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This needs assessment study was conducted to find out the instructional technology needs for
educators in higher education.
We are no longer teaching if what we teach is more important than who we teach or how we
teach. Today’s learners are not the same as they were in the past. Todays’ learners are native
speakers of the developing technology and digital age (Kennedy, Judd, Churchward, Gray &
Krause, 2008). As they grow up with the developing technology and as a result of all the new
innovations, todays’ learners are thinking and getting the information in a brand new way.
Technology has influenced them, influenced the way they think, the way they learn, the way
their receive information and most importantly the way they interact with the world around
them. It is noticeable how todays’ learners are connected, they became collaborative,
autonomous and exploratory. Hence, our Education system, approaches and curriculum
doesn’t seem to be effective anymore, because our 21st century learners have found ways to
improve themselves (Kay & Greenhill, 2011). Researchers suggest that using instructional
technology with todays’ learners could help them to become better problem solvers, critical
thinkers, collaborative and interactive learners. Technology helps to provide them with
authentic materials to improve their abilities, thus all effective educators should be using
instructional technology to engage their students.
Teacher inquiry and knowledge building cycle based on different factors which are students’ needs,
learning needs, teaching interaction and professional development sessions (Helen & Cherry, 2009).
As a teacher, I believe that this cycle is very important to improve the quality of teaching for
different reasons. Firstly, learning needs should be identified so teachers can recognize what are the
best ways to fill in these needs. When they know the needs of their students, they can easily find out
learning methods and approaches that match students’ needs. Then, it is useful to have professional
development sessions to introduce the methods and the obstacles they face and how to solve and deal
with the situation by sharing the ideas and experiences to improve the outcomes. Similarly, Bubb
(2005) suggests a similar cycle where there are “identification of professional development needs”,
“analysis of needs”, “planning and designing programs”, “implementation”, “monitoring” and
“evaluation”. “When professional development is supportive, job embedded, instructionally focused,
collaborative and ongoing, teachers are more likely to consider it relevant and authentic, which is
more likely to result in teacher learning and improved teaching practice” (Hunzicker, 2011, p. 178).
As Hager and Boud (2012) proposed that, real PD cannot be PD because of the metaphors that
describe PD. Supported by Timperley and Lee (2008); they concur; for it to be an effective PD it has
to accurately produce professional development and the proof to the PD is in the outcomes.
These questions were designed to look at teachers’ needs and gaps that prevent
effective use of technology, as well as how their use of technology matches up
with their expected outcomes outlined in their Course Learning Outcomes or
assigned by their teaching supervisors.
We then had a follow-up interview, planned out as a focus group, with questions
addressing the theme of how digital technologies and resources are applied in the
classroom, and if teachers perceive those as useful in achieving learning goals and
learning objectives (specifically Course Learning Outcomes). The discussion was
also focused on teachers’ abilities to successfully integrate technology into their
teaching if they noticed any enhancement in student learning (versus using
technology just for the sake of technology) as well as how management supports or
enforces the use of technology. These questions were designed to gain an idea of
the extent as to which technology has impacted assessment practices and
achievement as perceived by those teachers, and if there was a measurable way to
see technology’s impact on student learning built into their plans.
1. Warm-up, with teachers introducing themselves and how long they’ve been
teaching
2. How they would rate their overall skills in using technology, and why.
3. Which educational technology software they currently use, and why. This
included discussion of successful strategies that they’ve been using and the
training they took to build up their skills.
4. How well they felt their curriculum/course learning outcomes addressed
certain skills in terms of technology.
6. Their interest in learning more about using Internet resources that can be used
to teach the core curriculum. This included their interest in learning more about
Google classroom, class websites, blogs, and social networking.
7. Any missed questions that the survey was too specific to ask about, for
example, which educational technologies not mentioned before that they would be
most interested in learning about.
Some topics that weren’t planned but ended up being part of the conversation
were: teacher expectations of current and future educational technology, including
concerns about managing devices in the classroom; misuse of technology in
education and particularly in their classes; the role of te chnology; and
methodologies that teachers deem appropriate in evaluating the effectiveness of
previously used technology or technology that teachers are encouraged to use.
Once we gathered the data we used the following processes to identify the
instructional technology needs of participants. This was done to be able to develop
a professional development plan that would fill their instructional technology gaps
and knowledge skills.
Data Preparation
We used two methods for collecting data for evaluation: a survey followed by a
focus group interview. A total of 5 teachers responded, all of whom left their
emails for further contact. An overview of the responses can be found in the
following pages.
The aim of this survey and interview was to organize data and bring together a
plan for instructional technology PD. The results would be used to increase our
awareness as researchers on faculty knowledge on the use of technology and any
needs they have in their use of instructional technology services available to them
as part of their job.
