The journey from pre-service to practice: Exploring the connections between prior learning...
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The journey from pre-service to practice Exploring the connections between beginning teachers’ uses of technology and their pre- service education Natalie Pareja Roblin, Jo Tondeur, Johan van Braak Ghent University Joke Voogt , Petra Fisser University of Twente ECER, Cádiz, 2012
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Teachers are increasingly expected to integrate technology in their teaching practice – and to do so in innovative ways. This leaves teacher training institutions with the responsibility of preparing future teachers for this. However, despite the various approaches that are currently being explored and implemented by teacher training institutes around the world, research findings still suggest that beginning teachers typically make little or no use of technology in their instructional practice (e.g., Russell et al., 2003; Gao, Wong, Choy & Wu, 2011). There is a growing body of research that attempts to understand and explain this limited use by identifying the factors that support and/or hinder technology integration by beginning teachers (Bullock, 2004; Slaoui & Barton, 2007; Dawson, 2008; Starkey, 2010). Besides factors like, for example, access to technology (Dexter & Riedel, 2003) and teachers’ attitudes towards technology (Bate & Maor, 2008), one major factor that has been identified concerns the amount and adequacy of beginning teachers’ pre-service training (Drent & Meelissen, 2008), and more specifically the opportunities it provides them to gain experience with the use of technologies to enhance student learning in a particular subject domain (Dawson, 2008; Starkey, 2010). Recent studies have tried to understand whether or not beginning teachers feel prepared to integrate technology in their teaching practices (e.g. Slaouti & Barton, 2007; Dawson, 2008). However, less attention has been given to the purposes and the quality of beginning teachers’ use of technology (Dexter & Riedel, 2003), and to how these relate to their prior learning experiences. The ultimate goal of the current study is to address this lacuna by analysing the connections between Flemish beginning teachers’ pre-service learning experiences (both formal and informal) and the ways in which they use technology to support instruction during their early career. Specific research questions guiding the current study are: (1) What (formal and informal) pre-service learning experiences are regarded by beginning teachers as meaningful for supporting the integration of technology in their instructional practice?, and (2) in what ways are beginning teachers using technology, and how is this shaped by their prior (formal and informal) learning experiences? As mentioned above, pre-service training is only one of many factors involved in the uptake of technology by beginning teachers. Moreover, from literature it is known that various factors interact with each other (Slaouti & Barton, 2007). Therefore, besides identifying the specific connections between pre-service learning experiences and technology integration, we believe that we should not close our eyes for such other factors – and especially for how they affect the connections under study here. Hence, a third research question concerns: (3) What (other) factors influence the ways in which beginning teachers inte
Transcript of The journey from pre-service to practice: Exploring the connections between prior learning...
The journey from pre-service to practiceExploring the connections between beginning teachers’ uses of
technology and their pre-service education
Natalie Pareja Roblin, Jo Tondeur, Johan van BraakGhent University
Joke Voogt , Petra FisserUniversity of Twente
ECER, Cádiz, 2012
Introduction
• Increasing efforts to prepare (future) teachers for technology integration (Haydn & Barton, 2007; Kirschner & Selinger, 2003; Rizza, 2011).
• Adoption of novel strategies to develop (future) teachers’ abilities to use technology in the classroom (Kay, 2007; Polly, Mims, Shepard & Inan, 2010, Tondeur et al., 2012).
• Little is known about whether and how these novel strategies are leading to innovative uses of technology in schools by beginning teachers (BT) (Clausen, 2007; Roblyer & Knezek, 2003).
Research on beginning teachers’ uses of technology
Aims of the study
• Understand how and what for primary school BT use technology in their teaching practice.
• Identify the factors (e.g. access, support, school structure, experience) that primary school BT regard as most influential on the ways they use technology in their teaching practice.
• Examine the extent to which primary school BT feel that their pre-service education has contributed to shape how they use technology in their teaching practice.
Theoretical Foundations - Uses of technology
Inan & Lowther (2010), Russell et al. (2003), Tondeur et al. (2008); van Braak, Tondeur & Valcke (2004)
Theoretical Foundations - Factors
(Bate, 2010; Clausen, 2007; Dawson, 2008 ; Russell et al., 2003; Slaouti & Barton, 2007; Starkey, 2010)
Research approach
• Multiple case study (Yin, 2003)
4 primary school teachers (< 3 years experience)
Graduated from teacher education programs in Flanders advocated to prepare for technology integration
• Selection criteria
Reported (regular) use of technology to support instructionReported influence of pre-service educationDiversity in teaching experience, educational level, gender, and ICT profileWillingness to participate in the study
Procedure, data sources & analyses
Findings: Overview of technology uses
“With that large (digital) board they immediatly have a visual
image, is also faster, you can use films, it speaks much more to
their imagination” (Julia)
“When you need to draw a large diamond shape, it takes you a
long time. If you just say: Look, Power Point, make a diamond
shape, project it, and you are on your way” (Bart)
Teachers display pictures, maps and/or films on the (digital) board to
explain and/or clarify concepts.
