Bethany Mosher Professional Development The research shown in Comparing technology-related teacher professional development designs: a multilevel study

of teacher and student impacts shows the difference between two professional development sessions, one involving technology only and the other integrating technology with problem based learning (PBL). As was pointed out by the article, teachers regularly integrate several sets of knowledge into their instruction: pedagogical knowledge (PK), content knowledge (CK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) which refers to teachers ability to integrate content knowledge with their knowledge of how to teach, and technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) which integrates all skills involving knowing how to deliver content knowledge while integrated authentic use of technology. This study sought to see if there was a difference between the methods in which professional development activities are presented to teachers and, most importantly, what teachers do with the information. In order to compare the different methodologies, teachers were separated into two groups, tech-only and tech + pbl. The focus for the professional development sessions focused on finding online resources, designing activities for students using IA (Information Architects) software, and implementing the projects into the classroom. In addition, the tech + pbl group focused on finding inquiry-oriented activities. The goal of both sessions was to improve teachers in their TK, PCK, and TPCK skills. The instruction in the tech-only group focused on incorporating instructional practices relevant to their classroom needs while the tech + pbl group was instructed using a problem based learning scenario. Both professional development designs consisted of a series of face-to-face workshops, followed by classroom implementation, and, lastly, follow up activities over three months. The teachers who took part in this study consisted of middle school (7-9) math and science teachers. Teachers were assigned to either the tech-only or tech + pbl groups based on their scheduling availability. Both students

and teachers were given a survey and were asked to record their responses on a Likert scale. Examples of questions included, I can use technology to adapt my lessons to the needs of my students (TPCK), I am confident I can help students make connections between various concepts in a curriculum (PCK), I can troubleshoot technical problems associated with hardware (TK) and I know how to teach using problem-based learning. A student questionnaire was administered as well asking questions that related to behavior, I will spend time learning about this topic on my own, and attitude, After this activity, I like this topic very much. The research study had four main areas of focus, (1) impact on teachers, (2) impact on IA usage, (3) impact on teacher designs, and (4) predicting student outcomes. The impact on teachers results show that the tech + pbl group showed larger gains than the tech-only group in knowledge of problem based learning. However, both groups showed gains, but did so at a different rate. The impact on IA usage results reveal that both groups showed a high amount of logins into the IA program as a result of the study. The results confirm that the teachers in the tech + pbl group had significantly larger gains in PBL alignment scores than the tech- only teachers. Regarding the student outcomes, student attitude reported gains from the first to the second classroom implementation. However, there was a reported difference in behavior gains for the tech + pbl group as compared to the tech-only group. Student knowledge gains were significantly higher for the tech + pbl as compared to the tech-only group. The results of this study verify the literature which argues that professional development can have a positive include on teachers knowledge and skills. (Walker, et al., 2012). Teachers and students in both professional development designs had better self-reported gains across all outcomes. However, only the students of the tech + pbl teachers showed statistically significant gains across all three student outcomes (Walker, et al., 2012).

This study and the results therein are interesting when planning professional development sessions involving technology. Simply presenting the technology to teachers is not sufficient in guaranteeing authentic learning activities. However, when presenting technology integrated with pedagogy, the gains are more significant. Many times, teachers learn the technology, but do not have knowledge of how to make the technology and integral part of their teaching. It is not enough to use technology in the classroom, but rather need to integrate technology in a way that would be of benefit. This study shows how to effectively present technology to educators in a way to ensure it will be implemented correctly into the classroom.

Works Cited
Walker, A., Recker, M., Ye, L., Robertshaw, M. B., Sellers, L., & Leary, H. (2012). Comparing technologyrelated teacher professional development designs: a multilevel study of teacher and student impacts. Educational Technology Research and Development, 421-444.