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Case Studies of Tech Integration in 2 Middle Schools

by Joan Hughes

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Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Conference, April 2011

Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Conference, April 2011

Authors: Michelle Fulks Read, Sara Jolly Jones, Joan E. Hughes, & Gloria Gonzales-Dholakia

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The purpose of this study was to compare student and teacher use of technology both in and out of school, looking specifically for technology integration across subject areas. Additionally, we sought to identify variables which would more likely predicthigher levels of use
We have several research questions. Student questions look at differences in technology use and what factors are associated with that use. Teacher questions are similar plus we ask what differences exist in PD opportunities at each school and what differences may exist between teachers’ degrees of self-efficacy, attitudes towards learning technologies and pedagogical beliefs?Finally, leader questions look for differences in their assessment of the importance of various features in their district technology vision, the differences in ISTE’s NETS-A standards knowledge and degrees in ranking of improvement success across various technology related activities. Are there differences in technology integration between Porter and Saguaro Middle Schools looking at factors related to students, teachers, and leaders?
to determine relationships and the strength of those relationships
SchoolThis was by far the strongest association.In all domains, school location was significant for use of activities in-school, but not significant or had only weak associations for use of activities out-of-school. For each category Porter students were more likely to engage in these activities in schoolGender: Productivity: Girls more than boys outside of school. Creativity: boys more than girls in school; girls more than boys outside of school. Grade: Creativity: 7th grade more than 6th grade in school.Computer OwnershipStudents who owned computers were more likely to engage in Productivity activities outside of school and participate in Creativity activities both in and out of school. .
Yellow bar- vast majority of technologies being used more outside of school- no overall differences between schoolsBlue bar – in school use, Porter reported high in-school use in all technology categoriesRed bar- represents students that marked both in and out of school options. Again Porter students are more likely to use the technologies both in and out of school.
We asked 6th and 7th grade students to tell us if their teacher used technology during instruction and if they used it while learning. As can be seen, teachers use technology more than the students do.With the exception of 6th grade Social Studies, Porter teachers and students in both grades are utilizing technology during instruction and learning more than Saguaro teachers. Same pattern except in social studiesTeachers at Porter were 14.25 times more likely to use technology for instruction than Saguaro teachers.Also with the exception of Social Studies, Porter students receive considerably more opportunities to use technology for learning during class than Saguaro students. For example, Porter science students were 7.06 times more likely to use technology during class than Saguaro students.There was strong and significant relationship between school and teacher and student use of technology across most subject areas.Same Patterns in 7th grade
Gender: Productivity: Girls more than boys outside of school. Creativity: boys more than girls in school; girls more than boys outside of school. Grade: Creativity: 7th grade more than 6th grade in school.Computer OwnershipStudents who owned computers were more likely to engage in Productivity activities outside of school and participate in Creativity activities both in and out of school. SchoolThis was by far the strongest association.In all domains, school location was significant for use of activities in-school, but not significant or had only weak associations for use of activities out-of-school. For each category Porter students were more likely to engage in these activities in school.
Additional sets of questions were asked of teacher respondents to determine their digital self-efficacy mean, their learning technologies attitude mean, and the their teaching philosophies mean. Teachers at both campuses were given 17 statements relating to use of digital technologies and was asked to agree/disagree with that statement on a 4 point Likert scale (1, strongly disagree to 4, strongly agree). Porter teachers’ means were higher in digital self-efficacy (M=3.14)than Saguaro teachers (M=2.96). Additionally, teachers were asked to agree/disagree with twelve statements regarding their attitudes towards technology integration on the same scale. Overall, Saguaro teachers’ means in this line of questioning was slightly higher than Porter’s (Porter, M=3.17; Saguaro, M=3.46). Finally, teachers were asked about their general teaching philosophies on a scale of 1-4. A lower score indicates a more directive teaching philosophy, while a higher score shows a more constructivist teaching philosophy. Porters’ teachers averaged a slightly more constructivist teaching philosophy mean than Saguaro’s teachers (Porter, M=2.05; Saguaro, M=1.9).
We asked teachers to tell us about their technology activities across the same four domains, communication, productivity, web and creativity as the students, This graph shows samples from each of the domains.Generally, there was no significance between participation in the activities and school. Porter teachers reported engaging in more activities across the board, it must remembered that only 11 teachers at Porter and 16 teachers at Saguaro participated. Frequency: With the exception of Productivity tools Porter teachers reported using these activities more often than Saguaro teachers. All teachers engaged in the activities more personally than professionally.Skill levels for all about equal and moderate.
The most common PD type attended was district run workshops for both schools.Porter teachers attended more conferences than Saguaro teachers, but a higher percentage of Saguaro teachers reported using mentoring.Teachers at both schools were likely to participate in online PD and group or 1:1 tech training about equally. While these teachers report seeing content-driven PD, There is still more skill drive PD than content related PD at both campuses.Cut down to compare district workshops to release time
Leaders were also asked to answer questions related to their knowledge of ISTE”s NETS-A. 25-35 points could be earned in 1 of 6 domains. A total of 175 points is possible, but no one individual is expected to have complete knowledge in each domain. Ideally, what we are looking for is a triad of leaders with similar knowledge. For example, at Saguaro, you can see that Leaders 1, 7 and 8 all have high degrees of knowledge in the social, legal and ethical issues.
Finally, leaders were asked to indicate if they felt improvement in these areas were not successful, moderately successful or very successful. At both locations, most felt improvement had been moderately successful to very successful across all areas with the notable exception of technology related PD. Porter also had some indicating that technology integration had not been successful, while Saguaro had some indicating that access to hardware at not been successful.
To summarize:Not a great deal of technology integration is happening at either school. However,Porter students are more likely to have technology experiences in school than Saguaro students. Porter students are 4 times more likely to engage in communications, web and productivities activities in school.Porter students are 6 times more likely to engage in creativity activities in school.Porter teachers are more likely to use technology during instruction than Saguaro teachers.Porter students are more likely to use technology for learning than Saguaro students.While the “digital divide” seems to be diminishing according to various reports, it is being replaced by concerns for “digital inequalilty.” Our study finds that there is a significant difference between what Porter students are getting in terms of technology integration experience and what Saguaro students are receiving. In part, we realize that this is partly due to testing and accountability, which explains the overall lower levels of technology integration at both schools. However, both of these schools were both rated “acceptable” in test performance. Another possibility is the greater number of resources that the Porter campus has and the dedication of a campus integration specialist. Saguaro, on the other hand, has fewer resources and has to share their specialist with other campuses across the district. What we do know is that there are not many significant differences in teachers’ use of technology on a personal level or their skill level, attitudes, philosophies and self-efficacy, nor a great deal of difference in leader knowledge and awareness. As we continue to explore the student use of technology both in and out of the school setting at more schools, we hope to find clearer pictures and patterns that better explain the differences which so obviously exist.

