2. www.mun.ca
Use of tablet technology in education propelled by:
• Expectations of contemporary learners and parents (Gupta &
Koo, 2010; Kinash, Brand & Matthew, 2012; Neumann, 2014)
• Press to deliver technology-mediated instruction
(Haythornthwaite & Andrews, 2011)
• Perceptions of teachers/students that tablets improve
student engagement/motivation/learning (Handy & Suter, 2011;
Kinash, Brand & Matthew, 2012; Karsenti & Fievez, 2013)
• Opportunities for learners to use and develop 21st century
skill sets (e.g., network building, self-organization, selective reading,
self-protection, etc. - Richardson, 2008)
• Potential to support reading and early literacy (Hu & Garimella,
2014; Nuemann, 2014)
• More teacher grads entering teaching force with new skill
sets and capabilities (Wakefield & Smith, 2012)
• Functionality of tablets and availability of software apps
(Miller & Doering, 2014)
• Social influences (Moran, Hawkes, & Gayar, 2010)
3. Background
• Mobile (tablet) technology has opened
new channels for teaching and learning
• Potential for different/evolving pedagogy
for teacher education programs
• But, evidence to help assess impact of
such tools on educational practice is
sparse; calls for more research (Wakefield
& Smith, 2012; Miller & Doering, 2014)
• Few studies on use of tablets in
teacher education programs
4. By the numbers…
49
67
30 40 50 60 70 80
Tablets
Smartphones
2014
2013
Canadians’ ownership of mobile devices (%)
81
93
2013
2014
75 80 85 90 95
Access to LTE Network (%)
Weekly time spent online by
Canadians, 2014 and adoption of
connected devices, 2015
Device
Min/Week
(2014)
Device use
(2015)
Age 18+ 18+ 18-34
Desktop/Lap
top
743 90% 96%
Smartphone 484 70% 90%
Tablet 332 51% 48%
Smart TV 108 36% 36%
Game
Console
68 46% 66%
Wearables NA 10% 13%
Connected
Car NA 4% 4%
Source: CRTC and Canadian Media Usage Trends Study
5. www.mun.ca
Pre-service teacher education
professors in a Canadian university
were recruited to participate in the study
(August,2013)
Context: BYOD (Bring your own device)
Method
participants
study design
data sources
Pool of 13 volunteers was narrowed to 9
participants (6 females and 3 males) based on:
• 2013-14 teaching assignment included
undergraduate pre-service teachers in a classroom
environment
• Participants willing to become familiar with and use
the iPad as a teaching device, and;
• Participants willing to evaluate apps specific to their
discipline and/or teaching focus areas.
6. www.mun.ca
Method
participants
study design
data sources
Participants issued iPads, and adapters for the
projection of iPad content in classroom.
Received $50.00 iTunes card for app purchases
(extra iTunes cards were also available),
Pre-Study Meeting
Participants briefed on the study, and given basic
instructions on using the device and downloading
apps using an iTunes account.
Initial Focus Group
Open-ended questions used to elicit participant
representationsof:
…initial knowledge and perceptions of the
educational use of tablets;
…their views on of how tablets might be used in
their teaching practice
…ideas about the potential for instructional use in
the participant’s sub-discipline.
7. www.mun.ca
Focus GroupsMethod
participants
study design
data sources
Threefocus groups - following each of the three
teaching terms (fall, winter, spring) in the 2013-14
academic year
Open-ended questions and guided discussion:
• How and in what contexts did instructors
use/integrateiPad into teaching and learning
practice?
• How did participants perceive tablets as tools for
curriculum design, instruction and assessment.
• What are the challenges/obstaclesto tablet use?
Meetings and focus group sessions were recorded
and transcribed.
Focus group protocol, and data analysis, followed
procedures described by Miles and Huberman (1994),
Merriam (2009), and Krueger and Casey (2009).
