IPad technology integration in K-12 school: A case study of teachers’ experiences, beliefs and their use of iPad in teaching process
Introduction:
Since Apple released its iPad tablet in late January 2010, numerous school districts had purchased iPad as a tool of facilitating teaching and learning. For example: a suburban high school of Minnesota, Gibbon Fairfax Winthrop High School, planned to purchase 320 iPad for all its faculty and students (Collette, 2010). The Tower school, an independent school in Marblehead, MA, launched a 1:1 iPad program for students in grade 3 through grade 8 (Taborn, 2011). However, among these innovative technology initiatives, little research has been conducted in emphasis of teachers’ beliefs and prior experiences in technology and decision-making process of use iPad in the classroom. To fill this gap, I am looking for phenomenological understandings of how teachers utilize iPad in the classroom, particularly in K-12 school setting. This study aims to explore the essence of teachers’ individual experiences of technology and how their beliefs may or may not influence their use of iPad in the classroom. A theoretical framework of technology integration (R.A.T.) will be adopted to help me analyze the usage of iPad in the technology integrating process of K-12 teachers.
Conceptual Framework:
The role of teachers’ beliefs and experiences in technology integration. Teachers’ belief systems, as Pajares’ (1992) notion in his review, is a “messy construct” (p. 307). Teachers’ educational beliefs may be related to “confidence to affect students’ performance,” “the nature of knowledge,” “causes of teachers’ or students’ performance,” “perceptions of self and feelings of self-worth,” and “confidence to perform specific task” (p. 316). In addition, teachers’ beliefs may strongly be influenced by their early experiences. Once belief systems form, they may influence teachers’ final judgments and actions, and be resistant to change (Pajares, 1992). Because technology integration may never occurred in teachers’ life when they were students, adopting new technologies for instruction often challenges teachers’ beliefs. Based on the theoretical foundation of teachers belief built by Pajares (1992), Ertmer (2005) proposed three strategies for promoting change in teachers’ beliefs about technology integration: “(a) personal experience, (b) vicarious experience, and (c) social-cultural influences” (p.32). She especially valued the power of “vicarious experience” for shaping teachers’ beliefs. By observing other colleagues’ successful experiences, teachers may acquire more confidence and motivation in generating similar behaviors. Building professional communities and social networks are examples for the social-cultural influence of changing teachers’ belief (Ertmer, 2005).
Assessing technology integration: The RAT framework. In assessing how teachers integrate technology into their teaching and learning, Hughes, Thomas and Scharber (2008) proposed the RAT--Replacement, Amplification and Transformation—Framework. Three categories of teachers’ technology use in the classroom were defined: (a) Technology as Replacement; (b) Technology as Amplification; and (c) Technology as Transformation. The Technology as Replacement refers to using technology as a replacement of existing instructional tools and no pedagogical changes had been made in the technology integration process. The Technology as Amplification refers to using technology as an amplification of current teaching practice and student learning. More efficiency and productivity were effects found in the teaching and learning process. The Technology as Transformation refers to using technology for transforming teaching methods, students’ learning and the actual subject matter. Technology plays the role of changing the instruction, the learning process and/or the content fundamentally different.
Research questions:
To achieve the goal of investigating how teachers’ beliefs and experience may or may not influence their use of iPad and the way they use the iPad in K-12 context of the United States , the purpose of this study is to promote phenomenological understandings of:
1. How do teachers’ experiences and beliefs of technology and technology integration influence their use of technology in the classroom?
2. What are teachers’ beliefs of using iPad in the classroom?
3. How do teachers use iPad as a technology tool in the classroom in terms of Replacement, Amplification and Transformation?
References:
Collette, C. (2010, April 14). Minnesota school replacing textbook with iPad. Tampa Bay Fl News. Retrieve from http://www.wtsp.com/news
Ertmer, P. A. (2005). Teacher pedagogical beliefs: The final frontier in our quest for technology integration? Educational Technology Research and Development, 53(4), 25-39.
Hughes, J., Thomas, R. & Scharber, C. (2006). Assessing Technology Integration: The RAT – Replacement, Amplification, and Transformation Framework. In C. Crawford et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2006 (pp. 1616-1620). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/p/22293.
Pajares, M. (1992). Teachers' beliefs and educational research: cleaning up a messy construct. Review of Educational Research, 62(3), 307-332.
Taborn, T. W (2011, August 3). Tower School’s 1:1 program brings the iPad 2 to the elementary classroom. THE Journal. Retrieved from http://thejournal.com
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