In the absence of a Georgia Educator Certificate in instructional technology, and of state-wide staffing requirements for instructional technology specialists, media specialists may be playing an increasingly larger role in instructional technology support and focusing less on other vital media specialist responsibilities. A deeper understanding of the role of media specialists with respect to instructional technology may provide insight into determining a need for instructional technology certification and support in Georgia schools. The purpose of this quantitative survey study was to examine the role of media specialists with respect to instructional technology in an urban school district in Georgia. Practicing media specialists’ perceived use, and perceived ideal use, of instructional technology specialist and media specialist job competencies were examined. The data revealed an overall difference among the four dependent variables (a) perceived current use of media specialist competencies, (b) perceived ideal use of media specialist competencies, (c) perceived current use of instructional technology specialist competencies, and (d) perceived ideal use of instructional technology specialist competencies. Within-subjects contrasts revealed significant pairwise differences among all the variables except the comparison of the use of media specialist competencies and the use of instructional technology specialist competencies. These findings suggest that in the absence of consistently staffed, certified instructional technology specialists, media specialists are playing an increasingly larger role in instructional technology support and focusing less on other essential media specialist roles and responsibilities.

This study used a mixed-methods design to determine instructional strategies that best enhance pre-service teachers’ valuing of digital storytelling as a method to teach the narrative writing process; to consider how digital storytelling increases pre-service teachers’ valuing of the role of reflection in the writing process; and to explore how pre-service teachers’ become more aware of the relationship between words and images to convey meaning. The study also considered aspects of the project that result in pre-service teachers valuing digital storytelling to teach the writing process and investigated how engaging in a digital storytelling project helps pre-service teachers better understand the connection between the planning process in the text-based environment and the planning process in the digital environment. Results indicated that constructing digital stories in a supportive learning environment led pre-service teachers to be more aware of the role that reflection plays in writing process and to value digital storytelling as an effective method to teaching writing and integrate digital technology in the classroom. Participating in the project increased pre-service teachers’ understanding of the connection between the planning process in the text-based environment and the planning process in the digital environment. Use of a storyboard served as a reflective planning tool that enabled pre-service teacher to better understand the connection between words and images to convey meaning and extended the planning process into the digital environment. Pre-service teachers valued the digital storytelling project as a model for teaching the writing process in the digital environment, as a method for self expression and for sharing stories within a community of learners, and as a strategy for integrating digital technology in the classroom.

WebQuest is one of the popular technology integration strategies in school environment. This study is conducted to overcome existing problems for both teachers and students in higher education by bringing dynamism to existing approach. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to design, develop, implement the new approach of the WebQuest, and assess the experiences of the participants that they encounter in the dynamic WebQuest environment. The participants of this study were the students of two undergraduate courses offered by the Secondary Science and Math Education Department (SSME) and Computer Education and Instructional Technology Department (CEIT) of a private university. Seventy undergraduate students participated in this study. This study employed both qualitative and quantitative measures in order to develop explanatory thoughts about the WebQuest site, projects and perceptions towards the process and the project. The findings of this study showed that participants favored the WebQuest site and the project, which is dynamically created. Furthermore, they offered valuable suggestions to improve the effectiveness of the system.

The purposes of this study was to investigate seventh-grade students&rsquo / misconceptions related to forming and solving equations and examine the role of technology use in preventing and remedying these misconceptions. A group of 18 seventh grade students was given a diagnostic test before they started the equations unit to determine their misconceptions related to the topic. Students studied equations for 6 weeks and half of the instruction took place in the computer lab where they used various electronic manipulative and activities on the computer. The students were given another diagnostic test at the end of the instruction. After a month, they took another diagnostic test for the third time. The diagnostic tests were equivalent to each other in terms of item structures and contents. The effect of technology use in changing students&rsquo / performances on the diagnostic tests was determined by repeated-measures ANOVA. Furthermore, changes in students&rsquo / misconceptions were also analyzed qualitatively. According to the results, no significant effect of technology use on preventing and remedying misconceptions was found. However, technology positively affected students&rsquo / feelings, thoughts and attitudes towards equations. Outcomes of this study have some implications for teachers, teacher educators, and curriculum writers as solving and forming equations is fundamental for learning algebra and a very significant strand of school mathematics.