Findings: Ways and purposes of technology use (RQ1)
“[With that program] I can see what they can do and what they cannot do, so next time they can start again with that exercise.
This way you can differentiate […] I notice
that they can also do it better than if they have a
book” (Eline)
Students who do not speak Dutch as a first language work on language and mathematics exercises available at an
online learning environment that is linked to the school’s textbook.
Findings: Ways and purposes of technology use (RQ1)
Students work in pairs on a Webquest about the solar
system.
“[The goal is] that they learn to use a computer, and to
browse through Internet in a safe way […] I find
important that they learn which sites are safe and which are not […] I think they have
enjoyed doing it, because they knew more, in their way,
additional information about all planets” (Bart)
Findings: Ways and purposes of technology use (RQ1)
Findings: Ways and purposes of technology use (RQ1)
“Our theme was about TV and advertisement. [I
believe] they also have to see how that [an
advirtisement] is made, and how much work gets
into it [...] that they see that it is not just about sticking
pictures on a piece of paper, but actually realize the composition behind it”
(Julia)Students design and develop an
advertisement. After thinking of a product, a price and a slogan, they go to
the computer room to work out their ideas.
Findings: Factors shaping technology use (RQ2)
“It is not possible to sit behind 1 computer with 19 children” (Eline)
“I think that when you have a beamer or a smart board in your classroom, then you are more motivated to use it” (Bart)
Findings: Factors shaping technology use (RQ2)
“Everybody has one hour in the computer room. It is not obliged, but the school principal has recommended it to us” (Bart)
“He [the school principal] wants us to provide the children with ICT experience as much as possible” (Julia)
Findings: Factors shaping technology use (RQ2)
“I think that, as a beginning teacher, as a young teacher, you are somehow expected to have gained more experience with computers during your education” (Bart)
Findings: Factors shaping technology use (RQ2)
“I want to have control over my classroom and stay close to all my children, and honestly, when you have an ICT corner then you leave these children with more freedom” (Valerie)
Findings: Factors shaping technology use (RQ2)
“Making and trying new things is difficult, especially at the start [of your career] because you are busy with preparing your lessons” (Bart)
Findings: Perceived influence of pre-service education (RQ3)
“The basic skills we did learn them” (Julia)
“We did have that quite a lot [courses on basic ICT skills]. A lot of text processing, also how to put pictures, there was also a lot of
Excell” (Eline)
Findings: Perceived influence of pre-service education (RQ3)
“We received tips, for example that Webquest [about the solar system], you can use that [...] it is an added value” (Bart)
“[To learn about things] such as Klascement or Hot Potatoes was useful” (Valerie)
Findings: Perceived influence of pre-service education (RQ3)
“If I had not learned it in my pre-service education, I think I would have never used it here” (Bart)
“I think they give us a push, and maybe that was their intention: We oblige you to use technology, and this way we know that you will use it. And I use it
now, without that [push]...” (Julia)
Findings: Perceived influence of pre-service education (RQ3)
“[We should learn] not only the application itself, but [also] how to use it and how to integrate it [in your teaching]” (Julia)
“I thought: ICT, that I should be able to use. It turns out I can’t [...] I did not really learn how I now can use ICT to teach my students “ (Eline)
Conclusions & Discussion• Pre-service education influences BT decisions regarding technology use, but
(the extent of) this influence is largely determined by school characteristics.
• Clear ICT policies, infrastructure and internal support (CPD, mentoring) are critical institutional factors facilitating (and shaping) BT uses of technology.
• Attention to how to teach with technology in teacher education is needed, not just knowing about technology.
• How to bridge the gap between …
• … learning about technology and learning to teach with technology?
• … what BT learn in their pre-service education and the specific characteristics of the school context?
• … expectations toward technology use and school support?
THANK YOU!GRACIAS!
Natalie Pareja Roblin: [email protected]: [email protected]
Johan van Braak: [email protected] Voogt: [email protected]
Petra Fisser: [email protected]
