The purpose of this dissertation was to explore a situated technology integration professional development experience from the perspective of six university-level foreign and second language teachers as they engaged and participated in a best practices professional development model. Assuming variability in development based on contextual and individual factors, the study aimed to (1) illuminate the underlying issues by exploring how and why each teacher-learner experienced the professional development; (2) investigate the similarities and differences among the cases in order to more fully understand what was involved in advancing the development process, and (3) locate patterns among the cases that provide insight into what constitutes successful and effective technology integration professional development. This dissertation took a comparative multi-case study approach to achieving these research goals and employed a variety of interview, observation, and document data collection techniques. These included pre- and post-questionnaires that focused on the teacher-learners' technological, pedagogical, curricular, and development attitudes, beliefs, and goals; pre- and post-inventories measuring technology integration familiarity, use, and interest; six formative questionnaires by which the teacher-learners measured their own progression; group, pair, and individual interviews examining the teacher-learners experiences at different points; participatory and semi-participatory observations of the teacher-learners' participation in the various events that made up the model, including workshops, one-on-one consultations, collegial presentations, and in-class technology integration implementations; and document evidence in the form of the model's help sheets and lesson plans, as well as the syllabi and curriculum records kept by the teacher-learners themselves regarding their technology integration efforts. The resulting data were analyzed using a constant comparative method, quantitative visual display, and a grounded theory approach to coding for process. The study's findings supported the originally assumed development variability among the six technology integration professional development cases. Such variability was shown to be a product of the teacher-learners' own agency, which was revealed to exist in the individualized and contextualized ways they responded to and, thereby, shaped their experiences. The effectiveness vs. ineffectiveness of these means to advance the development processes support language teacher-learners undertaking situated cognition-based dialogic and reflective learning scenarios infused with self-directed learning and transformative learning opportunities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/280512 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Gunder, Paula A. |
| Contributors | Wildner-Bassett, Mary E. |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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