DigitalMuffinZ+-+Factors+affecting+technology+uses+in+schools


 * Article by: ** Yong Zhao & Kenneth Frank
 * Group members:** Meredith W., Kathleen A., Pontea D., and Quyen N.

Throughout the lesson, if you have a question, comment or thought, please use [|Twitter] on your laptops or text to 40404

Use the hashtags #digitalmuffinZ and #factorsaffecttech. Click the hashtags and frequently refresh to see what the rest of the class is saying.

https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23factorsaffecttech

Tweet us and follow us on Twitter:

@quyennguyen34 @kat_can_teach

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= Introduction: =

**Question:** 1. How much technology do you use in your classroom? If you do not implement much please tell us why?

2. How much has technology affected you as a teacher?

Please click on this link and post your answers on Linoit. Include your name following your answer. @http://linoit.com/users/quyenne/canvases/Use%20of%20Technology%20%28Factors%29

__ YouTube VIDEO: __
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The metaphor being used here is that... zebra mussel is like technology!

How is technology like its metaphor?

We will be referring back to this throughout this presentation.

//** Teacher Perceptions of Technology Use **//
Teachers are compared to the “keystone species” in the ecosystem. Keystone species have the power to engineer their environment.

As keystone species of the classroom environment teachers ultimately have the power regarding technology implementation or computer use.



//A few reasons teachers resist technology use: //
 a. Teachers view the innovation as an invasion (innovation is an invasive/threatening species)  b. Teachers view computer use as more of a cost than a benefit (time for planning/time for training/confusion)  c. Teachers make decisions about technology based on limited knowledge and personal experiences  d. Teachers have limited exposure to technology

// What are your concerns about technology use in the classroom? //
The school district is the “environment” and should be held responsible for providing opportunities teachers to use technology and be educated about technology. //**Current technology uses in schools: **// This article focuses chiefly on bringing computers into the classroom but this could apply to more updated types of technology.** Examples ** : Twitter, Edmodo, Blackboard, iReport, Pinterest, Blogs, content specific applications, iPad Apps etc.

== //**Complementary vs. Competitive Technologies (Ecosystem Metaphor) **// ==

While some technologies can co-exist, others may be replacing prior technologies. This makes them competitive to one another. Complementary examples: phone calls, voice mail/voice messages Competitive examples: e-mail vs. phone calls, video and TV vs. PowerPoint presentations, Prezi, Wikispaces, and iPad and Whiteboard app vs. Smartboard.

// Factors and Practices Affecting Technology Uses in Schools - The Research & Findings //



 * The research looked at these factors and practices that affect technology uses in school: **

Teacher's Interaction with Technology
- Includes the perception of their district support
 * a. Hardware
 * b. Software
 * c. Adequacy of Resources and Support
 * d. Help received from colleagues
 * e. Pressure to use computers (whether to advance careers, or through others expectation/social norms)
 * f. Presence of competing innovations
 * g. Playfulness

Teachers' Characteristics
- Their characteristics/tendencies to innovate that predicts whether they will use technology.

Teacher/Computer Predisposition to Compatability
1. Compatability - Is it consistent to the teacher's existing values, past experiences, and does it fit the needs of the teacher?

2. Complexity - Is the teacher likely to implement the technology without help?

3. Relative advantage - Does the new technology have an advantage to the older technology that it supersedes?

Teacher Professional Development
- This article believes teacher professional development is an opportunity to change and adapt to their new learning environment through mutual adaptation.

FINDINGS
What did their research show?

1. District, not school defines the primary subsystem. The reason for this is because technology, policy, investment, exprtise and professional development are addressed at the district level, which leads to the same implementation throughout all of the schools in the district.

2. Observation and interviews showed the four districts used in this research had different practices and policies (technology hardware, software purchase, distribution, focus and content of professional development.)

3. Niche (grade level and subjects taught) accounted from results of 7% to 20%, showing that there are different adoption rates depending on their structural positions. The teacher's instructional ecosystem plays a large part in the variation because the life-history of the technology and the condition of the environment plays a role in whether the teacher successfully implements the technology.

