase the number of participating students and teachers. It was decided that all members of the family be invited to join the trial. This offer was not turned down by any student. As a result, 15 students and 14 teachers became involved.

A major obstacle to the widespread use of computers and telecommunications in the school however, was the unfamiliarity of teachers with these technologies. With potentially large numbers of students willing to be involved in this new dimension of correspondence education, there was a need for a professional development program for all of the staff at the school. In developing a professional development course note was taken of some of the implications that the Concerns-Based Adoption has for the introduction of innovation in education.

THE CONCERNS-BASED ADOPTION MODEL (CBAM)

The development of the CBAM was based on extensive experience with educational innovation in school and college settings in the United States. The model seems to have many important implications for the introduction and management of innovation in education. The following assumptions establish the model's perspective on innovation adoption:

I. In educational institutions change is a process, not a singular event. Frequently policy makers, administrators and even teachers assume that change is the result of some administrative decision, departmental policy or procedural revision. It is assumed by many that the teacher will immediately adopt the new method or program. The reality is that change takes time and is achieved only in small stages.

2. The individual must be regarded as the most important target of any interventions which are designed to


facilitate change in the classroom. Other approaches view the institution as the unit of intervention and place their emphasis on improving communication and other organisational behaviours. The CBAM, however, emphaslses working with individuals in relation to their roles in the innovation process. The CBAM therefore assumes that institutions cannot change unless the individuals within them change.

3. Change is a highly personal experience. Too often attention is paid to the trappings and technology of the innovation and consequently the feelings and perceptions of the people experiencing the change are often ignored. In the CBAM it is assumed that the personal dimension is often of more critical importance than the technological dimension. Since the change is brought about by individuals, their personal satisfactions, concerns, motivations, frustrations, and perceptions generally all play an important part in determining the success or failure of the innovation.

4. The change process is not a continuous one. Individuals involved in the change go through stages in their perceptions and feelings about the innovation, as well as stages in their skill and sophistication in using the innovation.

5. Staff development can be best facilitated for the individual by use of a client centered diagnostic/prescriptive model. In order to deliver relevant and supportive staff development, facilitators need to diagnose the location of their clients in the change process and to direct their interventions toward the resolution of those diagnosed needs.

6. Staff developers need to work in an adaptive yet systematic way, staying in touch with the progress of individuals within the organisation. The facilitator must be able to assess and reassess the state of the change process and be able to adapt interventions to the latest diagnostic information.

Hall & Loucks, 1978, pp. 3-5)

According to the CBAM, anytime an individual


encounters an innovation, his or her behaviour is initially influenced mainly by concerns about his or herself. As these concerns become resolved, the individual's concerns shift to focus on details of the task. Ultimately, the individual becomes concerned about the impact of his or her efforts and strives to optimize his or her effectiveness.

IMPLICATIONS FOR STAFF DEVELOPMENT

The Concerns dimension of the CBAM has many important implications for the inservice provider. Some of these are enumerated below:

I. Nonusers of an innovation have their most intense concerns at stages 0, I, and 2. They are most concerned about having descriptive information about the innovation (stage I), and about the personal implications of the innovation (stage 2). Further they are not concerned about the impact of the innovation upon their students (stages 4, 5, and 6). It is suggested that development activities for these nonusers should address their informational needs and personal concerns perhaps, by giving general descriptive information about the innovation and by describing how the innovation will affect them personally, e.g., by telling them how much time they will have to give up if they are going to use the innovation.

2. In dealing with nonusers of an innovation, the staff developer may be well advised to downplay the consequences of the innovation for students. Although nonusers are somewhat concerned about the implications of an educational innovation for students they are more concerned about what the innovation means to them.

3. The process of moving from self to impact concerns is a slow one. This was demonstrated in a report by Hall and Rutherford (1976) of a study into teachers' concerns with respect to team teaching. Teachers with four or more years experience in team teaching still had their major concerns at the management level (Stage 3).

4. It is important to attend to teachers' concerns as


well as the technology of the innovation. This is because there is an affective side to change.

5. Personal concerns are a very real part of the change process and they need to be acknowledged and recognised as a legitimate concern.

6. Change is a process entailing developmental growth and learning and will take time. It is therefore unlikely that one shot inservice days will lead to the implementation of a program. Long term follow-up is necessary.

