This study compared cooperative and individual staff development methods for planning lessons with integrated technology. Twenty-three teachers from one elementary school participated in the study. The sample was the entire population. Nine participants were assigned to the control group, and fourteen participants were assigned to the experimental group. Names of participants were randomly drawn to determine group assignment. Participants in the control group worked individually in all three staff development sessions, while participants in the experimental group chose a partner, with whom they worked cooperatively in all three staff development sessions. Each participant or pair of participants submitted a lesson plan prior to participation in three staff development sessions. Following the sessions, each participant or pair of participants submitted a lesson plan. Three independent raters rated lesson plans to determine the participants' respective levels on the Level of Technology Implementation Observation Checklist (Moersch, 2001). The ratings of the lesson plans submitted before the training were compared to those collected after the training using a two-by-two mixed model ANOVA. The occasion (pre- vs. post-test), group, and interaction variables were all statistically significant at the .1 level; however, only the occasion variable had a strong effect size. These data suggest that (1) all teachers who participated in the training, whether individually or cooperatively, were able to develop lesson plans at a higher level of technology implementation and (2) cooperative staff development methods had no advantage over individual staff development methods with respect to teachers' ability to write lessons with integrated technology.

The purpose of the study was to examine the role of leadership and school culture on the integration of technology to support instruction for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). A multiple embedded case study design was used to describe how a school leadership team supports a school culture for technology integration within classrooms where special education teachers integrate technology to engage students with EBD. The primary case of school culture includes a comprehensive description of how the school leadership team supports a culture for technology integration within classrooms. Embedded cases within the primary case describe how special education teachers integrate technology to engage students with EBD in classroom instruction. Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) (Koehler & Mishra, 2005) is part of the conceptual framework to theoretically undergird the study. The findings of this study describe a school that serves students with EBD where there is a strong school culture and leaders support teachers who integrate technology to engage students. Patterns from the analysis indicate school leaders plan for staff development, participate in staff development sessions with teachers, observe teachers, provide feedback about teacher performance, and praise and encourage teachers to integrate technology. Teachers and leaders engage in formal and informal staff development opportunities to learn how to integrate technology into classroom lessons. As a result of these trainings and school leader support, teachers provide clear expectations for students while integrating technology to engage students, provide direct instruction, choices, and visual representation of content.

In recent years many teachers and students have begun having good access to digital technology in their classrooms, and in the context of Sweden the majority of secondary schools are known as one-to-one schools, with students having their own computer or tablet. However, the mere presence of technology in the classroom is not a guarantee for improved teaching and learning. In fact, there is a challenge involved with integrating technology in the classroom and many teachers need support. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to contribute to the knowledge about support for teachers integrating digital technology, especially a classroom response system (CRS), in the mathematics classroom. This is done by focusing on frameworks for CRS task design and technology integration. The thesis consists of two papers and a kappa. Both papers use data from a design research project including interventions in two cases. Paper I focuses on the development of design principles and task types for CRS tasks in a multiple-choice format aiming to engineer mathematical classroom discussions. The study generated three design principles, six task types, and 31 empirically evaluated tasks. The empirical evaluation shows that teachers consider the evaluated CRS tasks useful for engineering mathematical classroom discussions. Paper II focuses on exploring the potential of Ruthven’s (2009) SFCP framework as tool for analyzing empirical data in order to conceptualize and analyze teachers’ reasoning about critical aspects of technology integration in the mathematics classroom. The results show that the SFCP framework can be useful for capturing teachers’ reasoning about critical aspects of technology integration, but also that the framework does not capture teachers’ reasoning about students’ attitudes and behaviors. Therefore, the framework would benefit from taking into consideration students’ attitudes and behaviors, as these features are a challenge teachers need to deal with when integrating technology in the classroom. This thesis kappa, building on earlier research as well as the results and methods of its own papers, ends with an elaborated discussion on the challenges and support for teachers wanting to integrate CRS in their mathematics classroom. / Lärare och elever har idag god tillgång till digital teknik i klassrummen. I Sverige är numera majoriteten av högstadie- och gymnasieskolorna en-till-en skolor där alla elever har en egen dator eller surfplatta. Blotta närvaron av digital teknik i klassrummen är inte en garanti för förbättrad undervisning och ökat lärande. I själva verket så är det en utmaning att integrera digital teknik i klassrummet och många lärare behöver stöd för att lyckas med detta. Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att bidra till kunskap om stöd för lärare som integrerar digitala verktyg i matematikklassrummet. Detta görs dels genom att fokusera på ramverk för att konstruera matematikuppgifter till digitala responssystem och dels genom att undersöka ett ramverk för teknikintegrering i undervisningen. Uppsatsen består av två artiklar och en kappa. Båda artiklarna använder data från ett designforskningsprojekt bestående av interventioner i två separat fall. Artikel I fokuserar på utvecklingen av designprinciper och uppgiftstyper för flervalsuppgifter till digitala responssystem. Uppgifterna syftar till att initiera och fördjupa matematiska diskussioner i klassrummet. Studien genererade tre designprinciper, sex uppgiftstyper och 31 empiriskt utvärderade flervalsuppgifter som kan användas för att välja, värdera och konstruera uppgifter till responssystem. Den empiriska utvärderingen visar att lärarna anser att de testade uppgifterna och uppgiftstyperna är användbara för att initiera matematiska klassrumsdiskussioner. Artikel II fokuserar på att undersöka potentialen av Ruthvens (2009) ramverk ”Structuring Features of Classroom Practice” (SFCP), som ett analytiskt verktyg för att begreppsliggöra och analysera lärares resonemang om kritiska aspekter vid teknikintegrering i matematikklassrummet. Resultatet visar att ramverket är användbart för att fånga lärares resonemang om kritiska aspekter vid teknikintegrering i undervisningen, men också att ramverket inte fångade lärares resonemang om elevers attityder och uppförande. Studien föreslår att ramverket kan utvecklas och förbättras genom att även ta hänsyn till elevernas attityder och uppförande, eftersom detta är kritiska aspekter som lärare behöver hantera när de integrerar teknik i klassrummet. Med utgångspunkt från tidigare forskning och resultaten i artiklarna avslutas uppsatsens kappa med en utvecklad diskussion om utmaningar och stöd för lärare som integrerar digitala responssystem i matematikklassrummet.