Teachers who felt pressured from their colleagues used their computers for their own purposes, while teachers who received help from their colleagues were using computers with their students.

5. Help from their colleagues could be helpful or disrupting (such as technical problems.)

6. New species compete with each other - Teachers vs School-Prescribed/Assigned Technologies
 * Teachers who thought that their school implemented many new innovations were //less likely// to implement computers for //student uses// and //moderately less likely// to use computers for their //own// immediate goals
 * Teachers who had opportunities to experiment with //district// supported software used computers //more// for //student// purpose and //moderately// for their //own// purposes

7. Mutualistic interactions with invading species - Compatibility of teachers' teaching style and personal benefit with the technology


 * The more a teacher believed that computers were compatible with her teaching style the more the teacher reported using computers for herself and with her students (use context to evaluate use of tech)
 * Teachers who perceive a relative advantage for computers for themselves reported more usage for themselves and moderately for their students

8. The more contact two species have with one another, the more they adapt to each other -- Teacher exposure to and play with technology
 * Teachers reported //more// usage of computers when they had explored new technologies on their own

= = =Conclusion:=


 * ==As members of the larger social system: teacher-ecosystem interactions were more important for __student use__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> of computers ==
 * ==<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As individual members of the ecosystem: teachers considered their personal predisposition for compatibility as most important for <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__teacher use__ ==



Implications for Policy and Practice

 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Consider teaching style as it complements computer usage when hiring teachers
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Districts should spend resources giving teachers opportunities to explore computer applications
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Teachers should be given time to help one another
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Guided and focused increasing levels of technology use


 * =====<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">School is an ecosystem that involves interactions, activities, processes, and practices =====
 * =====<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Innovations cannot be implemented oblivious to the internal social structures of schools or other pressures schools must face =====
 * =====<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> An //evolutionary// rather than //revolutionary// approach to technology integration and school change =====

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Educational Technology & Mobile Devices.

=Assessments:=

Tweet us by either going on twitter.com on your laptops or texting to 40404 Use the hash tags #digitalmuffinZ and #factorsaffecttech

Questions for Twitter Discussion (in 140 characters or less)

1.Has this ecosystem metaphor of technology in schools affected your view of teaching with technology? Why or why not? 2. Write about at least one thing you learned today.

References:
Blog 4 SBTS Class. (2012). "Why won't those darn teachers use technology?" Retrieved July 12, 2012. @http://blog4sbts.edublogs.org/files/2007/10/why.png <span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: small;">Frank, K. & Zhao, Y. (2003). Factors affecting technology uses in school. American Educational Research Journal, //40 (4),// 807-840. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Published by: <span style="color: #265985; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">[|American Educational Research Association] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Article Stable URL: <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">@http://www.jstor.org/stable/3699409

Frank, K. & Zhao, Y. (2003). //Figure 1.// New Technology in the Ecology of the Classroom. From Factors affecting technology uses in school.

Funstoo Daily Fun Update. (2011). "It doesn't matter how many resources you have; if you don't know how to use them, they will never be enough" jpeg. Retrieved July 12, 2012, from: @http://funstoo.blogspot.com/2011/12/it-doesnt-matter-how-many-resources-you.html

Glasbergen, R. "I'm taking an innovative approach to teaching this semester. I'm using books!" Glasbergen.com

Grizzly bear. Retrieved July 12, 2012. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xEehooYC6Rk/S9OWZ-udVOI/AAAAAAAAB4o/iUnZVarbIOg/s1600/Grizzly-Bear-Roar.jpg

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: small;">Jlinhart16, Youtube.com. (2010). " Educational Technology & Mobile Device." Retrieved July 12, 2012, from: []

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: small;">LCRAvideo. (July 13, 2011). //New invasive species moves to Texas//<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">. Retrieved July 12, <span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: small;">2012, from: @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcv6kWLFC20&feature=player_embedded