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<p>In the last two decades, higher education researchers have reported numerous benefits of
integrating technology tools in course instruction and their subsequent impact on the students’
learning process. In spite of the accumulation of the large amount of evidence and multiple calls
to adopt technology tools in instruction, traditional lecturing is observed to dominate and continue
being the preferred mode of instruction in STEM courses. One of the major reasons for the shortage
of large-scale adoption of technology-based instruction is attributed to the lack of knowledge and
skills of STEM instructors on how to effectively integrate technology tools into their courses. Most
faculty development programs that are organized to help instructors build the necessary knowledge
and skills end up introducing different technology tools to the instructors without truly helping
them understand how to contextualize the tools based on the course requirements and learning
needs of the study. This study aimed to understand the experiences of how engineering faculty in
India learn to integrate technology tools as part of a 6-week faculty development program.
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<p>Seven engineering faculty from a single institution attended the 6-week program to redesign a
course of their choice by integrating educational technology tools. A conceptual framework called
Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) was used to understand how the
instructors learned to integrate technology tools into their respective courses. TPACK is a widely
used framework that depicts an instructor’s knowledge of educational technology as a multifaceted
construct that is combined with their knowledge of the course content and pedagogy. A qualitative
case study approach was used in this study to understand how the engineering faculty developed
TPACK and highlight the challenges that they encountered while integrating technology tools into
their courses. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the data that was collected through semi-
structured interviews, reflection journals, and final reflections.
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<p>The findings from the study indicate that the faculty developed TPACK in three stages. In the first
stage, they developed basic knowledge of content, pedagogy, and technology (also called basic
sub-domains of TPACK). The faculty in the next stage formed mental models to intersect and
understand the interrelations between the three basic sub-domains. In the last stage, the faculty
developed TPACK by building a meta-conceptual awareness of how to utilize the knowledge
gained in stage two to address the limitations in their current mode of instruction and the learning
needs of the students. It was observed that the faculty after developing TPACK started to
emphasize on a more student-centric mode of instruction. The faculty reported to encounter
challenges while constructing mental models as they were unable to critically reflect on their
courses. They faced difficulty while identifying and integrating technology tools as a result of low-
technology self-efficacy. Faculty reported to overcome these challenges and receive support from
the other participants as a result of a community of practice that was established prior to the start
of the faculty development program. The study at the end provides recommendations to faculty
developers on how to design and facilitate effective workshops that are aimed to help instructors
integrate technology tools. A model which was developed from the findings of the study is
provided to promote large scale integration of technology-based instruction in universities.
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| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/8044643 |
| Date | 14 May 2019 |
| Creators | Rohit Kandakatla (6636272) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/Reimagining_Course_Design_Using_Technology_A_Case-Study_on_How_Faculty_in_India_Learn_to_Integrate_Technology_Tools_into_Engineering_Courses/8044643 |
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