A Remote Mobile Experiment in Brazilian Public Basic Education

The STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) are very important for education, but the lack of experimental laboratories for these subjects in a school might decrease the interest of its students in STEM fields. This chapter explores these issues in the Brazilian context where, in order to address this issue, remote experiments are used to share real experiments manipulated through the Internet. Teachers and students can use remote laboratories, equipped with real experiments, to put in practice theoretical concepts learned in class. This chapter presents a report on a pilot project that aims to explore the use of Mobile Remote Experimentation (MRE) by teachers and students of public high schools in Brazil. It involves the use of mobile devices to access remote experiments in STEM subjects through the Internet. The report demonstrates the effectiveness of using such educational resources to improve pedagogical results by applying the TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) model to measure the impact of MRE by STEM teachers.

Using Technology to Bridge the Intercultural Gap in the Classrooms of K-8 ENL Students

The transformation of today's classrooms' demographics and the demand for instructional technology has created a challenge for many teachers. While teachers must comply with Common Core Standards and infuse technology throughout the curriculum, they must also differentiate instruction for their diverse student populations. Therefore, the success of all students requires teachers to bridge the intercultural gap in the classrooms of ENL students. This imperative task encompasses the orchestration of teachers' pedagogical expertise of culturally responsive teaching, literacy instruction, technological engagement, and parental partnership. This chapter will discuss the enhancement of the educational opportunities of linguistically diverse students, while emphasizing the importance of these elements. The authors will disseminate the theoretical framework for understanding the integral aspects of the teachers' dilemma, and provide practical instructional ideas and resources for educators to feasibly implement to improve their use of technology in their respective classrooms.

Teachers' Attitudes Towards Technology Integration

As education and teaching have become intrinsically entwined, teachers need to develop the necessary knowledge and skills to integrate effectively technology into their teaching. Teacher educators are thus required to infuse technology throughout their programs and support trainees connect between technology and pedagogy within a given context. Yet, the question that can be raised is: How can teacher education programs prepare young teacher entering the profession to teach with learning technology and digital content? To elaborate on this issue, a study was conducted on a sample of teachers, using a survey questionnaire distributed online. This study seeks to address what teachers must know, understand and be able to do with regard to instructional technology. The research findings are meant to inform both teacher educators and program designers about the kind of training required to assist teachers with technology integration. Based on the data obtained, a set of suggestions for teacher educators are recommended for pre-service teacher training contexts.

The Vignette TaBLE

This chapter investigates the research and recommendations regarding the collaborative design of the joint, flipped-instruction micro-learning vignettes for classroom mentors and teacher candidates regarding promising practices of flipped instruction within a mobile learning environment. The focus of the chapter relates to pedagogies that incorporate active learning within mobile technologies that are most likely to enhance meaningful learning. The Vignette Team-based, Blended Learning Experience (TaBLE) will be presented, based upon its research-based rationale, design, preliminary results, and future implications.

High Possibility Classrooms

This chapter reports on a case study of a high school teacher from a larger study of ‘exemplary' teachers and how they conceptualized their knowledge of technology integration in education contexts (Hunter, 2013). The research was a series of purposeful case studies of teachers in classrooms in Australia. The study found that theory, creativity, public learning, life preparation and contextual accommodations are crucial. Each conception of the teachers' knowledge is underpinned by particular pedagogical themes that together form a fresh vision for technology integration known as High Possibility Classrooms or HPC. Kitty, the teacher featured in this chapter, conceptualized her knowledge of technology integration based on flexibility, experiential learning and creativity, preparation of learning, and whole school culture. This case study builds on the TPACK framework (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) and provides an important theoretical and practical exemplar of technology integration in practice for teacher education in a digital age.

A Phenomenological Study of Games, Simulations, and Virtual Environments Courses

Educational technology programs from across the United States are offering graduate courses in games, simulations, and virtual environments (GSVE) to their students. However, these courses, until now, have not been systematically studied. This research uses a hermeneutical phenomenological approach to answer the research question: “How do instructors describe their experience teaching GSVE courses?” Five professors of educational technology that have taught GSVE courses were interviewed using a semi-structured protocol based on the TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) framework. These data were analyzed both analytically and thematically. The results of the study showed a wide variety of topics, tools, and pedagogies are used within GSVE courses. The results had five themes emerge: Focus on Application and Theory, Experiential Learning and Constructivism, Instructor's Prior Experience with Games, Heterogeneous Student Populations, and Range of Technology Tools. These themes as well as these courses are highlighted within this paper. A discussion is provided.

Using Web 2.0 Tools to Engage Content, Promote Self-Efficacy, and Implications for Intentional Student Learning

This chapter defines Web 2.0 tools, their use in student learning, results from a study with university undergraduate students, and their implications for intentional student learning. Treatment subjects used a discussion board style site called TitanPad® to respond to a journal prompt after reading an article and before attending a subsequent class to discuss the journal article. Results are discussed for likelihood to read the assignment, amount of time spent reading, perception about being ready to discuss the material, perceived contribution to in-class work, and comprehension of the material. One inference was that with no additional time investment, instructors might increase student in-class participation using a Web 2.0 tool and students' self-efficacy with material in their profession. This has important implications for the manner in which students interact with text and content as significant intersubjective actors in the learning process.

Moving From Theory to Practice

Technology integration continues to be a professional development concern, especially in elementary schools. It remains unclear why there is a difference between how teachers talk about using technology and how they apply it in teaching reading. The purpose of this investigation was to explore professional development options that would help teachers connect theory to practice by studying their decision-making process. In a case study design, 10 K-4 teachers participated in one 60-minute interview, one follow-up interview, and one 45-minute focus group. With the use of typological analysis, transcripts were coded for initial and emerging themes. Results indicated that integrating mobile devices was highly dependent upon teachers being self-directed learners. Teachers relied on informal collegial interactions when deciding to use mobile devices. Continuous professional development that addresses adult learning styles was recommended by the teachers to support technology adoption.

It's All in the Numbers

This chapter focuses on teacher professional development and TELL, and the constraints of TELL. More specifically, it explores some of the barriers and enablers to the use of technology in English language classes in six secondary school across Malaysia, in both rural and urban settings. The cross-cultural aspect of the study comes from a comparison of the schools involved and considerations of context-appropriate technological tools and materials in the differing school environments. The backdrop to the study is the Malaysian Ministry of Education (MMoE). One particular issue highlighted in the study is the benefit of communities of teachers working together to implement and integrate technology into their teaching.

Exploring Technological Knowledge of Office Data Processing Teachers

This study applied factor analysis for exploring technological knowledge of beginner and veteran Office Data Processing (ODP) teachers at Further Education and Training (FET) or Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges in South Africa. These ODP teachers use Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the technology-enhanced classrooms. The Mishra & Koehler (2006) Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework was extended by replacing Technological Knowledge with Procedural Functional Knowledge (PrFK) to realise the PrFPACK theoretical framework that enabled the researchers to holistically explore the contextual technological knowledge of teachers in the digital classroom environment. We developed an inventory of 65 comprehensive measures based on the PrFPACK framework and validated the inventory on a dataset of responses from 107 ODP teachers. The findings of this study generally revealed that Procedural Functional Content Knowledge is the most important factor in explaining the technological knowledge of ODP teachers.