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Editor's Remarks
Breaking News: TPCK Becomes TPACK! (PDF, 154 KB)
Ann D. Thompson and Punya Mishra
For those of us interested in the construct Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge and the clarity it brings to our work with preservice and inservice teachers, the acronym TPCK has been somewhat problematic.
President's Message
Action Research as Alternative Assessment (PDF, 122 KB)
Arlene Borthwick
Over the last few months, an increasing number of initiatives within my own department have focused on action research. These include a tech-focused interdisciplinary studies Master’s program, where technology will be featured in both course instruction and through action research projects implemented by inservice teachers who are graduate students in the program.
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 Collaborative Dialogue in a Synchronous CMC Environment? A Look at One Beginning English Teacher’s Strategies (PDF, 365 KB)
Susan L. Groenke
This article reports research from an ISTE SigTEL award-winning university-secondary school partnership, the Web Pen Pals project, which pairs preservice English teachers in online chat rooms with local middle school students to talk about young adult literature. One goal of teacher preparation programs is to encourage beginning teachers to use technology effectively in their future teaching. A particular goal of the Web Pen Pals project is to encourage beginning English teachers to “take risks” as they consider the role of a form of talk—collaborative dialogue—in academic learning, as well as the use of non-traditional discourse formats that may disrupt recitation patterns. The aim of this article is to summarize findings from a single case analysis of the discourse moves used by a preservice English teacher, Amanda, to facilitate collaborative dialogue about literature with adolescents in a synchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) environment employed in the Web Pen Pals project. Findings suggest collaborative dialogue did occur, and Amanda used discourse moves that seemed to encourage and facilitate such dialogue. However, some opportunities for collaborative dialogue were missed. Implications for preparation of beginning teachers to use CMC are shared.
“Blending” Technology and Effective Pedagogy in a Core Course forPreservice Teachers (PDF, 163 KB)
David R. Parker, Linda E. Robinson, and Robert D. Hannafin
An instructional team at a public university redesigned a large “core” course in special education required of all undergraduates in a teacher education program. The new design, which blended online instruction with face-to-face meetings, operationalized key principles from Adult Learning theories and Universal Design for Instruction. Students’ online interactions as well as their comments and scores on the final course evaluation reflected high degrees of satisfaction with the new delivery approach. Student andinstructor insights inform recommendations for college faculty seeking tointegrate instructional technology into their own core courses as well as suggestions for future research.
Faculty Instructional Computer Use Model: Differentiating Instructional and Mainstream Computer Uses (PDF, 2.75 MB)
Ismail Sahin
The purpose of this research study was to explore predictor variables for faculty instructional computer use. Analysis of data collected from 198 college of education (COE) faculty members indicated that instructional computer use and mainstream computer use form two strong and distinct variables. This study also proposes a faculty instructional computer use model that shows the relationships between these two types of computer uses and suggests different prediction paths for these two variables. While mainstream computer use was predicted significantly by personal computer access, collegial support, and mainstream computer expertise, instructional computer expertise and collegial support affect faculty attitudes toward instructional computer use. It is an important finding that collegial support is a motivation factor both to increase mainstream computer use and to change faculty attitudes positively toward instructional computer use. Finally, instructional computer skills, along with positive faculty attitudes toward computers as instructional tools, increase the likelihood of instructional computer use. The faculty instructional computer use model provides some key elements regarding how COE faculty use of instructional computer applications and software may be improved. Results from this study clearly suggest that faculty development programs should be focused upon instructional computer use and not on developing mainstream computer skills.
The Role of Electronic Portfolios in the Hiring of K–12 Teachers (PDF, 259 KB)
Jane Strawhecker, Ken Messersmith, and Amanda Balcom
This mixed-method study explored the perspectives of principals involved in the hiring process of K–12 teachers in one Midwestern state. Participants’ survey data was used to examine the pros and cons of portfolios, to determine preferences in portfolio contents and electronic delivery method, and to investigate what predictors significantly relate to participants’ use of electronic portfolios. Findings for the benefits and limitations of employment portfolios show consistencies with past studies and one additional benefit—evaluating a candidate’s organizational skills. Viewing video clips of candidates interacting with children received favorable reviews by participants with more than 64% of the participants desiring to see such an artifact. Using a DVD as a potential electronic delivery method was also revealed to be a desirable alternative to CD’s although URL’s were most preferred. Finally, principals’ past use of electronic portfolios and years of experience as hiring officials were found to be statistically significant predictors of future electronic portfolio use.
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