Survey
For the survey, once the data collection deadline was closed, data was downloaded
from Survey Monkey in an Excel sheet. The survey was a short feedback form with
5 main questions and some follow-up clarification questions. Most of these were
structured questions as we planned to leave the unstructured questions for the focus
group.
Survey Monkey allows us to transfer the data as a summary. There are ways to
filter, compare and show results so that we can analyze dat a in the way that we
want. Since we only had 5 respondents we analyzed the data as a whole, and then
looked at responses individually.
Interview
The interview questions for the focus group built upon their responses and to help
interpret reasons behind responses. The interview results were logged in by typing
out the recorded answers and dividing them into major idea groups based on each
question.
We used both descriptive and inferential statistics to analyze the data. Descriptive
statistics were used to analyze questions in the survey, and inferential statistics
were used to analyze comments as well as interview responses.
Descriptive Statistics
Survey
• Item 1
Question title: Do you use instructional technology in your teaching and learning
environment?
For Research Question 1, “Do you use instructional technology in your teaching
and learning environment?” the responses were either Yes or No, with a comment
section for elaborating on what they use and why.
“Online videos, online quizzes, online interactive learning sites, eBooks. These
are used on a regular basis.”
Item 2 (go to links page and to the bottom to the survey link)
Question title: Rate your knowledge and use of the following Instructional T ools.
There were 12 items on this question:
1. Blogs
3. E-portfolios
4. Instant messaging
7. Podcasts
8. Streaming video
9. Surveys
11. Wikis
For all items, at least one teacher responded that they use the tool but need new
ideas (rating 4).
As shown in the graph, the 3 items that 1 or more teachers did not know about
(rating 1) where
The items that 1 or more teachers responded that they wanted to use but needed
help with (rating 2) where:
1. Blogs
2. E-portfolios
4. Podcasts
5. Streaming video
6. Wikis
The following items were rated (3), meaning respondents use and are comfortable
with, they did not need help:
1. Blogs
3. Instant messaging
6. Podcasts
7. Streaming video
8. Surveys
9. Social networking
Item 3
The majority (80%) of respondents reported being most interested in learning about
“Interactive Classroom Tools” and “Educational Social Networking”. 60% of
teachers indicated interest in learning about “Game-based Learning Platforms”;
“In-Class Instant Feedback/Surveys” and “Blogs”. One teacher specified in the
comments that he/she would be interested in learning more about The Neo LMS, a
tool that researchers would be very interested in researching and adding as part of
future surveys under ‘interactive classroom tools’.
Item 4
Question title: Do you have any learning challenges that need to be considered
when designing professional development?
60% of respondents answered yes, the remaining 40%, therefore, answering no.
Those who responded yes clarified that they disapprove of PD that is tech -led
rather than driven by sound research-based pedagogy, pushing commercial
agreements rather than focusing on what is best for students. It can be assumed
from this response that the respondent was descri bing challenges of PD sessions
rather than their own learning challenges. Another respondent stated “I ask a lot of
questions” and it might be assumed that some lecture -based PD were discouraging
of this. These responses will be analyzed further in the inf erential statistics
section.
Inferential Statistics
The comments section and the focus group were used to help us frame conclusions
extending beyond the immediate data alone (Trochim, 2006). Respondents were
asked clarification questions to help us infer or clarify what they meant – both in
the survey and in the focus group interview.
There were 4 instructors in the focus group interview, 2 of whom have taught in
the Foundations Department for over 10 years, and the other 2 have been in the
college for one semester now. They all self-perceived their instructional
technology usage expertise (rated as 1 being beginner level and 5 being an expert)
as 3-4, depending on the particular tool they were using.
They all responded in the survey question item 1 (Do you use instructional
technology in your teaching and learning environment?) as Yes (100%), and
elaborated that the following tools were the ones they currently used in teaching
(in the comments section of the survey as well as during the interview)
• Edmodo
• Blackboard
• Online videos, online quizzes, online interactive learning sites, eBooks.
These are used on a regular basis.
• Socrative, Padlet
• YouTube, Teacher Tube, Web Tools such as Quill, No Red Ink, Read
Theory, Tense Buster, Write and Improve, Kahoot, So crative, TediSubs, and
Quizlet.
From these responses in both the survey and the interview, as well as their rating
themselves as being 3-4 in terms of how well they use technology, it can be
inferred that instructors are actively using technology in their teaching and that
their capacity to teach using technology is high. Establishing a PD plan that is set
for users with higher than beginner’s knowledge in using technology would be
suitable.
