Increasing Preservice Teachers' Capacity for Technology Integration Through the Use of Electronic Models

1. Increasing Preservice Teachers' Capacity for Technology IntegrationThrough the Use of Electronic Models Melissa Dark Purdue University

2. 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

3. 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

4. Increasing Capacity for Technology Integration • Increase Ideas • Create a vision • Delineate strategies • Increase Self-Efficacy • Personal mastery • Vicarious experiences • Social persuasion • Physiological indicators

5. 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

6. 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?

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. VisionQuest: Main Menu

11. VisionQuest: Sample Screen

12. VisionQuest: Sample Page

13. 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

14. 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

15. Data Analysis • Frequencies and percentages • Paired t-tests • Pearson correlations • Qualitative pattern seeking

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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)

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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.

23. Limitations/Future Research • Lack of control group • Homogeneous group of participants • Perceptions may not translate into action • Long-range benefits are unknown

24. 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

25. Questions?

26. For more information: • Melissa Dark <dark@cerias.purdue.edu> Paper available at: http://www.edci.purdue.edu/ertmer/conferences