7. It is unlikely that the concerns of staff developers will be the same as their clients (teachers). In fact it is likely that staff developers are where they are because they have Impact concerns. Staff developers therefore need to ensure that the activities they design are aimed at the concerns of teachers and not their own concerns. Resolution of these early concerns will allow teachers to develop the impact concerns that most likely interest staff developers.

8. Within any group of teachers there is likely to be a variety of concerns. The traditional format of providing common staff development activities for all teachers is therefore unlikely to be effective. The problem becomes one of how to individualise and personalise staff development in such a way that each teacher's concerns are addressed while maintaining some degree of budgetary constraint on the process. The concerns data can be used to structure small homogeneous groups and designing options within staff development programs have the potential of solving this dilemma. (Hall & Loucks, 1978)

OBJECTIVE SETTING AND THE CBAM

The CBAM would seem to have important implications for the setting of objectives in any inservice activity related to the introduction of innovation. Further, it may be possible to structure a sequence of objectives, and hence activities, that would take account of teachers' concerns in such a way as to minimise the amount of time spent at the Self concerns level and therefore enable teachers to arrive at a consideration of the impact


concerns more rapidly.

The key self-concern that appears to act as a blocking factor to the development of the higher level concerns is the Personal Concerns stage. (Stage 2 - uncertainty about the demands of the innovation, his/her inadequacy to meet those demands.) In developing the inservice course at the NSW Correspondence school a number of factors implied by the CBAM in order to reduce personal concerns, were taken into account.

One factor relates to the activities in which the teachers were to be engaged. The activities were structured for success. Failure at the early stages would contribute to a raising of personal concerns which act a blocking factors. In addition, the equipment that the teachers were to use was checked before every session. There is probably nothing more disconcerting to a new user than to have the equipment behave in an unpredictable fashion for no apparent reason and to have the 'expert' called in to do strange things to the machine to get it working. This raises feelings, in the new user, of personal inadequacy and of being unable to cope with the machine.

Another factor implied by the CBAM, but not explicitly stated, related to the concerns of the facilitator. In many inservice courses an analysis of the objectives will reveal the facilitator's concerns. These are seldom congruent with the concerns of the participants. It was decided therefore, that the teachers who had been involved in the previous trials and who had mastered the skills of simple word processing and data communications be invited to act as tutors to the non-users. These teachers were not so far removed from their own initial learning experiences to have forgotten what it was like to be in that position.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Six teachers were involved in the initial stages of the trials in 1985. Only one of these teachers had any experience in using a computer. Inservice activities during the second term trial consisted of 'on the job' training by the first author. This was neither very effective or satisfactory, as the first author was


available only two or three days per week. Whenever a crisis arose things largely came to a halt until the first author could rectify them. The trial did however generate a large amount of interest in the use of computers and facsimilie in communications. With the advent of the third term, and the much lower profile of the trial, more time was available for a more formal inservicing process. As the siblings of the original pupils had been included in the new trial, there were now 16 pupils and 14 teachers involved. The teachers were taught how to use: - a word processor, OTC's Minerva messaging system and, a database program on the first fleet convicts. The teachers acquired varying degrees of proficiency in using the word processor and communications equipment.

The larger number of teachers involved brought increased pressure to develop an inservice program in order that the comDuters and the telecommunications network could be used more effectively to communicate with students.

Towards the end of the year some decisions were made regarding the extension of the trials into 1986, the purchase of more computers, an approach to IBM for the continued loan of the portable computers and, the initiation of a staff development program. With the start of the new school year, a further decision was made to survey the home based families on correspondence education, to see how many of them had computers and would be willing to purchase modems in order to start communicating with the school.

With regard to the extension of the trials into 1986 it was decided to focus on the role of the computer in the communication process between student and teacher. It was also decided to purchase a further four computers to supplement the original loan computer. Two of the new computers were placed in the infants' and two in the primary department.

STRUCTURE OF THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSE

In constructing a model of inservice education to be implemented at the Primary Correspondence School, some features of a French model that was developed in the early 1970s for the '58 Lyeees' and later for the 'I0,000


micros' projects (described in Gwyn, 1981) were used. The French model involved a two stage approach where a small number of teachers were withdrawn from schools. The teachers received 'in-depth' training for one year. On return to the schools their duties included the training of their colleagues, preparing testing programs and supervising the installation of computer systems. Computer clubs for pupils were much encouraged. (In terms of theory of innovation, this represents a classic 'multiplier' model and an evaluation of its apparent effectiveness would be very interesting.)

