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Author ORCID Identifier

N/A

AccessType

Open Access Dissertation

Document Type

dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Program

Education

Year Degree Awarded

2018

Month Degree Awarded

May

First Advisor

Kathleen S. Davis

Second Advisor

Florence Sullivan

Third Advisor

Ruth-Ellen Verock-O'Loughlin

Fourth Advisor

Beverly Woolf

Subject Categories

Elementary Education and Teaching

Abstract

According to the National Educational Technology Plan 2010, technology should be incorporated into teaching methods courses and field experiences and not just in stand-alone technology courses. The teacher preparation programs would provide technology-based learning experiences to prepare pre-service teachers to effectively use technology to improve learning, assessment, and instructional practices. However, the problem is that graduate pre-service teacher preparation programs do not adequately prepare pre-service teachers to incorporate technology into their teaching. Furthermore, the teacher preparation programs lacked opportunities for the pre-service teachers to experience technology as learners beyond the stand-alone course in technology. Research shows the need for pre-service teachers to experience technology as learners so that they can use their knowledge to create learning environments of greater understanding in their future classrooms, specifically in the area of mathematics. Technological pedagogical content knowledge is knowledge of how to incorporate technology into the teaching of content to promote student learning (Koehler & Mishra, 2009). This study investigated the ways in which math methods courses that provide technology-based learning experiences for pre-service teachers enable them to gain the technological pedagogical content knowledge necessary for effective teaching. This study investigated two elementary methods courses where technology integration was in place. Informants included the instructors and pre-service teachers in each course. A qualitative multiple case study methodology utilizing observations of methods courses, interviews with faculty and pre-service teachers, and collection of teaching and learning artifacts was used. Additionally, this study focused on both the faculty and the students’ use of instructional technology for enhancing the teaching and learning. Furthermore, Massachusetts has a technology self-assessment tool that can be utilized by teachers to assess their own technology proficiency (Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2010). The criteria in Standard 3, Teaching and Learning with Technology, was used to assess the instructors. The analysis also described how faculty used and modeled instructional technology in the methods courses to enhance teaching and learning.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7275/11869729.0

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