Download or read book Exploring Teachers Perceptions and Lived Experiences in the One to One Laptop Computer Environment written by Steve M. Dissinger and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2017, more than 50% of teachers across the United States reported having a one-to-one, student-to-device ratio in their classrooms. This increase was more than 10 percentage points higher than in 2016. While research shows positive benefits to schools that have implemented one-to-one laptop computer initiatives, we lack a clear understanding of the influence a one-to-one laptop computer environment has on pedagogy. This phenomenological research study explored teachers' perceptions and lived experiences with integrating one-to-one laptop computer technology into middle school pedagogy and lessons to understand the influence on pedagogy and learning in a middle school classroom. This study explored the lived experiences and perceptions of 16 middle school teachers representing one middle school in southeastern Chester County, Pennsylvania to understand their teaching perceptions in a one-to-one laptop computer environment. Data were gathered through a series of in-depth, semi-structured interviews, including individual interviews, focus group interviews, and observations during the interviews. Data were analyzed for emergent themes and trends. The study's results indicated increased flexibility for students and teachers and enhanced communication with families as perceived benefits of the one-to-one laptop computer program. Adequate training and professional development programs offered at flexible times for teachers and a reliable infrastructure were significant to the development of teachers' sense of efficacy in the one-to-one laptop computer environment. Additionally, the significance of the transition from elementary school to middle school, further complicated by the addition of one-to-one devices and a learning management system for incoming sixth graders, presents substantial implications for adequate training for students, especially new students, and incoming sixth-grade students. Challenges related primarily to students being distracted by social media, online chats, and websites unrelated to lesson goals and objectives and the disruptions to instruction caused when students arrive to class with un-charged or inoperable devices. The complexities of the learning management system and inconsistent use of the learning management system by teachers were also perceived as challenges in the one-to-one laptop computer environment. Significant recommendations from the study include implementing an in-school charging system for students, developing an age-appropriate digital citizenship course implemented in each grade level; adding a robust technology component to the sixth-grade transition program; and providing ongoing professional development for teachers specific to the learning management system and other best practice, inspired uses of technology in teaching and learning.
Download or read book An Exploration of Teachers Lived Experiences in Professional Learning Communities in One Ohio Urban School written by Marvin B. Jones (II) and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 107 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this study was to explore teachers' lived experiences in professional learning communities, conceptualized in Ohio as teacher based teams. This study was carried out against the backdrop of state policies addressed to poorly performing schools. School culture must change in failing schools. In order to change culture (Kowalski, 2006) and to effectively impact student learning in underperforming schools, new shared beliefs and behaviors must come to fruition. In an effort to improve student achievement in underperforming schools across the state of Ohio, the Ohio Department of Education has mandated that these schools engage a process called the Ohio Improvement Process (ODE, 2012). This process requires schools to develop a two-way system of collaborative data analysis among three levels of stakeholders: district leadership teams (DLT), building leadership teams (BLT) and teacher based teams (TBT). The focus for this study was one Ohio urban middle school and its teacher based teams. According to DuFour (2004), professional learning communities place an emphasis on organizational learning, collaboration and collective accountability for student achievement. This concept of creating a learning organization by DuFour was an outgrowth of the work conducted by Senge (1990). The study took place at a school that performed in the lowest five percent of all Ohio's schools. I was an insider to the school district but not to the school itself. This school was considered urban, with high poverty and a high number of minorities. Participants (N=14) were middle school teachers selected from the teacher based teams in the areas of reading, mathematics and one intervention specialist from each of the seventh and eighth grade levels. Narratives of teachers' experiences, perceptions, and beliefs were solicited through one-on-one, face-to-face audio-taped interviews. I transcribed part of the interviews, assisted by a colleague (an outsider) who transcribed part of the interviews. I alone coded and interpreted the meanings of teacher voices. From the interpreted meanings I constructed three spheres of influence on the likelihood that TBTs maintain a sole focus on student learning: teachers as resources to each other, student performance data and allocated time. These three spheres of influence capture the experiences of the 14 teachers. Literature on professional learning communities (teacher based teams) have elements that delve into two spheres: teachers serving as resources to each other and utilizing data to drive the instructional decision making process. However, less focus on sufficient allocated time, the third sphere of influence, was found in the literature. I drew implications from these findings, including questions to teachers, administrators, and policy makers overseeing the consequences for poorly performing schools in Ohio. I suggest future studies of teachers' experiences that might serve to add to a growing body of research about professional learning communities that might aid educators in their quest to improve student academic achievement.