8. Research Findings:
Participant Adoption of Tablets
• Seven (7) of nine (9) participants
reported using the devices for
classroom instruction purposes
• One (1) did not perceive any
value as an instructional tool,
but adopted the device as a
personal productivity tool
• One (1) did not use the iPad
either personally or for
instructional purposes
9. www.mun.ca
Tablet usage and
adoption
Challenges to
tablet usage and
adoption
Six Themes:
(1) Unstable Facilitating Conditions
(2) Training and Support
(3) Navigating Shift from Print to ElectronicText
(4) Differentiating UsefulApps from “Noise”
(5) Equity ofAccess
(6) Variationin Mobile Devices
Three Themes:
(1) Intentional/Explorative Instructional Use
(2) Connecting Learners
(3) Personal Use
Focus Group
Analysis
11. www.mun.ca
Intentional
and
Explorative
Use
“Theassignment wastofindapps
forMaththataregoodtousein
theclassroom–educational apps
–andtoreviewthemaccording to
thephilosophy ofMath,whichis
thefrontmatter,thecurriculum,
[and]processstandards.”
New instructional practices:
• creating short video overviews of
classes for sharing before class
• More regular communication with
teacher candidate through social
media e.g., Twitter)
• Flexibility in recording student
presentations
• populating course shells/web spaces
with digital course material
Promote inquiry-based student experiences:
• Students evaluate and categorize
subject-specific apps
• Students create curriculum-based
lessons using tablets or using specific
apps
• Students creating virtual learning
resource spaces for future use in their
practice.
12. www.mun.ca
Intentional
and
Explorative
Use
Enhancing evaluation practice
• Create and easily provide audio and
video student feedback on course
experiences
• Recording internships/teaching
sessions for student self assessment
and reflection
• Flexibility in formative evaluation of
students
• Timely student evaluation for instructors
on pace, comprehension, instructional
methods, etc..
Improving instructional productivity
13. www.mun.ca
Connecting
Learners
“[W]iththechoralmethods class,
thereisaclassblogandastudent
blogandwe’ve used…the
ChoralNet whichisthebackbone
ofallthingschoralworldwide,to
stimulate discussion topicsthat
theywillhavetorespond toon
theirblog.Sowe’re buildingthis
kindofcommunity.Andthere’s
beensomesuccesswithpeople
outsidetheclassgettinginvolved,
whichhasbeenkindofexcitingfor
[students].”
Connections to Enablers
• Connecting learners to important
contributors: authors, researchers,
scientists, athletes, decision makers, etc.
• Matching students with specific resource
persons or mentors
Connecting Communities of Practice
• Interfacing with professional learning
communities (e.g., ChoralNet,Teachers in
Action)
• Facilitating student connection to
collaborative social networks
Connecting with Teacher Candidates
• Potential to extend collaborative
learning beyond the school day (with
concern about appropriate boundaries)
14. www.mun.ca
Personal
Adoption
“It’sconvenient tobeabletositin
acomfortable armchair andlook
upinformation…. Ienjoyed
reading this[book]ontheiPad.I
alsolikereading .pdfarticleson
theiPad–much morepleasant
andcomfortable thanreading
themonalaptopordesktop
computer.”
Convenience and Flexibility
• Most personal applications about
convenience and ease of access
• Temporarily replace laptop/desktop
• Other applications – email, text
messaging, face time, social media, reading
• Portability (size) and camera important
Closer Connections to On-Line
Communities
• Tablets provide ready access to virtual
‘marketplace of ideas’
• Better, more current understanding of how
people think about and exchange ideas
• But some concerns about shift from
physical to virtual spaces
16. www.mun.ca
Unstable
facilitating
conditions
“Iwas forced tosimply connect asI
would with thelaptop. Thisdid not
make theiPad advantageous over
thelaptop. Myclickers also required
anadaptor. Icarried more gear than a
TVrepairman. […] I’d love tobe able
towalk around theclassroom using
my notes and then throwing images
and videos [on screen]….”
Instructors frustrated in attempts to be
more innovative and flexible in
classroom teaching
• Limitations in functionality due to
institutional firewall
• Some general problems with
connectivity in classroom spaces
• Some difficulties interfacing with Smart
classroom equipment (Smart boards
and classroom projection systems)
• No wireless interface with projection
equipment in Smart classrooms
18. www.mun.ca
Navigating shift
from print to
electronic text
…it’s made me,despitemybestefforts,
waymorediscursive. I’m notabletosit
withabookforlongperiods oftime
anymore.. SoI’m making aneffortnow
nottobediscursive soI’m actuallytrying
totakecontrolofitasopposed tobeing
controlled byit.
• Some instructors struggled with
migrating from print to (mostly)
electronic text.
• For some instructors, compared to
electronic text, print text seemed
more conducive to greater
comprehension and deeper
learning.
