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The purpose of this study was to monitor the change of certain teachers in the use of an innovation as a function of their participation in an institutionally supported staff development program. Five middle school teachers from rural schools participated in this project. This group was administered the SoCQ (Stages of Concern Questionnaire) and the LoU (Level of Use) interview on three different dates over an eight month period. These instruments were designed and tested by the Research and Development Center for Teacher Education at the University of Texas in Austin (Hall, et al., 1979). In addition to these two data collecting instruments, clinical interviews and classroom observations were administered and integrated into data analysis. The researcher was looking at how data changed during the course of this study. The results of this study indicated that in order for teachers to effectively implement telecommunications in the classroom they must be provided with support. The major issues that surround the implementation and use of telecommunications in the classroom were summarized from the teacher profiles. These categories consisted of planning and training, informational and technical support, administrative support, integration of telecommunication into the curriculum, teacher collaboration and mentoring. Leaders in the field of telecommunications and those making decisions about the innovation will need to look at teacher training and support, long-range district planning, curricula where the innovation is incorporated, and effective assessment tools at all levels of implementation. The group of teachers represented here had gone through intensive staff development training outside of their school systems. They were experienced educators and had been using computers for some years. The results of this exploratory and descriptive study may offer researchers, teachers, and educational administrators perspectives and information useful in implementing telecommunications in curricular reform, especially valuable at a time when technology instruction in many schools is undergoing this reform and teachers are being recognized as the primary agents implementing curricular changes and developing effective schools.

In the late 1980's and the early 1990's the public perception of distance learning in many communities was manifested in a lack of community support and inadequate funding for educational satellite programs. Technological educational changes addressed major defects in the way information was transmitted to public schools. Satellites and cable technologies were available and affordable to serve as catalysts for positive educational results. Research indicated that the number of schools using satellite dishes to receive instructional programs had increased 87% during the 1992-1993 school year. Over one half of all public school students nationally attended schools where satellite technology was available. This dissertation entered upon research on the group of public school liaisons who provided educational satellite programming in their communities. A review of the literature showed a variety of models for staff development, teaching and community involvement that used satellite and cable. A questionnaire survey was conducted among a statewide group of satellite liaisons and provided the primary quantitative database for the study. The survey asked respondents about the use and coordination of satellite and cable at their institutions. The methodology also involved qualitative research in which respondents were queried about the perceptions of distance learning in their communities. This combination of the literature review and the survey results may serve as an informational guide for those communities and school districts not using this technology presently.

The use of video recording in educational activities in African countries is neither recent nor unique. Variously employed in teacher training and extension work over the past two decades, the uses of this technology have been guided primarily by non-indigenous models of communication. This is particularly evident in the teacher training technique known as micro-teaching. After a critical review of educational technology literature covering foundational theories and field experiences, two case examples are presented which describe first the historical use of video in Malawi's Chancellor College and secondly, the combined use of video production with "Theatre for Development" in a Forestry Extension project. The analysis of these experiences, based in critical social theory, build arguments which show that conventional uses of video in education act as a vehicle for dominant, exogenous forms of cultural reproduction through the formal education system. The failure to fully employ and embrace the technology, years after its introduction, may be as much a result of passive cultural resistance to external influence as it is a lack of technical training, infrastructural support, or effects of inadequate staff development, reasons which are most often cited. In ethnographic terms, the institutional case example of video in teacher training describes the general construct of communicative behaviors traditionally employed with video technology, characterized predominately by highly institutionalized and non-indigenous patterns. The ethnography of the village based production of a video drama represents a selected discrepant case construct which challenges the defined patterns historically since emerging models of participatory extension communication are recent interventions in Malawi. As documentation of a field technique, the study also describes a unique combination of popular theater and video production used in extension communication. This description should prove worthwhile to practitioners, extension workers and educators interested in the use of video in communication and education in development, especially where its use contributes to the facilitation of authentic cultural expression and the production of indigenous forms of knowledge and culture.

The importance of integrating technology across the curriculum has been prominent in educational literature for the past decade. Numerous obstacles have been identified and documented surrounding the successful integration of technology in public schools. Access to hardware, appropriate software, professional training for educators, technical and financial support to sustain meaningful uses of technology in schools are the primary areas to be addressed when designing a comprehensive information technology implementation strategy for educational environments. The obstacles are clear, but many educational leaders have failed to develop a model which successfully addresses the challenge of integrating the use of technology as a tool for teaching and learning and as a means of constructing new knowledge for and by students. This paper will explore how technology facilitates learning through inquiry and how inquiry supports a constructivist/constructionist approach to teaching and learning for students and professional staff. This will lead to an examination of how inquiry and constructivism advance the integration of technology in education and how it provides a venue for developing communities of inquiry in schools. A framework for two initiatives developed for Yukon schools will be presented which address many of the challenges common to the successful integration of technology in public schools today. Both initiatives, the Computer Resource Teacher Model (CRTM) and Technology Learning Communities (TLC), promote integrative and constructive uses of technology through an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning with computers.