Download or read book Perceptions of Some Teachers about the Similarities And or Differences in Teaching Online Versus in a Classroom Environment written by Katarzyna Siedlaczek and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The introduction of computer and communications technology, and particularly the internet, into education has opened up some new possibilities for teaching and learning. Courses designed and delivered in an online environment offer the possibility of highly interactive and individually focussed teaching and learning experiences. However, online courses also present new challenges for both teachers and students. A qualitative study was conducted to explore teachers' perceptions about the similarities and differences in teaching in the online and face-to-face (F2F) environments. Focus group discussions were held with 5 teachers; 2 teachers were interviewed in depth. The participants, 3 female and 2 male, were full-time teachers from a large College of Applied Arts & Technology in southern Ontario. Each of them had over 10 years of F2F teaching experience and each had been involved in the development and teaching of at least one online course. i - -; The study focussed on how teaching in the online environment compares with teaching in the F2F environment, what roles teachers and students adopt in each setting, what learning communities mean online and F2F and how they are developed, and how institutional policies, procedures, and infrastructure affect teaching and learning F2F and online. This study was emic in nature, that is the teachers' words determine the themes identified throughout the study. The factors identified as affecting teaching in an online environment included teacher issues such as course design, motivation to teach online, teaching style, role, characteristics or skills, and strategies. Student issues as perceived by the teachers included learning styles, role, and characteristics or skills. As well, technology issues such as a reliable infrastructure, clear role and responsibilities for maintaining the infrastructure, support, and multimedia capability affected teaching online. Finally, administrative policies and procedures, including teacher selection and training, registration and scheduling procedures, intellectual property and workload policies, and the development and communication of a comprehensive strategic plan were found to impact on teaching online. The teachers shared some of the benefits they perceived about teaching online as well as some of the challenges they had faced and challenges they perceived students had faced online. Overall, the teachers feh that there were more similarities than differences in teaching between the two environments, with the main differences being the change from F2F verbal interactions involving body language to online written interactions without body language cues, and the fundamental reliance on technology in the online environment. These findings support previous research in online teaching and learning, and add teachers' perspectives on the factors that stay the same and the factors that change when moving from a F2F environment to an online environment.
Download or read book The Global Achievement Gap written by Tony Wagner and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2014-03-11 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the best efforts of educators, our nation's schools are dangerously obsolete. Instead of teaching students to be critical thinkers and problem-solvers, we are asking them to memorize facts for multiple choice tests. This problem isn't limited to low-income school districts: even our top schools aren't teaching or testing the skills that matter most in the global knowledge economy. Our teens leave school equipped to work only in the kinds of jobs that are fast disappearing from the American economy. Meanwhile, young adults in India and China are competing with our students for the most sought-after careers around the world. Education expert Tony Wagner has conducted scores of interviews with business leaders and observed hundreds of classes in some of the nation's most highly regarded public schools. He discovered a profound disconnect between what potential employers are looking for in young people today (critical thinking skills, creativity, and effective communication) and what our schools are providing (passive learning environments and uninspired lesson plans that focus on test preparation and reward memorization). He explains how every American can work to overhaul our education system, and he shows us examples of dramatically different schools that teach all students new skills. In addition, through interviews with college graduates and people who work with them, Wagner discovers how teachers, parents, and employers can motivate the &"net"; generation to excellence. An education manifesto for the twenty-first century, The Global Achievement Gap is provocative and inspiring. It is essential reading for parents, educators, business leaders, policy-makers, and anyone interested in seeing our young people succeed as employees and citizens. For additional information about the author and the book, please go to a href="http://www.schoolchange.org"www.schoolchange.org
Download or read book Personalized Learning written by Peggy Grant and published by International Society for Technology in Education. This book was released on 2014-06-21 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Personalized Learning: A Guide for Engaging Students with Technology is designed to help educators make sense of the shifting landscape in modern education. While changes may pose significant challenges, they also offer countless opportunities to engage students in meaningful ways to improve their learning outcomes. Personalized learning is the key to engaging students, as teachers are leading the way toward making learning as relevant, rigorous, and meaningful inside school as outside and what kids do outside school: connecting and sharing online, and engaging in virtual communities of their own Renowned author of the Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go series, Dale Basye, and award winning educator Peggy Grant, provide a go-to tool available to every teacher today—technology as a way to ‘personalize’ the education experience for every student, enabling students to learn at their various paces and in the way most appropriate to their learning styles.