At the correspondence school it was intended to use the teachers with some expertise in using computers, to teach the other teachers. There were a total of 58 teachers in the two departments. With 10 seed teachers who felt confident in taking on the role of tutor, it was expected that the other 48 teachers would have basic skills in word processing and the use of Telememo by the end of an 18 week period. The seed teachers were free to ask anyone they wanted if they wished to be tutored. In using this approach, it became obvious that the social networks within the school would plan an important part in everyone being tutored by someone they felt comfortable with. Minor problems in this area did arise.

The design of the professional development course was undertaken by the author. The objectives chosen for the course were limited and it was expected that they could be achieved in the allotted time of six weeks. The administration approved the approach of teachers being released for half an hour per day to attend inservice sessions. The rationale for using half hour sessions each day was based on previous experience in inservice courses where participants very quickly reached information overload. The half hour session was structured in such a way that the teacher would be, at most exposed to two new concepts. One of these concepts was introduced early in the session and time allowed for practice and the second concept introduced late in the session to provide a link to the next session.

The sessions were very highly structured in order that the tutor knew explicitly what had to be done and to cater for the hypothesised anxiety that the new users might experience in dealing with the technology.


The formal of the Professional Development course was as follows:

- teachers from the 1985 term three trial who had become competent in using the word processor and telecommunications to contact pupils were invited to become tutors. In addition, a small number of teachers who had not been on the trial, but who had computer skills, were also invited to become tutors. Some of the 1985 teachers did not feel confident in this role and asked to be left out. Ten teachers indicated that they would act as tutors.

- The tutors took two weeks to re-familiarise themselves with the IBM computers, the use of Telememo, Telecom's electronic mail system, and with the course written by the author. The author was available on six of these days to work with the teachers (tutors).

- Towards the end of the two weeks the tutors asked other members of staff to become their pupils (tutees).

- The tutees received 4 weeks of tuition from their tutors for half an hour per day. The first 2 weeks were taken up with familiarisation and word processing. Activities prepared from "Word Processing", published by Ashton Scholastic, were found to be helpful in teaching the tutees the basic skills in word processing. Three quarters of the remaining two weeks were taken up with using the word processor to prepare messages for pupils which were to be sent on Telememo. Tutees also contacted Telememo and read and saved mail from the pupils.

After the four weeks the tutors took on another tutee and repeated the course. The first group of tutees then had two weeks of consolidation activities before they took on a tutee and repeated the process. In this fashion all of the teachers in the primary and infants departments had received four weeks of personalised instruction for half an hour per day in word processing and the use of Telememo in the course of 20 weeks, two weeks longer than originally planned.

Figure I attempts to summarise the timetable of the inservice courses conducted by the teachers. The number


of sessions per day available computers and tutored at any one time.

was dictated by the number of the number of teachers being

week 0 2 6 8 I0 12 14 16 18

Initial I Ist g r o u p l training l of tutees

I I l Oteachers 110+10 I

~teachers I

l l s t I g r o u p I I I I

2nd group I of tutees

l I0+I0 I

teachers

I 3rd group l of tutees

consol- I idation ~ I0+I0 I0 Iteachers tutees

~th group l~th I I of tutees Igroup I : I consol - I 1 10+10 lidationl Iteachers ~10

:tutees I

12nd ~ 5th group 15th Igroup ~ of tutees Igroup : :consol- ~ :consol- : ~idation I 10+10 lidation I :I0 :teachers :I0 : Itutees ~ Itutees :

13rd I Igroup Iconsol- I lidation ~ :10 I I tu_t ees I

Figure I. Timetable for the Professional Development Program

SCOPE AND SEQUENCE

The goal chosen for the course was limited. The goal was:

professional development

for the teachers to have sufficient skill in a) word processing and, b) the use of telecommunications, to be able to communicate effectively with isolated students.

The following indicated the scope and activities that were included in the programme.

s e q u e n c e of


SESSIONS ACTIVITIES

1.1

1.2

1.3

Turning on computer

Care of disks

Getting computer started.

II-X 2.1

2.2

2.3

Simple word processing - getting started - loading a file from disk - using prepared exercises to"

delete, insert, format, print. /

Save material to disk Get material from disk

Create word processed files sample communique to a student.