• Electronic text – more discursive
• Concerns that the speed and
rapid flow of text might impact
comprehension
19. www.mun.ca
Differentiating
useful apps
from noise
“Yougoin [and]someofthem
aren’t vettedatallandIcan’t trust
them.[…]Ittakesatremendous
amountofworkonourpartand
ourstudentspart,tofindappsthat
areappropriate,thatareeffective;
thataren’t justagimmick.
• Differentiating “useful” apps from poorly
developed or less relevant apps, in terms
of instructional value and cost
• Cognitive/work load associated with
keeping on top of what is available and
useful and what is just “noise’.
• Instructors felt responsible, but poorly
equipped to provide guidance to teacher
candidates about the most valuable apps
in their subject areas.
• Instructors recounted examples of apps
that, appeared to be appropriate and
useful based on the descriptions, but were
very poor in terms of functionality
20. www.mun.ca
Equity of
access
“Iassumedthisyearthat
everybodyhadsmart
devicesandIhadanumber
ofpeopleapproachme
saying,“DoyouthinkIhave
alotofmoney?Idon’t
have…Ican’t connecthere
atcampusbecauseIcan’t
affordit.”So Ihadtocurb
someofthethingsIwas
doingbecauseofthat.
Concerns raised about student access
to iPads in BYOD environments:
• Some students with no access to iPads, except
to purchase them
• Instructors reported some students felt
excluded, marginalized
• Student affordability concerns;
smartphones/laptops more widely used
Access issues caused instructors to modify
instructional plans in different ways:
• Required that activities/lesson plans be
adapted to accommodate students with no
access to iPads
• Required accommodations for smartphones
and laptops (both Apple and Windows OS)
• Some planned work with iPads was scaled
back; course objectives modified
21. www.mun.ca
Variation in
mobile
devices:
• Incompatibility of software and different
functionality across platforms (Apple vs.
Windows) identified as an obstacle,
impacts instruction
• Tablets seen as a convenient and multi-
purpose instructional tool but not
substantively different from other mobile
device options, such as smartphones and
laptops.
• Participants critical of the proprietary app
environment on grounds that the model runs
counter to the principles of equity and
accessibility.
• As a general rule, group members favored a
non-proprietary environment where
educational apps could be accessed using
different devices.
22. www.mun.ca
Summary
Some promising applications of tablet technology
in pre-service teacher education programs
• Learning experiences foster inquiry and higher cognitive level thinking
• Enhancing classroom-based instruction/presentations/reflective teaching
practice with video and audio
• Enhancing standard evaluation practices
• Connecting learners and enablers
• Modeling best practices in technology-mediated instruction
• Improved instructional/personal productivity
But some concerns:
• Technical and firewall challenges
• Training and support
• Equity of access: Classroom instruction models must support compatibility
across digital platforms
• Smartphones /laptops alternative to tablets for instructional use?
24. www.mun.ca
Research
Question What are the benefits and
challenges of using tablet
technology for instructional
purposes by pre-service
teacher educators?
Hinweis der Redaktion
Good Afternoon;
Before I get started I want to acknowledge the two co-investigators on this work, Beth Maddigan, who could not be here, and Mary Stordy. Today we’re presenting findings from a study of iPad use by teacher educators (instructors) in a pre-service teacher education program.
The use of tablet technology in education has been driven by a number of factors, some of which are rooted in learner expectations and the press to include more technology in the classroom.
There is also evidence that teachers (and learners) see tablets as a means of improving student engagement and overall learning, including reading and early literacy.
Some literature suggests that teachers, especially recent graduates, are better equipped with the appropriate skills to use tablets and other technology in their instructional practice. There are social factors that have been cited; and their functionality and the volume of software applications available make tablets seem like a logical fit for the classroom….
But even though mobile technologies have matured quite a lot since their introduction in the mid 1990s, the evidence to help us assess the impact of these tools on educational practice is still fairly sparse.
Beyond their obvious use in improving access to the digital world, research on the potential of tablets in schools and universities is only now beginning to emerge (Miller & Doering, 2014).
The findings presented here attempt to address some of the blank spots in this area by giving voice to the experiences of teacher educators who have used tablet technology with pre-service teachers
We see in the graphics on this slide that Canadians are spending considerable amounts of time using mobile devices, and as you might expect, adoption of almost all forms of digital devices is higher among younger Canadians.
