ETEC 533 Framing Issue

8/2/2019 ETEC 533 Framing Issue

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Running head: COLLABORATION FOR TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION 1

Collaboration for Professional Development and Integration of TechnologyDoug Smith

ETEC533


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Framing The Issue

When analyzing topics related to bringing educational technology into secondary school

classrooms, one recurring theme is the need for professional development. There is a strong

desire to foster new investigations and experiences with the adoption of new technology. This

desire is broadly seen in public forums on education (Thomson, 2012), and through several field

interviews shared through the ETEC 533 framing issues module. While professional

development is commonly recognized as being a strong influence on technology integration, it is

corollary training via teacher collaboration that may offer the best opportunities for working

teachers. Regardless of the specific knowledge content outcomes from professional

development, it is clear that teachers feel the need for collaboration, and this mindset is

consistently shown when discussing technology in education.

Starting from an initial reflection on my earliest interactions with technology, I realized

how learning to use technology is predicated on many factors. Following this, a review of video

cases on implementing technology in science and mathematics classrooms showed a distinct

pattern of teachers wanting or using training with the technology. The idea of training and

collaboration came together in my interview that I conducted with a secondary school physics

teacher. The first general question about I asked about technology in his classroom elicited a

firm response about wishing for collaboration with his fellow teachers. Once this notion was

brought forward to my attention, it seemed that quite often when people talk about professional

development for training with technology, what they really are describing are collaborative

development opportunities. Reflecting on this, it stands to reason that collaboration can be at the

heart of professional development, given that educational research continuously shows the

importance of social learning theories. Furthermore, as a member of my schools Technology

Committee, my own experience is that teachers are looking for collaborative professional helpmore often than the typical workshop scenario. Therefore, this annotated bibliography explores

what research has revealed on teachers desire for collaborative professional development, and

whether there are indications on the effectiveness of such training. This knowledge can help

inform and guide school and staff committee policies, along with help facilitate discussions on

what the changing educational landscape will look like in terms of professional development.

Methodology

Resources were found through the CiteULike citation library along with searches through

the ERIC database. The framing issue is quite specific and therefore many searches were

required before strongly relevant articles were found. Keywords and phrases for searchinginclude technology adoption, collaboration, adopt new, and professional development.

The results were originally narrowed by searching on science and physics, and dates newer

than 1996. These narrowing terms were originally necessary because of the broad and well

researched area of professional development and focus on language arts. Lastly, I searched

cited by articles based on the papers I found on my first round of searches. The articles for this

annotated bibliography were chosen because of their focus on collaboration or collaborative


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processes with data collected by direct interactions with teachers. Meta-studies were avoided for

this paper, but could be a focus for a subsequent analysis.

Bibliography

MacDonald, R. (2009). Supporting Learner-Centered ICT Integration: The influence of

collaborative and needs-based professional development.Journal of Technology andTeacher Education, 17(3), 315-348.

McDonald notes that significant resources are being placed towards Information

Communication Technologies, but at the same time there has been a low success rate of student

achievement goals. One proposed reason for this is that teachers have poor training in how to

implement ICT in an enriching way. Therefore, McDonald wanted to analyze teachers attitudestowards professional development from the perspective of Communities of Practice. To do this,

McDonald implemented a multi-modal study which contained quantitative data collection and

analysis from a questionnaire, as well as qualitative analysis through interviews.

This research is directly related to the issue of collaboration in professional development,

as it is suggested that a community of practice via personal learning networks can function for all

learners collaboratively supporting each other. McDonald found that teacher collaboration

around technology was one of the biggest predictors of high ICT integration. Many teachers,

and mathematics teachers in particular, felt that they did not have enough time to collaborate

through professional development activities. As well, elementary teachers were found to be

more collaborative with technology than high school teachers. Two other interesting findings

were revealed in the research, relating to how collaboration around technology can be guided in

public schools. First, collaboration in small groups, between two to six people, was found to be

most effective. Secondly, collaboration did not have to be restricted to a single school in order to

be effective. It would be interesting to see a similar study performed but with a closercomparison between seminar-based professional development and collaborative professional

development scenarios. McDonalds research had only a 63% response rate from teachers, and

this could result in a biased sample, where teachers that tend towards collaboration are also the

ones that responded to the study. This makes the need for a comparison study even more

important.

Sugar, W., Crawley, F., & Fine, B. (2004). Examining teachers decisions to adopt new

technology.Educational Technology & Society, 7(4), 201-213.

Sugar, Crawley & Fine hold the belief that the effective design of educational

technologies partly resides in the ability to address teachers needs. Therefore, they were

interested in studying the beliefs and reasons behind why teachers adopt technology in the

classroom, based around a framework of teacher learning. The study was conducted through a

pre-assessment survey followed by an open-ended questionnaire and a closed-ended

questionnaire. While the study was not intended for examining teacher beliefs on collaboration,

one of the results does give important information relevant to collaboration. Sugar et al. found


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that the adoption of educational technology is very personal in nature and not influenced by

outside people or resources.