This research described and analyzed teachers’ perceptions of technology as a catalyst for stimulating classroom constructivist practices. The teachers were located at multiple schools in one Florida county. The teachers were selected based on participation in the Education through Dynamic Global Experiences (EDGE) program. This One-to- One program provides one laptop for every classroom teacher and student. The most frequent ideas in the literature fell into three sections. First is the need to integrate technology as part of the curricula and use constructivism as a theoretical framework for technology integration. The second relates to the best practices of incorporating classroom technology driven by constructivist theory and Self-Regulated Learning (SRL). The third describes one county’s EDGE program and related literature. Two focus groups gathered information from teachers with various levels of classroom and EDGE experience regarding perceptions of a One-to-One classroom. Teachers were surveyed regarding perceptions of processes of using technology as a catalyst for constructivist practices, changing teaching and learning, teaching style, and curriculum content delivery. Conclusion: Data collected from teacher surveys and focus groups support the premise that “Elementary teacher’s perceptions of technology as a catalyst for constructivist practices in the classroom” is valid. This conclusion was demonstrated by evaluating teacher perceptions, patterns of experiences, and the emergence of constructivist instructional practices when technology is infused in the curriculum. The major recurring themes supported a constructivist culture that was: collaborative and independent, receptive to individuals and valued their relationships, replete with opportunities for distributed leadership, interconnected with integrated technology, populated with highly engaged and motivated individuals, self-sustaining, safe and nonjudgmental, vision driven, built on authentic assessment and curriculum, and evolving at the speed of technology. Implications follow: 1. Technology can be used as a catalyst for classroom constructivist practices 2. Teachers believe that technology supports increasing standardized test scores. 3. Training in constructivism promotes use of technology by teachers and speeds changing teaching pedagogy into constructivist practices. 4. Teachers’ perceptions are important in changing pedagogy toward constructivism. 5. School administration must support classroom technology and constructivist teaching 6. Students and teachers can collaborate in designing, developing, and implementing their learning experiences and students can actually take control of their learning experiences.

“All marriages are happy. It’s the living together afterwards that causes all the trouble.” - Raymond Hull, Canadian Playwright. Although Mergers and Acquisitions are common, no merger is termed as successful until post merger integration is successful. During M&A, two companies that function uniquely are fused together, and the Information Technology group is expected to consolidate two different systems efficiently. This integration should be well-executed, and without any disruption to business or customers. Every merger is different, and can have innumerable reasons for failure, ranging from poor implementation strategies to cultural or attitudinal problems. One of the reasons, many Post-Merger Integration activities fail, is due to the Information Technology complexity and inadequacy to address the issues, it brings to the table. This thesis aims at studying the importance of post-merger Information Technology (IT) integration and developing an IT strategy for the integration. There are no scientific guidelines laid out for a post-merger IT integration and each company employs its own methods. Hence the author has researched and developed a post-merger IT integration framework that can give definitive approach and assist in seamless integration. This framework includes practices that can be followed for a smooth IT transition and checklist to ensure successful integration. Lastly the author presents two cases of M&A that illustrate the importance of IT integration, namely, Sallie Mae- USA Group and HP-Compaq. Sallie Mae & USA Group was a huge success due to its successful IT integration implementation while HP-Compaq merger was a disappointment for the lack of understanding the importance of IT integration. From these two cases, the author has also derived the usefulness of the proposed framework. Author has also presented another case of Oracle-Sun merger, which does an analysis of the IT integration carried out by the two companies. It would not be unwise to say, that IT plays an ever increasing pervasive role in today’s organizations, hence a successful merger demands successful IT integration. / text

Mobile devices are playing an increasingly prevalent role in K-12 education, as school systems are adopting the technology to enhance student learning. Consequently, teachers have to learn how to incorporate the devices into their classrooms, with the help of professional development activities. This case study examined the professional development of four teachers who participated in their school district’s iPod touch initiative for English Language Learners (ELLs), as well as the perspective of the instructional media specialist charged with assisting the teachers. The study aimed to understand what district-led and independent training activities K-12 teachers engage in and the influence the activities have on how mobile devices are used by the teachers. The educational activities of the teachers and their impact on the teachers’ technology integration were documented through a series of interviews, a training observation, and teacher questionnaires. The research identified four types of professional development support provided by the district and five types of self-guided or incidental learning activities that teachers engaged in that directly impacted the way they used the device. The district-led trainings are 1) group trainings 2) in-class demonstrations 3) one-on-one training and 4) ongoing support. The self-guided and incidental learning activities found are 1) research for resources and ideas 2) brainstorming 3) experimenting with apps and activities 4) collaboration with others and 5) students serving as trainers. Increased personal instruction, cultivating formal learning through mentoring and an online forum, and developing online training resources for a mobile format are proposed for professional development that would aid in the integration of mobile devices in a K-12 environment. / text