We also see that almost all Canadians now have access to (LTE) Long Term Evolution networks or so-called, fourth generation networks, and that the use of mobile devices – both Smartphones and touchscreen tablets – is on the increase.
So we were interested in how education professors would use tablet technology in their teaching practice – in this case we chose iPads.
This was a “bring your own device” environment in that class sets of iPads were not available to students; students were responsible for bringing their own device.
The study took place over the course of a three semester academic year at Faculty of Education in a Canadian university. Our recruitment call yielded 13 potential volunteers and from that pool, we selected 9 participants study based on some criteria:
Their 2013-14 teaching assignment
Their willingness to use the iPad as a teaching tool; and
Their willingness to examine and evaluate apps specific to their sub-discipline
We provided the nine (9) participants with iPads for use in their teaching over the three-semester teaching year. We also provided resources to purchase apps of their choice, and adapters to allow for the projection of iPad content in the classroom.
The instructors represented a wide variety of subject specialties and included those teaching in both primary/elementary and intermediate/secondary programs; And most identified themselves as new iPad users.
We started with an initial meeting where talked about the study and gave a short workshop on using the iPad. This was followed up with an initial focus group before the term began.
And this was followed up with three focus groups – one following each term, in which all members of the group were expected to participate.
We used open ended questions to generate a guided discussion on ….
How and in what contexts were the iPads used in teaching practice?
What were their perceptions of tablets as tools for curriculum design, instruction and assessment; and…
What are the challenges/obstacles to tablet use?
Meetings and focus group sessions were recorded and transcribed. And the focus group protocol, and data analysis, followed standard procedure.
At the end of the study seven participants reported that they had either used the iPad within the context of classroom teaching, or had explored its potential.
In several cases participants reported that they were primarily Windows users and had little or no exposure to the Apple computing environment. We recognized that the shift associated with learning the the skills to effectively use the iPad might create some dissonance, especially for Windows users (and we did find this to be the case). One instructor reported he did not use the device for either personal or classroom purposes, citing a need for additional training.
Another indicated a degree of personal adoption, but reported that she did not perceive enough benefit for the pre-service teachers taking her (Fine Arts) courses.
Lets now look at the focus group analysis. We separated the findings into two general categories, Tablet Usage and Adoption and Challenges to Tablet Usage and Adoption.
The analysis identified three themes under the first category: (1) intentional and explorative instructional use (2) connecting learners, and (3) personal use.
Under the second category, six themes emerged: (1) unstable facilitating conditions; (2) training and support; (3) navigating the shift from print to electronic text; (4) differentiating useful apps from “noise
equity of access; (5) equity of access, and; (6) variation in mobile devices.
The participants who adopted the iPads for instructional use reported using them in a wide variety of contexts. These included some new instructional practices like providing short video overviews of classes sent to students through social media, either in advance of the class, or as lesson summaries following the class.
Some people mentioned using the devices to easily record and post student presentations. Some reported using them as a means to promote inquiry-based instruction.
Some examples are (1) the evaluation of subject-specific apps by students, and (2) having students develop actually evaluation criteria for those apps, or (3) compiling curriculum-based lessons on various topics and placing them in a virtual learning resource space for use by teachers.
Other examples of instructional use included things like enhancing regular evaluation practices…so instead of providing written feedback to students, for example, on presentations or performamce assessments, instructors provided relatively immediate audio and video feedback.
Some people also used the devices to improve instructional productivity - such as using news aggregator apps to gather the most current stories on a topic and posting them or tweeting them out to the class.
We identified the theme of Connecting Learners to describe the application of tablets to communications in educational contexts, and this was expressed in several ways.
Instructors talked about connecting classes of students with people such as authors, artists, scientists and so on , through Face Time or other means, as a way of drilling down into the curriculum. They also mentioned connecting individual learners to specific resource persons or mentors.
Several participants focused on the ways in which tablets could serve as a mechanism for connecting learners to formal communities of practice or professional learning communities. In the quote here, one instructor talks about connecting choral teachers in a community of practice through ChoralNet.
And Tablets were seen as convenient conduits for extending collaborative learning beyond the school day.
Participants used the iPad for a variety of personal activities they categorized as convenience and ease of access – the obvious ones: E-mail, text messaging and social media applications were all mentioned. Portability and other features such addition of a camera were considered to be benefits, but they were not considered appropriate for larger writing tasks or other work requiring multiple applications.