Sugar et al.s result on the personal component in technology adoption in many ways

contradicts the framing issue around needing collaborative professional development. However,

even though it appears to contradict the desire for collaboration around technology, the authorsnote that they may lack an understanding how technology can assist their careers as teachers.

(Sugar, Crawley, & Fine, 2004, p. 211). This suggests that the absence of peer consultation and

collaboration may be the driving force behind the resistance of technology adoption. Sugar et al.

present a theme that there is a misunderstanding on what technology can provide a classroom

and how this technology can be best harnessed. Sugar et al. also note that high school teachers

are more wary of technology adoption in part because they are unsure of how to apply the

technology to course tests. This finding makes sense when considered with McDonalds finding

that high school teachers collaborate less.

Garet, M. S., Porter, A. C., Desimone, L., Birman, B. F., & Yoon, K. S. (2001). What makes

professional development effective? Results from a national sample of teachers.

American Educational Research Journal, 38(4), 915-45.

Having looked at how teachers perceive the need for collaboration in technology

adoption, it is also important to look at the effectiveness of collaboration in professional

development. Garet et al. recognized that there is an ongoing educational reform accompanied

by a desired increase in educational outcomes, and that this increase requires growing

professional knowledge in teachers. Garet et al. conducted a study of 1027 mathematics and

science teachers, to look at what features of professional development activities could be

considered effective. Written in 2001, the steepening introduction of technology in the

classroom was a part of education reform Garet et al. were concerned with. Therefore I believe

that Garet et al.s study informs on how professional development affects technology adoption.

Garet et al. found that professional development is best done when focused on active

learning and being integrated into the daily routine or life of school. A direct result from result is

that collaborative learning would be crucial to implementing new technology in schools. Garet

et al. also found that collective support and communication among teachers to be very important.

However, given the date of the study, it is not clear if Garet et al.s data will directly correlate to

professional development around educational technology. I would recommend that a similar

study could be conducted, with the inclusion of a technology content controlled variable.


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Mouza, C. (2009). Does research-based professional development make a difference? A

longitudinal investigation of teacher learning in technology integration. Teachers College

Record, 111(5), 1195-1241.

Mouza identified a lack of long-term research on technology and professional

development, and how teacher practices change over time. Her resulting research was a multiplecase study following seven teachers over three years. Each of the subjects attended two Eieffel

professional development models at the beginning of the case study, in 2000-2001. Six of the

seven teachers continuously used and increased their technology use over the period of the study.

In terms of growth, a cyclical process of teacher change was noted as the teachers integrated and

rigorously used technology in their classrooms. Finally, Mouza shows that technology

integration does not have to be realized through a teacher-teacher interaction, and that teacher-

student interactions are useful.

This research is important to the issue of collaborative professional development because

Mouza looked specifically at a process which did not contain a significant amount of

collaboration. Mouza determined that the integration of technology grew and expanded in all of

her subjects classrooms save one, and the overall growth was a result of initial two intensive

professional development functions. Absent from Mouzas study is any mention of on-going

professional development. From this, it is appears possible to have successful technology

integration in the classroom without collaborative professional development. Mouza believes

this is a result of knowledge acquisition, practice and student feedback. Collaboration was not

the focus of the study, so it is difficult to say how much merit there is in this hypothesis.

However, it logically leads to a potential further study on confidence in technology and the role

that this confidence plays in the desire for collaboration and professional development.

Conclusion

From this selection of research into professional development on technology integration,

it is clear that collaboration can be an important function for teachers. While aspects of

collaboration have been shown to lead to effective professional development, it is difficult to say

exactly what role collaboration takes in this process. However, the research shows that

collaboration attends to personal needs and desires of teachers and that there are positive effects

downstream in the classrooms. None of the articles address exactly how this collaboration can

take place. Even if we know that collaboration is important, the question remains as to how and

who will initiate or guide it. More importantly, without leadership and resources from

employers, it may be extremely difficult to implement. Finally, Mouza (2009) offers a differentperspective and framework for analyzing professional development, and raises the question of

whether comfort is the overriding factor that governs the integration. Whether it is through

intense workshops, on-going collaboration, or through persistent classroom use, it is possible that

each method has affordances by which teachers gain comfort in their technological adaptations,

and thereby drive their integration.


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References

Garet, M. S., Porter, A. C., Desimone, L., Birman, B. F., & Yoon, K. S. (2001). What makes

professional development effective? Results from a national sample of teachers.

American Educational Research Journal, 38(4), 915-45.

MacDonald, R. (2009). Supporting learner-centered ICT integration: the influence of

collaborative and needs-based professional development.Journal of Technology and

Teacher Education, 17(3), 315-348.

Mouza, C. (2009). Does research-based professional development make a difference? A

longitudinal investigation of teacher learning in technology integration. Teachers College

Record, 111(5), 1195-1241.

Sugar, W., Crawley, F., & Fine, B. (2004). Examining teachers decisions to adopt new

technology.Educational Technology & Society, 7(4), 201-213.

Thomson. (2012, February 10). Engage: BCs education plan.BCs Education Plan. Retrieved

February 11, 2012, from http://engage.bcedplan.ca/2012/02/question-11/comment-page-

1/#comment-2674

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ETEC 533 Framing Issue