- e.g. a

XI-XX 3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

Use communications disk to with Telememo.

Use the simple messaging system Delete mail items.

make contact

functions of the to Send/ Receive/

Use of word processor to create for transmission on Telememo.

Send an ASCII file to Telememo.

a file

3.5 Use PC-Talk mail items.

III to download and capture

XXI-XXX Consolidation Activities

4.1 Working on own to word processor.

create files on the


4.2 Editing of files.

4.3 Creating ASCII files.

4.4 Use Telememo to Send and Receive mail.

4.5 Use PC-Talk to capture files downloaded from Telememo.

EVALUATION

At the end of professional development course a Stages of Concern questionnaire was administered. In addition, a series of open ended questions was administered which sought to ellicit information about the teachers' feelings before, during and after the course and, thoughts and feelings about the course. The questionnaires were distributed by the first author at the school. The teachers were asked to complete the questionnaires and return them in sealed envelopes (supplied) to the deputy principal. These were collected by the author two weeks later. Six teachers did not complete the questionnaires.

RESULTS

An analysis of the expressing the teachers' course (Table I (a)) shows that of statements from the 52 teachers, 66 expressed concerns. These responses terms of Stages of Concern (Newlove Table I (b) indicates the number statements at each expressed level Information seeking (Level I) and Personal concerns (Level 2) are notable for the number of statements expressing these concerns, a total of 74% of concerns responses.

Open Ended Statements of Concern concerns before the inservice

the total of 92 of the responses

were analysed in and Hall, 1976).

and percentage of of concern.

Responses expressing a 'concern' 66 Responses not related to 'concerns' 26

Total 92

Table 1(a): Analysis of Open Ended Statements relating to use of computers in education.


Concern 0 I 2 3 4 5 6

N 9 28 21 4 % 13.5 42 32.5 6

4 0 0 6 0 0

Table 1(b) : Analysis of 'Concerns" Responses.

An analysis of the Concern's questionnaire (Hall, George and Rutherford, 1979) results reveals that the Personal Concerns of the teachers has appeared to decrease in comparison to the stage 2 concerns expressed in the open ended statement of concern. Table 2 shows the frequency of the teachers' greatest and second greatest levels of concern as extracted from the Stages of Concern profiles.

Level of Concern 0 I 2 3 4 5 6

Greatest concern M Second greatest N

concern Total

% of Total

22 5 4 8 I 1 11 8 18 3 8 3 6 6

30 23 7 16 4 7 17 26 22 6.5 15 4 6.5 16

Table 2: Frequency of first and second expressed levels of concern (SoC questionnaire).

Teachers were asked what they thought Of the way the activities were structured. Table 3 indicates that the majority of teachers were satisfied with the structure.

Favourable responses 40 Unfavourable responses I0 Other 2

Total 52

Table 3 : Structure of the activities.

When asked what they considered to be the best points of the course, the teachers' responses fell into three definite areas: those related to the peer tutoring system, those related to' the structure of the course and, those related to the personal satisfaction gained from the


course (see Table 4). Peer tutoring was the most popular reason given for the course being seen as enjoyable.

Peer tutoring 24 Course 17 Personal 11

Total 52

Table 4 : Best points of the course.

When asked what they thought of the peer tutoring system used, 45 of the teachers said that they had enjoyed it and gave reasons either related to the tutoring system and/or to the relationships that they had developed as a result of the course. Seven teachers did not enjoy the peer tutoring due to a mismatch between the tutor and the tutee (see Table 5).

System related 30 Teacher - Tutee relationship 27 Other 7

Total 64

Table 5 : Peer tutoring system.

An interesting fact emerged in relation to a question asked about the enjoyable aspects of the course. 37 of the teachers said that they had enjoyed the course because of personal factors such as 'breaking the mental fog' or 'learning something new'.

Enjoyment related to self Enjoyment related to course Other

37 10 5

Table 6 : Enjoyable aspects of course.

Another interesting fact emerges in relation to a question seeking information about the worst points of the course. More than half of the teachers complained of the lack of time that they had to perform their normal duties and to do the course at the same time. This time management aspect is a Stage 3 Concern (See Table 7).


Time related 28 Course related 8 Lack of pupil contact 8 Tutor related 3 Personal 3

Total 52

Table 8 : Worst points of the course.