Digital safety concerns, socio-economic status, pedagogical beliefs, and religious beliefs can all impact technology decisions within a school. Despite the unique contextual factors that influence school technology decision-making, teachers and students are still charged with using technology for teaching and learning in order to be 21st century learners. The purpose of this study was to explore how one Bais Yaakov school community, an all-girls private Jewish school, navigated the tensions of context and technology innovation through their adoption of 1:1 Chromebooks. Grounded theory ethnographic methods and activity theory were employed for data collection and analysis. Technology use was limited, and participants explained that lack of time, fear, frustration, and pedagogical beliefs were reasons that some teachers did not use technology. Practical recommendations from this research include the importance of developing a technology plan designed by all stakeholders and targeted professional development for content areas. Theoretical recommendations include the discussion of culturally competent Internet use in schools and “media refusal” as a term to describe communities who chose not to integrate technology into educational curriculum.

A case study was used to survey 308 teacher trainees in western Kenya to investigate the extent to which pre-service teachers in two Kenyan teacher training colleges are prepared to integrate technology in teaching. . The study uses the technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) framework to understand the knowledge needed by the pre-service teachers to integrate technology effectively. Data was gathered using the Survey of Pre-Service Teachers' Knowledge of Teaching and Technology and three open-ended questions. Data from the survey does not distinguish the TPACK variable among the respondents. The data suggests that the pre-service teachers rate themselves highly on the other six TPACK subscales of technological knowledge, content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge, and technological content knowledge. Further, the data suggests that the respondents' personal use of technology, to a large extent, influences how they use technology in classrooms. Lastly, the data indicates that the survey instrument is inadequate in capturing all the TPACK subscales in this population as it shows weak internal consistency. These findings imply that faculty in these colleges need to be more intentional and deliberate in teaching the trainees how to integrate technology in lessons. Policymakers and college administrators may also influence the teachers' personal use of technology to inculcate into the trainees tested methods of technology integration. Another implication is that future research could employ other supplementary methods, in addition to surveys, to find out the levels of technology integration in the teacher trainees.

The purpose of this case study was to examine teachers’ perceptions of what factors are most influential to the successful integration of technology. In the Junior High with the highest technology usage in a preexisting statewide technology initiative, data were collected from six teachers and one administrator through interviews and observations. Teachers primarily highlighted factors related to support and product functionality as influential. This study also examines factors such as change management, learning environment, and student motivation to understand the relationship of these factors to teacher perceptions of factors that influence technology integration. Though many influential factors emerged that all seemed highly interrelated, the most common theme that emerged across all factors was that letting teachers show each other how to use the technology to make life easier and improve learning for students may result in higher levels of technology integration.

