Article That I Found

Teachers’ mindsets and the integration of computer technology

Description:

Qualitative Study published in the British Journal of Educational Technology examining teachers' integration of computer technology for teaching.

Who:

6 secondary school science teachers in Republic of Singapore

• All were graduates with a postgraduate diploma in secondary teaching
• All indicated that they had been using computer technology in their teaching for 3 years.
• All had learnt (is that really a word?) to use computer technology from school-based training sessions.
• Selected based on their motivation to participate in study and keenness to reflect on their teaching with the integration of computer technology.

What:

Participants’ teaching action with use of computer technology was examined over a 5-month period. Data consisted of observations of the participants teaching actions in their classrooms and transcripts of classroom discourse from observations. Other data included transcripts of individual interviews, focus group interviews, and narratives. The major focus of interviews was to gather descriptive data in the participants’ own words to construct insights into the participants’ teaching actions with computer technology.

Findings:

Revealed that a number of psychological insights infused the participants’ mindsets when they were teaching with computer technology in their classrooms:

• Mediation as a journey
• Mediation as adopting roles
• Mediation as mutual investment
• Mediation as liberating and/or domesticating

Conclusion:

The study has shown that teachers’ roles are more than spatial and temporal movements in the classroom and has demonstrated that teachers teaching with computer technology work at different and complex levels. Revealed that teachers teaching with computer technology possess mindsets that contain psychological insights that mediate the expressive and instrumental purposes of teaching within the zone of proximal development.

My Thoughts:

I was drawn to this with the idea of observing 6 teachers over 5 months. I was thinking that...hey, this may be doable...then after a lot of blah, blah...decided a lot of work for information that was not what I really wish to do...so I punt in this study!

Reference:

Subramaniam, K. (2007, November 1). Teachers' Mindsets and the Integration of Computer Technology. British Journal of Educational Technology, 38(6), 1056-1071. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ776044) Retrieved February 5, 2009, from ERIC database.