The final quest ion asked if the teachers would be willing to participate in a peer tutoring system again. Seven teachers said that they wouldn't, giving such reasons as, lack of time and, a feeling of inadequacy (Table 8(a)). Of the teachers who indicated that they would be willing to participate again the most common reason given related to the personal enjoyment and satisfaction that had been obtained (Table 8(b)).

Personal reasons 5 Lack of time 2

Table 8(a) : Further involvement- No

Personal reasons Pupil reasons Course reasons Computer reasons

26 13 4 2

Table 8(b) : Further involvement- Yes

DISCUSSION

In many respects the professional development course described must be considered a success. If success is to be gauged by the number of people who enjoyed the course and started using computers then, of the 52 respondents, 45 were satisfied and are continuing to use the computers. The approach used - that of peer tutoring - also seemed to be very popular with the teachers.

The concerns data provide some insight into the feelings of the teachers about the course and to computers. Table 1(b) and Table 2 demonstrate that the


teachers' personal concerns dropped from an overall 32.5% of expressed concerns to 6.5%. The indication from these data suggest that the course structure and the peer tutoring system used, did much to reduce teachers' personal concerns with respect to the use of computers in education. In addition, the percentage of expressed concerns at the Self Level (Stages 0, I and 2) appears to have fallen from 88% to 55% while the expressed concerns at the Impact Level (Stages 4, 5 and 6) has increased from 6% to 27%. The CBAM data from other sources indicate that it can take considerable time for individuals to arrive at the Impact Concern level if the concerns of the individual are neglected. If this is the case then the clients in the education system, the pupils, are the ones who suffer. It would seem that the more rapidly a consideration of the Impact Levels of Concern can be arrived at then the more rapidly that effective use of the innovation can be made. This not only includes a consideration of the Consequences of the innovation for the students but also a consideration of the Refocussing of the innovation into new areas where improvements might be made. The innovation has no real end point. Any innovation undergoes significant changes as individuals make changes to suit themselves and their clients. The changes that the innovation undergoes in the adoption process is described in the Innovation Configuration dimension of the CBAM. The configurations of the current innovation, computers in education, need to be investigated.

The peer tutoring system was originally introduced because the first author was only available at the school for two days per week. However, some interesting points have emerged as a result of using the system. The CBAM implies that, in general, inservice providers tend to stress factors related to the impact of the innovation because that is what concerns them most. In this instance the tutors had concerns which were mainly at the Self level and therefore were probably addressing the needs of their tutees. The fact that many of the teachers derived enjoyment from the peer tutoring system seems to indicate that the approach should merit further investigation.

In conclusion, the Concerns-Based Adoption model has many implications for teacher educators and inservice providers, especially when dealing with a significant


innovation such as computers. The innovation is rather forbidding and teachers tend to be rather concerned about using the technology. Inservice courses could benefit a great deal is as much attention was paid to the concerns of individuals involved in the innovation adoption as is paid to the actual technology of the innovation itself. This is especially true where computers are concerned.

References

Bishop, Robin (1984) Electronic Mail Trial Using Videotex a.nd Facsimile. The Correspondence School, Sydney.

George, Archie, A. (1977) Development and Validation of a Concerns Questionnaire. Paper presented at annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, April 7.

Hall, Gene, George, Archie, A. and Rutherford, William, L. (1979) Measuring Stages of Concern about the Innovation: A Manual for Use of the SoC Questionnaire, University of Texas at Austin.

Hall, Gene, E. and Loucks, S.F. (1978) Teacher Concerns as a Basis for Facillitatin~ and Personalizing Staff Development. Teachers College Record, September, pp 36-53.

Hall, Gene, E. and Rutherford, William, L. (1976) Concerns of Teachers about Implementing Team Teaching, Educational Leadership, 34 (3), PP 227-233.

McKinnon, D.H. (1986) Communications Technology and Distance Education, in J. Nylander (Ed.), A Model Programme: The Teachers' Story, IBM Australia.

Newlove, Beulah, W. and Hall, Gene (1976) A Manual for Assessing Open-Ended Statements of Concern About an Innovation. University of Texas at Austin.

Sinclair, K.E. (1985) The Computer as a Tool in the Teaching-Learning Process: Implications for Teacher Education, in B. Rasmussen (Ed.), The Information Edge: The Future of Educational Comput.ing, C.E.G. of Queensland.

teachers teaching teachers: a concerns based approach to computer inservice education

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