Case Studies of Tech Integration in 2 Middle Schools Presentation Transcript

An Ecological Case Study of Two Middle Schools’ Technology Integration
Michelle Fulks Read, Sara Jolly Jones, Joan E. Hughes, Gloria Gonzales-Dholakia
The University of Texas at Austin
Technology Integration
Digital Communication Technologies
Support Socio-constructivist Instruction
Subject Area Content
Saguaro MS
- Rural
- 1,000 students
- 74% Hispanic
- 20% African-American
- 74% Econ. Disadvantaged
- MET AYP “Acceptable”
- 1 lab, 2 carts, 8 library computers
- Shared Tech. Integration Specialist
Porter MS
- Urban
- 1,000 students
- 50% White (w/transfers)
- 50% Hispanic/African-Am
- 39% Econ. Disadvantaged
- MET AYP “Acceptable”
- 4 labs, 2 carts, 18 library computers
- Dedicated Tech. Integration Specialist
Research Question
Are there differences in technology integration between Porter and Saguaro Middle Schools looking at factors related to students, teachers, and leaders?
Data collection…
Student, teacher and leader surveys
Saguaro MS
- 4 leaders
- 11 teachers
- 234 students
Porter MS
- 9 leaders
- 16 teachers
- 309 students
Data Analysis…
Descriptive measures
Pearson’s coefficient
Chi-square
t-Tests
Technology Activities
Communication
Web
Productivity
Creativity
Significant Factors…
School
Strong and significant for in-school
None or weak significance outside of school
Gender
Grade
Computer Ownership
83% of Saguaro students own a computer
95% of Porter students own a computer
Reported Student Use
Porter Students…
3.5 to 5 times more likely to participate in technology activities in school
Most difference in Creativity Activities
3.5 to 4.75 times more likely to participate in technology activities both in and out of school
Most difference in Creativity Activities
Saguaro Students…
Reported more frequent use of technology in all categories
- Reported higher skill levels in regards to productivity activities
In-Class Technology Use
Summary…
More out-of-school technology use than in-school use at both school
More teacher use of technology than student use
Porter students are significantly more likely to report use of technology in school and in- and out-of-school
Teacher Beliefs and Attitudes
Technology Self-efficacy:
Porter= 3.14
Saguaro=2.96
Attitudes Toward Technology:
Porter=3.17
Saguaro=3.46
Directive /Constructivist Philosophy
Porter=2.05
Saguaro=1.9
Breakdown of teachers use…
Participation in professional development opportunities
Differences in leaders’ knowledge
Differences in leaders’ ranking of improvement in various categories.
Digital
Inequality
Digital Divide
For more information or a copy of the complete paper, contact:
Joan E. Hughes, PhD
The University of Texas at Austin
E-mail: joanh@mail.utexas.edu
www.techedges.org