preparing student teachers to integrate ict in classroom practice: a synthesis of qualitative...
DESCRIPTION
The need to better align teachers’ preparation in the integration of ICT with pedagogical issues and curriculum integration is well understood. Practical experiences from across the world sustain such viewpoints while at the same time emphasising the difficulties and challenges faced in the implementation of such programmes. Therefore, it is of great importance to understand the effectiveness of strategies to prepare student teachers. Given the lack of a comprehensive review about these strategies, the purpose of this study is to reveal the most useful strategies for contemporary ICT integration in student teacher education programmes. More specifically, a synthesis of qualitative research was used to locate, critically appraise and synthesise the evidence base (cf. Petticrew, 2001) for interventions to effectively prepare student teacher to integrate ICT in classroom practices.TRANSCRIPT
Preparing student teachers to integrate ICT in classroom practice:
a synthesis of qualitative evidence
Jo Tondeur*, Johan van Braak & Guoyuan Sang Ghent University; *Research Foundation Flanders
Joke Voogt & Petra FisserTwente University
Anne Ottenbreit-LeftwichIndiana University
ECER 2010 / Helsinki
Student teachers’ educational ICT use
• Pre-service training can affect new teachers’ adoption of ICT (e.g. Drent & Meelissen, 2008)
• BUT: ICT seems under-used by student/beginning teachers (e.g. Bullock, 2004)
• Possible explanations: ‣insufficient access to technology (Russell et al., 2003) ‣lack of time (Eifler, et al., 2001)
‣lack of ICT skills (Thompson et al., 2003)
However: training may not be not enough to prepare student teachers to successfully integrate ICT
Strategies used to integrate ICT[Based on Kay, 2006]
Integrated
Multimedia
Education faculty
Single course
Modelling
Collaboration
Field based
Workshops
Mentor teachers
Access
Effectiveness of strategies
• Some preliminary evidence
‣From stand alone courses to field-based model (cf. Brush et al, 2003)
‣From TK to TPCK (cf. Mishra and Koehler , 2008)
‣Combination of strategies (cf. Kangro & Kango, 2005)
‣Collaboration between preservice and mentor teachers (cf. Barton & Haydn, 2006)
“The jury is still out on which strategies work best (…).
There is a obvious mandate for more thorough analysis”
[Kay, 2006]
Qualitative study that uses as data the findings from other qualitative studies based on the same topic, e.g.
Preparing student teachers to integrate ICT in their lessons
• Goals (Estabrooks et al. 1994)
‣ theory development‣ higher level abstraction, ‣ generalizability (to make qualitative findings more accessible in practice)
• Can explore questions such as (Hannes, 2010)
‣ how do people experience certain phenomena or interventions‣ why does an intervention work (or not), and‣ in what circumstances?
> Synthesis of qualitative evidence
• Interpretative strategy for combining the findings of qualitative research (developed by Noblit and Hare, 1988)
• To synthesize qualitative research and attempt to see processes and outcomes across many case studies (Miles & Huberman, 1994)
• Challenge: attempt to translate the richness of each study while also providing some generalizable concepts
• NOT simply aggregating the findings into a summary list
Meta-Ethnography“A question of dialoguing with texts” [Zimmer, 2004]
Steps Description
AimPotential of strategies used to prepare student teachers to integrate ICT
Search strategy
Database: Web of Science Key words:“ICT”, “technology”, “teacher education”, ... [Qualitative/2000-2010 /Empirical studies in journals/English]
Qualityassessment
Assessed for quality using 13 criteria (Atkins et al, 2008)
Exclusions: insufficiently focused on the topic/not qualitative
Synthesis approach
Reading the studiesDetermining how the studies are relatedTranslating studies into one anotherSynthesise translations
Process of completing the Meta-Ethnography [Based on Atkins et. al., 2008; Noblit & Hare, 1988; Rice, 2002]
Search results
Search history Number of papers
Total papers produced by first search 194
Potentially relevant papers after evaluation of abstract 23
Papers excluded during quality appraisal 4
Total papers finally synthesised [1st round] 19
Appraisal tool“The process of systemattically examining
research evidence to assess its validity, results and relevance” [Spittlehouse, 2003]
Question Developed by Atkins et al, 2008; based on CASP YES NO UnclearIs this study qualitative research 23 0 0Are the research questions (RQ) clearly stated 14 7 1