Technology integration for today’s classroom has been characterized as insufficient for today’s global society. Teachers need better training programs or professional development specifically focusing on integrating technology into instructional practice. This study examined the technology professional development experiences with regard to educational technology integration to determine how much exposure and level of perceived quality of Technology Professional Development (TPD) received by teachers, the characteristics of TPD, integration levels of technology and perceived readiness for technology integration. An online survey instrument was developed and used to collect data from 100 teachers of grades K-12 from all disciplines: science, math, language arts, fine arts, social science, and multi-grade or multi-discipline classes. Items on the survey included five-point Likert scale measures to establish levels of technology integration and TPD participation. Additionally, a researcher-designed interview protocol collected information from 10 volunteer participants that completed the survey to gather more details about technology TPD experiences, teacher technology self-efficacy and integration of technology into the classroom. The survey results were analyzed using SPSS software. A Pearson’s correlation was computed to evaluate the relationship between TPD and Technology Integration. Results show a positive correlation between the two variables (r = .651, p < 0.01). Overall, the data supported the strong correlation between Technology Professional Development and Technology Integration. The qualitative data were analyzed using the ATLAS.ti program that revealed emerging themes regarding professional development experiences, the perceived levels of technology integration, and perceived changes in self-efficacy The results show that technology was being integrated in instruction and learning at moderate levels in the schools. Qualitative responses supported the statistical results. Participants expressed positive feelings regarding progress of technology integration in the classroom. Concerns regarding technology integration barriers such as lack of time for TPD, quality of TPD and access to devices in the classroom were present and will need to be addressed to ensure technology infusion in the classroom and curriculum. According to the data collected and analysis of the results, this study showed that as a whole, technology professional development is providing a positive guide for the integration of technology into today’s classrooms.

Although research supports the blended learning methodology as a way to personalize and engage students, research also documents the widespread hesitation among educators when it comes to embracing technology. District leaders believe that such is the case in an upper Midwest school district where all high school students are provided devices, yet these leaders note that few teachers are fully exploiting the tools. Framed by the connectivism and social constructivism theories, this qualitative case study focused on teachers' views of blended learning, its influence on their teaching practices, and how they see it helping students to learn. The guiding research questions addressed the successes and challenges of blended learning, including how Moodle was used for formative e-assessment. Data were collected from 12 purposefully selected high school teachers by a questionnaire, 3 different observations in each of their classrooms, computer screenshots provided by participants, and 3 semi-structured interviews per teacher. Open coding produced common themes during the data analysis. Findings show that these teachers believe that blended learning promotes individualization, collaboration, organization, engagement, real-world relevance, and student-centered learning. While they agreed that blended learning supported their practice, challenges were cited such as students disengaging in the learning process, device and infrastructure concerns, and the time to integrate technology effectively. Based upon these findings, professional learning communities were designed to improve teacher pedagogy for using blended learning. This study may serve as a model for staff from other schools who are integrating higher levels of technologies as they try to level the playing field and prepare students to be global citizens with the necessary 21st century skills.

The college under study only requires instructors to use traditional resources to teach literacy content leading to a variation in the use of technology within literacy courses. In this college, technology is not being integrated well, too little or inconsistent exposure to technology depending on the instructor. The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of faculty toward integration of technology into classroom instruction and students' perceptions of technology as a part of their learning. Dewey's theory of educative experience was the conceptual framework used in this study. Data collection for this qualitative study was based on semistructured interviews from 6 students and 6 instructors from the community college under study. Data were analyzed, transcribed, and coded resulting in 3 major themes (technology integration, barriers, and traditional learning) and 5 sub-themes (trends in higher education, continuing learner, unlimited access, limited access and support and technology adoption and its potential). The findings revealed that instructors were primarily at ease with technology but limited in the integration of technology through Blackboard Learn. A professional development on Blackboard Learn was created. With this project and its overall results, stakeholders can decide the next action to take so that the college can meet the needs of its instructors and students. This project offered implications for a positive social change by extending an opportunity for instructors to learn a new Blackboard feature for managing and implementing technology into instructional practices. The professional development session allowed instructors to learn to integrate technology in their classrooms.

Many studies have documented that technology integration increases summative assessment scores, yet many teachers do not integrate technology in their teaching. The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover the extent to which middle school mathematics educators are or are not integrating technology in a school district where summative scores were below mathematics state benchmarks. Guided by instructional constructivism and the technology acceptance model, this case study examined how teachers perceived advantages and barriers to mathematics instruction that uses technology. Five of the nine mathematics teachers at the middle school volunteered to participate in a semi-structured interview and be observed in the classroom for evidence that they used the technology in the manner they described it during their interview. Data were coded and analyzed thematically. The findings revealed that although teachers perceived technology integration as viable to student academic success, they used the interactive whiteboards either as projectors or as marker boards instead of interacting with them through educationally meaningful tasks. Predominant technology integration barriers were limited resources and technological pedagogical knowledge. To address this deficit, a professional development project was created with the goal of increasing teachers' technology pedagogical integration strategies for the interactive whiteboards. Because technology is an essential part of 21st century education, positive social change can occur when teacher competence in technology integration increases, is applied in the classroom, and raises test scores. Additional positive social change can be realized as students build valuable skills that help them become positive active members of society.