Download or read book Transformational Change Efforts written by Wendy M. Smith and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this handbook is to help launch institutional transformations in mathematics departments to improve student success. We report findings from the Student Engagement in Mathematics through an Institutional Network for Active Learning (SEMINAL) study. SEMINAL's purpose is to help change agents, those looking to (or currently attempting to) enact change within mathematics departments and beyond--trying to reform the instruction of their lower division mathematics courses in order to promote high achievement for all students. SEMINAL specifically studies the change mechanisms that al.
Download or read book Exploring Teacher Identity Teachers Transformative Experiences of Re Constructing and Re Connecting Personal and Professional Selves written by Emese Bukor and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 796 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This research explored the complexity of language teacher identity from a holistic perspective involving two features: the integration of teachers' personal and professional experiences, and the application of conscious/rational and intuitive/tacit thought processes.The study examined four ESL teachers' beliefs, perceptions, and interpretations about the influences of their important personal, educational, and professional experiences on the development of their teacher identity. It also investigated the overall impact of an autobiographical reflective process combined with a guided visualization activity on the re-construction of participants' perceptions of teacher identity.The results strongly suggest that it is essential to explore teachers' personal life experiences in order to gain a holistic understanding of the dominant influences on the development of teacher identity. The study presents a model for designing a longitudinal professional development program offered in a series of workshops to raise teachers' awareness of the implicit influences on teacher identity and instructional practice through the application of both conscious/rational and intuitive/tacit methods to access their beliefs, perceptions, and interpretations of their life experiences.The interdisciplinary theoretical orientation was grounded in theories and concepts from psychology and educational research, e.g., Personal Construct Theory (Kelly, 1955, 1963), the complementary nature of reason and intuition, and the concept of "perspective transformation" (Mezirow, 1978, 2000). The methodology was heuristic research (Moustakas, 1990, 1994) and methods included reflexive autobiographical journaling, guided visualization, and in-depth interviews.The results confirm that teacher identity is deeply embedded in one's personal biography. Participants' beliefs, perceptions, and interpretations nurtured in the family environment strongly influenced their school experiences, career choice, instructional practice, teaching philosophy, and teacher identity. The use of the guided visualization technique, integrated with rational reflection, considerably enhanced the depth and breadth of participants' self-understanding and personal/professional growth, which is an important methodological contribution of the study for teacher development.
Download or read book How Learning Works written by Susan A. Ambrose and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2010-04-16 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Praise for How Learning Works "How Learning Works is the perfect title for this excellent book. Drawing upon new research in psychology, education, and cognitive science, the authors have demystified a complex topic into clear explanations of seven powerful learning principles. Full of great ideas and practical suggestions, all based on solid research evidence, this book is essential reading for instructors at all levels who wish to improve their students' learning." —Barbara Gross Davis, assistant vice chancellor for educational development, University of California, Berkeley, and author, Tools for Teaching "This book is a must-read for every instructor, new or experienced. Although I have been teaching for almost thirty years, as I read this book I found myself resonating with many of its ideas, and I discovered new ways of thinking about teaching." —Eugenia T. Paulus, professor of chemistry, North Hennepin Community College, and 2008 U.S. Community Colleges Professor of the Year from The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education "Thank you Carnegie Mellon for making accessible what has previously been inaccessible to those of us who are not learning scientists. Your focus on the essence of learning combined with concrete examples of the daily challenges of teaching and clear tactical strategies for faculty to consider is a welcome work. I will recommend this book to all my colleagues." —Catherine M. Casserly, senior partner, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching "As you read about each of the seven basic learning principles in this book, you will find advice that is grounded in learning theory, based on research evidence, relevant to college teaching, and easy to understand. The authors have extensive knowledge and experience in applying the science of learning to college teaching, and they graciously share it with you in this organized and readable book." —From the Foreword by Richard E. Mayer, professor of psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara; coauthor, e-Learning and the Science of Instruction; and author, Multimedia Learning
Download or read book Living and Learning with New Media written by Mizuko Ito and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2009-06-05 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report summarizes the results of an ambitious three-year ethnographic study, funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, into how young people are living and learning with new media in varied settings—at home, in after school programs, and in online spaces. It offers a condensed version of a longer treatment provided in the book Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out (MIT Press, 2009). The authors present empirical data on new media in the lives of American youth in order to reflect upon the relationship between new media and learning. In one of the largest qualitative and ethnographic studies of American youth culture, the authors view the relationship of youth and new media not simply in terms of technology trends but situated within the broader structural conditions of childhood and the negotiations with adults that frame the experience of youth in the United States. The book that this report summarizes was written as a collaborative effort by members of the Digital Youth Project, a three-year research effort funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Southern California. John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Reports on Digital Media and Learning
Download or read book Designing Regenerative Cultures written by Daniel Christian Wahl and published by Triarchy Press. This book was released on 2016-05-01 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a ‘Whole Earth Catalog’ for the 21st century: an impressive and wide-ranging analysis of what’s wrong with our societies, organizations, ideologies, worldviews and cultures – and how to put them right. The book covers the finance system, agriculture, design, ecology, economy, sustainability, organizations and society at large.
