Home PublicationsJRTEPast IssuesVolume 31 Number 3

Edited by Diane McGrath, Kansas State University

formerly Journal of Research on Computing in Education

JRTE Volume 31 Number 3 Spring 1999

Teachers' Views of Computers as Catalysts for Changes in Their Teaching Practice

Sara L. Dexter and Ronald E. Anderson
University of Minnesota

Henry Jay Becker
University of California-Irvine

Abstract

In this study, we examined the use of computers by teachers and their perception of the impact of computers on their classroom practice. These data draw from 47 teachers from 20 K-12 schools across three states who each completed a questionnaire, participated in three semistructured interviews, and allowed three observations of their classroom. The teachers who had adopted more progressive teaching practices over time felt that computers helped them change, but they did not acknowledge computers as the catalyst for change; instead they cited reflection upon experience, classes taken, and the context or culture of the school. We conclude that for teachers to implement the use of educational technology in a constructivist manner, they must have opportunities to construct pedagogical knowledge in a supportive climate.

Contributors

Sara L. Dexter is a lecturer in the instructional systems and technology program in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. She teaches both preservice and inservice teachers about the uses of technology in the K-12 classroom. Her recent research concerns the impact of the school culture and a teacher's beliefs about instruction on the use technology in the classroom. Ronald E. Anderson is a professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota. Anderson's research interests include the sociology of technology and the sociology of education. He directed the most recent IEA Computers in Education Study, a cross-national study of the roles of family, community, and school factors in support of technological literacy. Henry Jay Becker is a professor of education at the University of California-Irvine. His research interests include descriptive national survey data on instructional uses of computers in K-12 schools and their policy implications, as well as evaluation research on the use of electronic information technologies in education. Becker was a member of the 1997 White House Panel on Educational Technology, which submitted a report to President Clinton. (Address: Sara L. Dexter, Instructional Systems & Technology, University of Minnesota, 150 Peik Hall, 159 Pillsbury Dr. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455; sdexter@tc.umn.edu.)

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