The aim of this study was to examine first year teachers' experiences incorporating instructional technology into their teaching through the lens of Technology-Pedagogical Content Knowledge. Technology-Pedagogical Content Knowledge is a fairly new concept drawn from the concept of Pedagogical Content Knowledge, originating with Shulman. Participating teachers were graduates of a Southwestern University's College of Education laptop initiative that required all College of Education students to purchase a laptop. The laptop was used throughout their pre-service teaching course work. The first graduating cohort of this initiative was surveyed during their first full year of teaching. Ten of those surveyed then participated in interviews and journal writing related to their technology integration experiences. Results indicated that for the most part these new teachers are not facing access and support related barriers to technology use, though time constraints are still an issue. Results also indicated that the teachers are using technology in their instructional activities, and are continuing to grow in their technology integration skills. The basis in technology use from their College of Education combined with the technology-supportive school atmosphere in which they teach appears to be an environment that is fostering teachers who are willing to experiment with technology integration and are planning how to integrate it more in the coming school year. Their understanding of the connections between technology, content and pedagogy, their t-PCK, are developing and transforming. Impact on the field includes a greater understanding of how teachers come to design lessons for technology integration as well as a greater understanding of how graduates from teacher preparation programs with an emphasis on technology integration are able to apply their skills upon entering the teaching field. / text

Georgia has invested millions of dollars for technology and teacher technology training in order to prepare students for a technological society (Brackett, Henry, & Weathersby, 1999; Hinton, 2003). While technology affects all teachers, language arts teachers are also challenged to teach multiple literacies (Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, & Cammack, 2004). This study investigated the extent that professional development programs impact the language arts teachers’ classroom practice (Bebell, Russell, & O’Dwyer, 2004; Young & Bush, 2004). This case study research explored three high school language arts teachers’ experiences with integrating technology after having participated in a state-mandated professional development course on technology. Rogers’ (1995) Adoption and Diffusion Model was used as a framework in order to understand the factors that influence adoption of innovations and to explore factors that act as barriers or enhance the adoption process. An emergent qualitative research design was used to investigate the following research questions: (1) In what ways do high school language arts teachers integrate technology into their curriculum after completion of said course? (2) To what extent are these practices representative of the experiences addressed in the professional development course? (3) What are teachers’ perceptions of technology integration in the language arts classroom? Data sources included formal interviews, video-taped lessons, observational field notes, teacher portfolios, and other written communications to supplement face to face interviews. A constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Lincoln & Guba, 1985) was used throughout the study by assigning each piece of data a code and category, which was revised and modified as new data were incorporated (Bogdan & Biklen, 1992). Rigor was established through member checks and triangulation of the data. Four themes emerged from the data: (a) technology was adopted as a tool, (b) TAFT resulted in engagement and enthusiasm for using technology, (c) restrictions on time impacted technology integration, and (d) available technology sat idle. Although technology was not used to its fullest potential, the discussion emphasizes that technology training led to technology implementation and impacted classroom practice. The teachers’ perceived attributes of the technologies, and their stance and perceptions of literacy and technology affected their technology integration and determined their adoption and adaptation of technologies.

Business Processes (BP) and Information Technology (IT) are two areas that work very closely in helping organisations to keep or retain competitive advantage. Therefore, design in these areas should consider the advantages provided by, and the limitations that each of these domains imposes on each other. BP design tries to ensure that IT specifications are considered during the design of BP. Similarly, Information Systems (IS) design attempts to capture organisational needs, known as IS functional and Non-Functional Requirements (NFR), in order to meet the organisational goals. Despite this, BP and IT modelling techniques barely depict the way IT may affect BP performance or vice versa. For example, Business Process Simulation (BPS) is one of the modelling techniques that has been increasingly used to support process design. The performance measurements obtained from BPS models, though, are obtained considering only organisational issues, and thus cannot be used to assess the impact that IT may have on process performance. Similarly, IT modelling techniques do not provide IS performance measurements, and hence cannot depict the way IS may improve BP performance. The relationship between BP and IT can be alternatively described in terms of the relationships between BP, IS and Computer Networks (CN). By looking at the parameters that govern these relationships a simulation framework was developed, namely ASSESS-IT, that develops simulation models that provide performance measurements of BP, IS and CN, and thus can reflect the impact that IT (IS and CN) may have on BP performance. This research uses a case study to test the proposed framework (theory testing), to understand the way BP, IS, and CN domains interact (discovery), and to propose alternative theories to solve the problems found (theory building). The experimentation with the ASSESS-IT framework suggests that in order to portray the impact that IT may have on BP, analysts in these domains should first identify those performance specifications that describe how well the IS delivers its functionality (also known as non-functional requirements). It was found that when the IS does not depend on determined response time, the relationships between BP, IS and CN can be assessed using only the relationship between BP and IS. An alternative simulation framework, namely BPISS, is proposed to produce BPS models that provide performance measurements of BP and IS. Thus, BP and IT analysts can investigate the impact that a given IS design may have on BP performance, and identify a better BP and IS solution.