Download or read book Learning in the Cloud written by Mark Warschauer and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 2015-04-17 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive and cutting-edge book portrays a vision of how digital media can help transform schools, and what kinds of curriculum pedagogy, assessment, infrastructure, and learning environments are necessary for the transformation to take place. The author and his research team spent thousands of hours observing classes and interviewing teachers and students in both successful and unsuccessful technology-rich schools throughout the United States and other countries. Featuring lessons learned as well as analysis of the most up-to-date research, they offer a welcome response to simplistic approaches that either deny the potential of technology or exaggerate its ability to reform education simply by its presence in schools. Challenging conventional wisdom about technology and education, Learning in the Cloud: critically examines concepts such as the "digital divide," "21st-century skills," and "guide on the side" for assessing and guiding efforts to improve schools; combines a compelling vision of technology's potential to transform learning with an insightful analysis of the curricular challenges required for meaningful change; and discusses the most recent trends in media and learning, such as the potential of tablets and e-reading.
Download or read book Laptops and Literacy written by Mark Warschauer and published by . This book was released on 2006-09-25 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines laptop use in classrooms and how it influences literacy, discussing reading and writing challenges of the twenty-first century, the history of computer use in schools, research on schools implementing one-on-one computing, and other related topics.
Download or read book Interviewing in Educational Research written by Janet Powney and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-06-04 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interviewing is one of the most frequently used research tools in the social sciences, yet its importance as a technique is usually underestimated. As Janet Powney and Mike Watts point out, the practical difficulties of interviewing are often understated, and the theoretical assumptions and implications of conducting interviews can prejudice a researcher’s conclusions. Originally published in 1987, this introductory, practical guide widens the debate about interviewing with discussion and advice on interviewing in different kinds of educational inquiry, ranging from large-scale surveys to research carried out in individual schools. The authors give guidelines for preparing, conducting, reporting and analysing interviews, and discuss the practical and theoretical problems arising from each of these aspects. Examples are taken from six case studies contributed by researchers who have conducted interviews for different purposes and in different ways. Interviewing in Educational Research will be valuable to students and researchers in many fields, not only in educational research, but generally in the social sciences, in medical research, economics, business, social planning and administration.
Download or read book Internet Access in U S Public Schools and Classrooms written by Anne Kleiner and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Construction of Knowledge written by Ernest Von Glasersfeld and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Get Active written by Dale Basye and published by International Society for Technology in Education. This book was released on 2015-06-21 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Active learning spaces offer students opportunities to engage, collaborate, and learn in an environment that taps into their innate curiosity and creativity. Students well versed in active learning - the capabilities that colleges, vocational schools and the workforce demand - will be far more successful than those educated in traditional classrooms. Get Active is a practical guide to inform your thinking about how best to design schools and classrooms to support learning in a connected, digital world. From classroom redesigns to schoolwide rennovation projects and new building construction, the authors show the many ways that active learning spaces can improve the learning experience.
Download or read book Teachers and Machines written by Larry Cuban and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 1986-06-15 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Will undoubtedly be cited in the future as the major source on the history of technology and teaching in the classroom.” —History of Education Quarterly “Through Cuban’s work we can develop an understanding for how teachers define their jobs in ways that outside innovators have never appreciated. His work thus contributes a much needed vision from within.” —Educational Policy