When asked to elaborate on certain technological tools they ment ioned, instructors
responded that if there were no barriers to them using any kind of instructional
technology tools (e.g. institutional contract with certain providers, tech support,
etc.) they would also use:
• Google classroom
• NEO
To clarify as to which other (physical) barriers might come in the way of using
instructional technology, they mentioned:
• Working smartboards
• Availability of classroom laptops (instead of their office ones)
• A room assigned to the teacher (instead of the teacher going to student
classrooms) so that they are able to set up their own classroom with their
preferred technology, classroom decoration, visible learning tools, etc.
Teachers mentioned research shows fewer power struggles showed when
teachers had their own classrooms that students visited, rather than teachers
going into ‘student classrooms’. This was noted as a good point to research
before preparing PD.
• iPad use (instead of the switch to laptop use for everybody, in which certain
apps are not friendly)
• Projectors being set up in difficult positions in the classroom, making it
problematic for teachers to easily communicate with the class as they work
with the projector
Looking through the data we learned from this section that the challenges teachers
face when using instructional technology go beyond just their ability to learn how
to use it. The drawing conclusion would be that those in leadership positions might
have very specific views in terms of what teachers may use in the classroom and
that this may present complexities and challenges when planning for a PD that
might not be supported in certain places.
To clarify survey question 2 (Rate your knowledge and use of the following
Instructional Tools), the focus group answered the question of how much their
curriculum addresses certain aspects that would encourage them to use certain
instructional tools, namely:
The purpose of this question was to determine how much of the actual use of
technology was integrated as part of the curriculum, a s well as other technology-
related skills. In the previous question, we identified a few institutional barriers to
the use of technology, and now we confirmed that the curriculum does, in fact,
support most 21st century skills, and therefore the purpose of creating a training
plan for teachers is still valid.
These answers allow us to infer that PD for an instructional tool just for the
purpose of using technology will not be highly acceptable by teachers. For our PD
plan, we would need to show a relationship between research -based pedagogy and
the instructional tool itself. This way, teachers would be more convinced of the
importance of integrating a certain technological tool into their teaching knowing
how the tool can actually support student needs and help teachers gain their desired
outcomes.
To clarify question item 4 (Which of the following educational Instructional
Technologies would you be interested in learning more about?), during the focus
group teachers went into detail about the type of PD they would be interested in
attending:
The inferential analysis of the data collected overall provides us with the chance to
create a plan of possible PD options that would match the needs of these teachers,
who are a sample of the Foundations' teachers' population. We learned that by
identifying which factors influence teachers’ opinions about instructional
technology, we could tailor a PD that would suit them in all the different scenarios
they face as teachers.
Drawing inferential conclusions based on this data helped us identify and report
valuable conclusions and improved our understanding of the reasoning behind their
thoughts about instructional technology. It would help us improve on our PD plan,
and contribute to further improvement of any PD processes and tasks.
Goals and Objectives
After completing our needs analysis, we derived a list of goals that would cover what the
teachers wanted to learn to do through attending our instructional technology PD. Through
this analysis, we concluded that teachers needed:
- Practical experience with a technology-related program that would be implemented in
a classroom. This program would help them effectively complete their teaching goals
using instructional technology.
- PD on favorable programs that students would immediately recognize find relatively
easy to use (user-friendly). This PD would suit them as it would be based on a needs-
analysis, and help them achieve their goals of impacting student learning processes.
- Ability to work on a creative and interactive instructional tool that allows them to use
a preferred delivery mode and provide a successful lesson. Teachers’ teaching styles
as well as students’ learning styles would have to be taken into consideration.
The actual effectiveness Survey Questions Number of Participants: Financial challenges of Finding alternative
Institutional goals
conflict of PD on participants :Validity and relaibility/ started with 15 and only the PD applications (free of Time and Scheduling
practice subjectivity and bias 5 responded charges
Contacting Foundation
Identify the Resources Department Chair
Professional
Development for Assessment Tools to
Teachers determine the needs Survey eg. Survey
Monkey. was conducted
through google forms)
Interviews eg.
Unstructured Interviews
(was conducted)
Teachers need to teach their To prepare a PD that helps a. Conduct needs assessments to
content with a technology- teachers perform duties with inform the content and delivery
related program that helps emphasis on technology not of technology-related
them complete their lesson taking over the goal of professional learning programs
objectives, aims and teaching itself. that result in a positive impact on
assessments as required. student learning
Teachers need valuable PD To ensure that the PD provides b. Design, develop, and
based on input from a survey teachers with not only a implement technology rich
analysis that will actually technological resource but a professional learning programs
impact students’ learning way to evaluate students, help that model principles of adult
process and not be used just for students face learning learning and promote digital age
the sake of using technology. difficulties, and promote best practices in teaching,
digital age best practices in learning, and assessment
teaching.