Other participants talked about how the iPad improved their their personal access to social and professional networks… to borrow from John Locke, as a means of accessing a “virtual” marketplace of ideas – spaces where they could learn how people think about and exchange those ideas, some of which are contested.
Some participants conceptualized tablet devices as a better entry point to this flow of ideas and information.
In term of Challenges, one the main concerns was in relation to technical challenges that impacted the ability to gain full functionality from the iPad.
There were problems with the university’s firewall that seemed to prevent wireless interface with some of the Smart classroom equipment. At the beginning of the study we attempted to have these addressed, but did not have any success, …and this created some frustration for instructors, for ourselves as researchers and for the tech support folks who worked on the problem, but were unable to resolve it over the course of the study.
Most participants reported a need for training and ongoing support.
And there appear to be two camps here. Several members of the group recounted that they felt reasonably adept in the application of technology to their teaching practice, but the shift to the tablet technology was seen as a more fundamental change to the way they have traditionally worked.
Some other members of the group, however, admitted to feeling overwhelmed and “woefully inadequate” and they strongly expressed the view that more training and support would be necessary.
Throughout the focus group sessions, there were references to “steep learning curves” requiring technical training and sustained professional development, both for instructors and students.
One of the interesting themes that emerged in discussing the transition to tablet technology relates to the difficulty in migrating from print to electronic text. Some participants volunteered that, in their own scholarly activity, they felt print text seemed to be more conducive to greater comprehension and deeper learning. Some group members expressed concern about how to navigate this change and how to protect and foster the kind of deep reflective learning traditionally mediated through print books.
In one case a group member reported that she was concerned that when using a tablet, she increased the pace with which she engaged with text. There was some discussion about how students were reading more on tablets and Smartphones and that the absence of a physical text, might encourage more superficial reading or skimming of text.
So this finding raises some questions about the impact of greater instructional use of use of these devices and its potential impact on comprehension of text. (This isn’t our field of expertise, but it might be an area for further study).
Several of the participants spoke about the difficulty in navigating through the sheer number of available apps.
There was also a prevailing sense that a large proportion of educational apps were flashy and games-oriented, and lacked any substantive educational value. Participants also had difficulty finding very many education apps intended for teachers; most were aimed at individual learners.
Generally, then, participants felt that an important role for pre-service teacher educators was providing their students with ways and means of evaluating apps, rather than simply providing examples of a few apps that might be useful in their teaching practice.
I think the main challenge that we saw is related to student access to iPads (and this spills over to the next slide as well). While a number of students were able to acquire the use of an iPad for classroom activities, many others used Smartphones or laptops as a substitute. Some instructors expressed concerns about working in a classroom environment where not all students could fully participate.
Affordability was also identified as a concern, especially in circumstances where students might be required to own an iPad as part of their teacher education program. There were a few cases where students said they felt left out of some instructional activities because the financial burden of acquiring a device was too great.
In these circumstances we found that instructors changed some of the course objectives or scaled back on the use of the tablets. They modified their lesson plans in different way; changed assignments, or broadened the activity to accommodate different platforms or Windows versions of the apps.
Still there was widespread recognition among the group that pre-service teachers need to be familiar with iPad technology since many schools seem to have standardized on the Apple version of the tablet.
But some participants struggled with the equity problem and felt that use of specific apps for instructional purposes would mean some students could be marginalized.
The participants involved in this study acknowledged the iPad as a convenient, multi-purpose instructional tool but felt that it was not substantively different from other mobile device options, such as smartphones and laptops. They were critical of the proprietary app environment on grounds that the model runs counter to the principles of equity and accessibility. As a general rule, group members favored a non-proprietary environment where the best apps could be accessed using multiple devices.
In summary then, we identified several promising applications of tablet technology for instructional use in pre-service teacher education programs and I’ve talked about some of these.
But there were also some challenges and obstacles to the widespread adoption of tablets and the main ones appear to be issues related to technical compatibility and equity of access. A clear message coming out of this work is the need to exercise flexibility by adapting activities so that students with Windows-based laptops or smartphones could use compatible or similar web-based apps to achieve the same learning outcomes.
Thank you for your attention.
We kept the research question fairly broad. We asked…What are the benefits and challenges of using tablet technology for instructional purposes by pre-service teacher educators?
