Integration of technology into the instructional practice of new teachers: Case studies of beginning teachers' use of technology.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this study is to investigate how two first-year teachers use technology with their students. Each teacher was encouraged to use technology with students at different times in their development as teachers. One teacher participated in Iowa State University's PT3 grant project as a member of the TechCo cohort and began her career at a traditional elementary school. The second teacher was not a member of the PT3 cohort, but began her career at a school that had been a partner with Iowa State University's PT3 grant project. A case study analysis of these teachers investigated how each teacher used technology with their students and how their teacher education experience and the institutional and classroom context affected each teacher's instructional decisions and technology use with students during their initial year in the classroom.
Results from this study demonstrate that these two teachers' personal conceptions about technology use with their students had an affect on how each first-year teacher used technology with her students. Each teacher used technology in meaningful ways with their students, but upon closer examination of this use, it became clear that the personal conceptions about technology use developed during teacher education was an important indicator of how they used technology with students in their own classroom. How each teacher responded to challenges of being a first-year teacher and the support they received within the institutional context could also be analyzed through their personal conceptions about how technology should be used. The study of these two first-year teachers suggests that modeling effective technology use, providing access to technology, and support for technology continue to be important factors in helping new teachers use technology. Results from this study also suggested that the beliefs formed during teacher preparation on the use of technology played a powerful role in how these first year teachers used technology with their students. These results suggest the importance of providing opportunities for preservice teachers to reflect and make conceptual connections between their preparation and practice as they develop and understand their visions of technology use in K-12 classrooms.