abstract: A recorded tutorial dialogue can produce positive learning gains, when observed and used to promote discussion between a pair of learners; however, this same effect does not typically occur when an leaner observes a tutorial dialogue by himself or herself. One potential approach to enhancing learning in the latter situation is by incorporating self-explanation prompts, a proven technique for encouraging students to engage in active learning and attend to the material in a meaningful way. This study examined whether learning from observing recorded tutorial dialogues could be made more effective by adding self-explanation prompts in computer-based learning environment. The research questions in this two-experiment study were (a) Do self-explanation prompts help support student learning while watching a recorded dialogue? and (b) Does collaboratively observing (in dyads) a tutorial dialogue with self-explanation prompts help support student learning while watching a recorded dialogue? In Experiment 1, 66 participants were randomly assigned as individuals to a physics lesson (a) with self-explanation prompts (Condition 1) or (b) without self-explanation prompts (Condition 2). In Experiment 2, 20 participants were randomly assigned in 10 pairs to the same physics lesson (a) with self-explanation prompts (Condition 1) or (b) without self-explanation prompts (Condition 2). Pretests and posttests were administered, as well as other surveys that measured motivation and system usability. Although supplemental analyses showed some significant differences among individual scale items or factors, neither primary results for Experiment 1 or Experiment 2 were significant for changes in posttest scores from pretest scores for learning, motivation, or system usability assessments. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Technology 2018

The importance of integrating technology across the curriculum has been prominent in educational literature for the past decade. Numerous obstacles have been identified and documented surrounding the successful integration of technology in public schools. Access to hardware, appropriate software, professional training for educators, technical and financial support to sustain meaningful uses of technology in schools are the primary areas to be addressed when designing a comprehensive information technology implementation strategy for educational environments. The obstacles are clear, but many educational leaders have failed to develop a model which successfully addresses the challenge of integrating the use of technology as a tool for teaching and learning and as a means of constructing new knowledge for and by students. This paper will explore how technology facilitates learning through inquiry and how inquiry supports a constructivist/constructionist approach to teaching and learning for students and professional staff. This will lead to an examination of how inquiry and constructivism advance the integration of technology in education and how it provides a venue for developing communities of inquiry in schools. A framework for two initiatives developed for Yukon schools will be presented which address many of the challenges common to the successful integration of technology in public schools today. Both initiatives, the Computer Resource Teacher Model (CRTM) and Technology Learning Communities (TLC), promote integrative and constructive uses of technology through an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning with computers. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

<p> With millions invested in educational technology, what is its impact on student achievement and engagement? This question formed the basis for a review of the current literature on the impact of iPads and other instructional technology on student academic growth and motivation in public schools. The research supports technology&rsquo;s positive impact on student achievement and engagement, but more research is needed in order to better understand how iPad use impacts students in the early elementary mathematics classroom. </p><p> This dissertation study examines the effects of an iPad-based math intervention, as compared to a traditional paper-pencil approach, on second graders&rsquo; achievement and engagement in mathematics. The students were assigned to treatment and control groups in matched pairs based on sex and pre-test scores. Then students engaged in a four-week math intervention, using either the iPad or paper-pencil. At the end of each intervention, students completed quantitative posttests given by their classroom teachers. Students then switched treatment and control groups for a second four-week math intervention. Quantitative pre-post assessments include Bridges math unit tests, easyCBM math tests, and a Likert-scale engagement measure. After the two interventions were completed, qualitative focus group data were collected from the teachers involved in the study, giving a more complete view of student engagement.</p><p> With finite intervention time and resources, schools need to know how to best improve student achievement and engagement in mathematics. This study fills a documented research gap and will help inform school decisions regarding instructional technology in the early elementary math classroom. </p>

<p> Although there is a large investment made in technology in our public and private schools each year, there has been comparatively little effort made into understanding the impact of that technology on our students. This study examines the relationship between student boredom, media multitasking, and distraction in an effort to understand the impact of media multitasking on our students. To examine this, a mixed methods design was utilized, consisting of a memory recall experiment, student interviews, and a survey instrument. This study found that laptops are preferred over iPads for both focus and academic reasons, and it discovered classroom environments and teaching methodologies that caused distraction to occur as well as strategies employed by students to attempt to overcome distraction. Ultimately, this study did not find an impact on academic performance as assessed by a memory recall experiment. As a result, this study contributes significant knowledge into technology distraction at the high school level as well as modifications that can help improve student focus.</p>