Is the qualitative approach clearly justified 15 4 5Is the approach appropriate for the RQ 21 2 0Is the study context clearly described 18 3 2Is the role of the researcher clearly described 4 16 3Is the sampling method clearly described 13 13 0Is the sampling strategy appropriate for the RQ 10 0 13Is the method of data collection clearly described 20 2 ?Is the data collection method appropriate to the RQ 19 0 4Is the method of analysis clearly described 9 11 3
Is the analysis appropriate for the research question 8 2 13Are the claims made supported by sufficient evidence 17 5 2
Analysis toolQuestion
StrategyDevelopment of TPCK-competencies, Instructional design, Staff development, …
Theory TPCK (3), TTT-model, CSCL, Review of programs, …
ParticipantsStudent teachers, teacher educators, policy makers, instructors, tutors, faculty members, …
Educational level Primary (5), Secondary (7), Mix (11)
Domain Cross curriculum (17), Mix (4), Science, Mathematics,…
Country USA (8), Singapore (3), Turkey (3), UK (2), Taiwan (2), …
Research method
Individual interviews (10), Focus groups (4), observations (3), Mix (13), …
Evidence(Based on Hannes, 2010)
Unequivocal: directly reported/observedCredible: interpretation, plausible in the light of the dataUnsupported: findings are not supported by data
Themes accross the studies
Collaboration with peers
Balance between theory and practice
Role model
Systemic and systematic change
Instructional design
ReflectionRole of mentor(school)
Infrastructure
Integrated approach
Involvement of management
ICT skills
Resourses
Field based experiences
Room for attitudes & beliefs
Differentiation
Evaluation
Some key themes under magnifying glass
Collaboration (with peers)
“It was just an easy and relaxing, non-threatening way of picking things up, sharing expertise. You could make mistakes (…) and it didn’t matter” [Unequivocal evidence]
“The study suggests that there may be some benefits in changing the composition of working groups over the course ” [Credible evidence]
“Staff should believe that they can learn from each other and should be facilitated in small-group discussions about ICT use in a variety of situations” [Unsupported]
Way to eliminate uncertaintyComposition of the group can influence the experience Related themes: “Differentiation”, “Reflection”, “attitudes and beliefs”
Some key themes under magnifying glass
Balance between theory and practice“My initial knowledge about the design of ICT-enhanced learning activities was zero; I wanted to just hear about it and read about it”
“The mixture of short lectures or demonstrations and practical work was appropriate: studying in one’s own time and the combination of short demonstrations was a good solution”
“They reported that ‘watching’ ICT being used was no substitute for doing, with one trainee noting: letting us experience using more ICT”
Systematic and systematic efforts: from knowledge to experiences Linking TK and PCK Related themes: “Role models”, “Instructional design”, “field based experience”, “systematic and systematic change”
Some key themes under magnifying glass
Field based experiences
“Preservice teachers need to use ICT throughout their program and this use must extend to their field experiences in K–12 classrooms”
“I have lots of ideas for incorporating ICT into my own classroom, but as a guest in someone else’s classroom, I can only feel comfortable with ICT that is familiar to the tenets of the school”
“Planning and preparation was a major theme throughout the debriefings. Ten participants stated that they felt additional planning was needed to implement lessons incorporating ICT”
Collaboration with and support from mentor teachers is crucialRelated themes: “Mentor teachers”, “Instructional design”, “attitudes and beliefs”
Generating the synthesis
To conclude• Meta-ethnography helps re-interpret meaning across studies
‣Relationship between studies (e.g. Angeli & Valanides, 2009 > Bruch et al., 2003)
‣Reasons why intervention succeed: collaboration with peers, differentiation,…‣Or fail: no practical applications, no access to infrastructure,…‣Explanation for unexpected findings: composition of groups, school culture,
…
• Methodological challenges ‣locating studies, synthesising, presenting findings (see Atkins et al, 2008)
“We could not make such a good lesson design and teaching practice if we worked separately. The sharing of work and team teaching practice gave us the greatest enjoyment” [R13].
Papers ? Information ?
Collaboration ?
http://ugent.academia.edu/JoTondeur