Peer modeling and innovation adoption among teachers in online professional development

This paper draws on three years of data from an online course on educational technology for practicing teachers, in which a goal was for teachers to develop a web-based application they could use in their own teaching. Based on analyses of discussion forums and teachers' course projects, we found that iterations of the course evolved over the years from being a loose association of peers involved in vastly different development projects with different tools, to a community of designers involved in a common endeavor, as more and more students chose the same open-source learning management system for their course projects. We tracked what factors seemed to affect how many and which teachers chose which development technologies, and how the process of making these choices evolved with the increased role of designed and emergent forms of peer modeling. We situate these findings in the literature on teacher professional development and technology use, arguing that existing conversations need to attend to the important role that peers play in teachers' learning and innovation adoption, particularly in online learning environments.

[1]  David Mandzuk,et al.  Student Cohorts in Teacher Education: Support Groups or Intellectual Communities?. , 2006 .

[2]  A. Barron,et al.  Large-Scale Research Study on Technology in K–12 Schools , 2003 .

[3]  Fethi A. Inan,et al.  Factors affecting technology integration in K-12 classrooms: a path model , 2010 .

[4]  S. Turkle,et al.  Epistemological Pluralism: Styles and Voices within the Computer Culture , 1990, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society.

[5]  Ewa McGrail.  "It's a Double-Edged Sword, This Technology Business": Secondary English Teachers' Perspectives on a Schoolwide Laptop Technology Initiative , 2006 .

[6]  Bruce Havelock,et al.  Online community and professional learning in education: Research-based keys to sustainability , 2004 .

[7]  Peggy A. Ertmer,et al.  Exemplary Technology-using Teachers , 2006 .

[8]  Timothy Teo,et al.  A path analysis of pre-service teachers' attitudes to computer use: applying and extending the technology acceptance model in an educational context , 2010, Interact. Learn. Environ..

[9]  Matthew J. Koehler,et al.  Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A Framework for Teacher Knowledge , 2006, Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education.

[10]  Cynthia Carter Ching,et al.  Past is prologue: Teachers composing narratives about digital literacy , 2012 .

[11]  K. A. Renninger,et al.  Building Virtual Communities: Community Building with and for Teachers at The Math Forum , 2002 .

[12]  Timothy Teo,et al.  Understanding pre-service teachers' computer attitudes: applying and extending the technology acceptance model , 2007, J. Comput. Assist. Learn..

[13]  Wen-Shan Lin,et al.  Antecedences to continued intentions of adopting e-learning system in blended learning instruction: A contingency framework based on models of information system success and task-technology fit , 2012, Comput. Educ..

[14]  K. Frank,et al.  Factors Affecting Technology Uses in Schools: An Ecological Perspective , 2003 .

[15]  Ewa McGrail.  Laptop Technology and Pedagogy in the English Language Arts Classroom , 2007 .

[16]  Paul A. Kirschner,et al.  Identifying the pitfalls for social interaction in computer-supported collaborative learning environments: a review of the research , 2003, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[17]  Ewa McGrail.  Teachers, Technology, and Change: English Teachers’ Perspectives , 2005 .

[18]  V. John-Steiner,et al.  Sociocultural approaches to learning and development: A Vygotskian framework , 1996 .

[19]  湯淺 太一,et al.  20世紀の名著名論:Seymour Papert: Mindstorms:Children Computers and Powerful Ideas Basic Books New York 1980 , 2005 .

[20]  Norma I. Scagnoli,et al.  Impact of Graduates from an Online Program in Their Work Environment , 2008 .

[21]  Chris Dede,et al.  Online Professional Development for Teachers: Emerging Models and Methods. , 2006 .

[22]  Mitchel Resnick,et al.  Scratch: A Sneak Preview , 2004 .

[23]  Etienne Wenger,et al.  Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity , 1998 .

[24]  Mark S. Schlager,et al.  Building Virtual Communities: Evolution of an Online Education Community of Practice , 2002 .

[25]  T. Zillner,et al.  Review of The Social Life of Information by John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid. Boston: Harvard Business School Press , 2000 .

[26]  H. Lowood.  High-performance play: The making of machinima , 2006 .

[27]  C. Dede,et al.  A Research Agenda for Online Teacher Professional Development , 2009 .

[28]  Larry Cuban.  Oversold and Underused , 2001 .

[29]  Peggy A. Ertmer.  Teacher pedagogical beliefs: The final frontier in our quest for technology integration? , 2005 .

[30]  John Maloney,et al.  Scratch: a sneak preview [education] , 2004, Proceedings. Second International Conference on Creating, Connecting and Collaborating through Computing, 2004..

[31]  Anthony W. Hursh,et al.  ‘This Site is Blocked’: K-12 Teachers and the Challenge of Accessing Peer-To-Peer Networks for Education , 2010 .

[32]  M. Brown,et al.  How proficient IT teachers integrate computers into the curriculum , 2000 .

[33]  Jennifer Lock,et al.  A New Image: Online Communities to Facilitate Teacher Professional Development , 2006 .

[34]  K. Sahl,et al.  Tracing Teachers’ Use of Technology in a Laptop Computer School: The Interplay of Teacher Beliefs, Social Dynamics, and Institutional Culture , 2002 .

[35]  John Seely Brown,et al.  Book Reviews : The Social Life of Information By John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2000. 320 pages , 2000 .

[36]  Sarah Prestridge,et al.  The beliefs behind the teacher that influences their ICT practices , 2012, Comput. Educ..

[37]  David G. Moursund,et al.  Will new teachers be prepared to teach in a digital age , 1999 .

[38]  Stefan Hrastinski,et al.  What is online learner participation? A literature review , 2008, Comput. Educ..

[39]  David Slavit,et al.  A Culture of Collaborative Inquiry: Learning to Develop and Support Professional Learning Communities , 2008, Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education.

[40]  J. Levin,et al.  Technologies in Contexts: Implications for Teacher Education , 2001 .

[41]  Stephen G. Sheldon,et al.  Conditions for Classroom Technology Innovations , 2002, Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education.

[42]  Eileen Wood,et al.  Identifying discriminating variables between teachers who fully integrate computers and teachers with limited integration , 2008, Comput. Educ..

[43]  Nikleia Eteokleous,et al.  Evaluating computer technology integration in a centralized school system , 2008, Comput. Educ..

[44]  L. Vygotsky.  Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes: Harvard University Press , 1978 .

[45]  James A. Levin,et al.  Multiplicity in Learning and Teaching: A Framework for Developing Innovative Online Education , 1999 .

[46]  Peggy A. Ertmer.  Addressing first- and second-order barriers to change: Strategies for technology integration , 1999 .

[47]  Ewa McGrail.  Teachers, Technology, and Change: Literacy Teachers' Perspectives , 1997 .

[48]  Shane Dawson,et al.  Online forum discussion interactions as an indicator of student community , 2006 .

[49]  Seymour Papert,et al.  Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas , 1981 .