Decision-making in the use of instructional technology by novice and experienced public school teachers [electronic resource] /

by Kuhn, Amy L.

Decision-Making in the Use of Instructional Technology by Novice and Experienced Public School Teachers Amy L. Kuhn, Ed.D. The body of research on instructional technology (IT) reveals “what” influences teachers to use technologies and “which” technologies they use. Investigations into IT have not explored “how” and “why” teachers make decisions about teaching with technology. This study was not designed as yet another investigation into instructional technologies teachers use or to persuade teachers to use technology, but focused on teachers’ decision-making to promote students’ learning and the role of instructional technologies in this educational process. Three novice (each with two years of teaching experience) and three experienced teachers (with an average of 26 years teaching experience) participated in this study. Qualitative methodology was employed, using interviews and observations as primary sources of data, and lesson plans and student work as secondary sources. Data were collected and analyzed using Clark and Peterson’s (1986) research as a platform. Their research revealed teachers make preactive (prior to teaching), interactive (during teaching), and postactive (after teaching) decisions. A multiple case study framework was used to describe the teachers’ decision-making in the use of instructional technology. Discussed are similarities and differences in novice and experienced public school teachers’ decision-making in the use of technology. Novices focused on classroom management and other immediate concerns, such as adhering to curriculum. Experienced teachers had mastered classroom management and curriculum, allowing them to focus on other issues, such as how technology could potentially improve a lesson by allowing them to teach something more effectively than before or teach something they could not have taught without technology. Three implications emanated from this study. Teacher education students can learn from experienced teachers how to make literate decisions in the classroom and in the use of instructional technology. Second, experienced teachers who do not use technology at all, or do not use technology in ways that enhance students’ learning, can learn to make literate decisions in the use of instructional technology. Third, the case study approach is appropriate for revealing teachers’ decision-making in the use of instructional technology.