Teachers need an effective Examine instructional c. Evaluate results of
program that allows them to materials after teachers have professional learning programs
bring together more than one implemented the program and to determine the effectiveness on
aspect of their teaching styles, decide whether there are deepening teacher content
one that they can use in a components that can be knowledge, improving teacher
variety of educational improved in terms of pedagogical skills and/or
situations or apply a variety of instruction. Show teachers an increasing student learning
teaching strategies with. approach that they can use to
Teachers need to be able to systematically review and
give feedback and adapt the improve effectiveness of the
program continuously. program used.
Description of Intervention and Evaluation Plan:
We have come away from analyzing our data and objectives with 3 main actions in our action
plan. The first is to immediately begin to plan a PD that uses an ‘all-encompassing’ program
– one that can incorporate more than one instructional technology tool. It should be a
program that has all the components that can cover what the teachers needed, but also allow
them to embed other tools within it if they couldn’t find exactly what they were looking for in
the program itself.
The second action is to use a lesson approach in the PD, where the ‘instructors’ are the
persons giving the PD, and the ‘students’ are the teachers who are learning to use the
program. This plan is to help give teaches insight on to what students will gain from using the
program (see it through the students’ eyes), and be able to anticipate questions that students
will have when this program is applied to them in a classroom. This may help them assess
how user-friendly the program is, and what they can do to make the use of this technology
less-time consuming and more focused on learning the content rather than learning how to
use the program.
The third action is to conduct two surveys - one at the end of the workshop to gain insight on
how productive the PD was, and the second one a certain period after teachers have
implemented the program to provide continuous and constant updating and help based on
teacher feedback.
The expected outcomes and benefits is that teachers would implement this program as a
continuously updated system – the main part of this system are the learners, and the teachers
work together using technological instructional materials to present a positive learning
environment for students. The ‘continuous’ part means that as teachers learn more about this
program they implement it in different ways that suit them better and better. With our
intervention or follow-up PD based on their feedback, we can solve problems teachers or
learners face and determine new ways that the program can be implemented. It might even
get to the point when the teachers no longer perceive this program as effective, and therefore
the outcome would be for us to formulate a new PD promoting a different instructional tool
which could more effectively suit their needs.
Another expected outcome is that since we are introducing a program that allows for the
embedding of other instructional tools, the purpose of using technology for the sake of
technology would take a back seat. The tool would play the important role of making
learning easier for students, allowing for creativity, and emphasizing content rather than just
the use of technology. In introducing an assessment tool, teachers can also assess the
effectiveness of the program and give us feedback if they felt that the program isn’t
sufficiently meeting all their needs.
Our PD Plan
Part 2
PD would be created with the pretense of teaching a subject matter. The topic would be past
simple. Teachers would be asked to join a classroom as students. They had to do the
following
- Join a class.
- Complete a fill-in-the-blanks activity that was given to them, and attach the answers
back as a file.
- They would have to click on a quiz-link and complete an online quiz.
- They would have to research a past-simple video tutorial, and submit it as a link.
- They would have to access a document from the library and complete a reading
activity.
- They would have to respond to messages in the chat.
- Teachers would be put into a group and asked to complete a group activity where they
create a grammar box with information to share with the rest of the class.
Challenges
The ideal impact of this proposed professional development plan is to fill in the gap of
instructional technology needs of faculties in the foundation department at Al Ain Women’s’
College.
Not all professional learning development sessions are effective. There is a measure that should be
taken into account to find the effectiveness of the sessions. How to find out the improvement on
teachers’ performance and students’ achievement? According to Bubb (2005, p.24), teachers should
know the criteria of what they are expected to do and how teaching should look like. They can know
their background knowledge about their previous knowledge and build the new knowledge on what
they already know. The institution should provide the support and help to the teachers to carry out
and encourage them to build different types of recourses. Teachers also should create their
professional development plan portfolio and include their short and long term goals so they have a
clear vision. Lastly, she mentions the importance of doing evaluations and write reflections to
improve the sessions next times. As Bubb (2005, p.24) says, “If any single element of this
prescription is absent, the impact of CPD is significantly reduced”.
Hager and Boud (2012) proposed that, real PD cannot be PD because of the metaphors that describe
PD. Supported by Timperley and Lee (2008), they concur; for it to be an effective PD it has to
accurately produce professional development and the proof to the PD is in the outcomes.
Future recommendations
• Conduct the survey on a large number of participants, for example on an entire
department.
• Extend the length of the process to at least one year: and fully follow the professional
development cycle phases (for example ADDIE model) starting with Analysis Phase,
Design Phase, Development Phase, Implementation Phase and Evaluation Phase (the
most important phase to evaluate PD effectiveness).
• Initiating the PD can be a team effort and participants should be in charge of their
own PDs.
• Classify the PD as per participants’ needs and field of expert and study.
Resources
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Bubb, S. 2005. Helping teachers develop. London: Paul Chapman Publishing.
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