Interests TatE 2008

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Some common threads of research interests from the Western Participants included:

- pre-service education and technology use (there was lots of overlap here)

- Implementation of technology in the classroom and how it impacts engagement, success, retention and withdrawal:

• Griff has a six step model
• Norm is looking more specifically at collaborative technologies and blended online learning. Norma at visualizing software in science and handheld, mobile hardware such as probeware. Valerie is on the BCNet collaborative learning technologies committee which is focusing on desktop video conferencing (Xlite, PVX, etc.) and HD video conferencing.
• Valerie's utaut model
• Betty, Norma and Andrew look at how the implementation impacts teaching practice. While Norma is looking at how specific science hard ware impacts teacher, Betty and Andrew are interested more generally in what "transformative learning" occurs for the teachers with any tech. Andrew looks more specifically at the role in an aboriginal community in the north. Both he and Griff are looking at use of one to one laptop projects in this regard. Valerie is exploring a partnership with a local middle school for 1:1 laptop deployment, but it will also be deployed with preservice teachers (UTAUT) and first-year general students at UVic (SRL with Hadwin).

- How to increasing faculty use of technology

• Valerie and Norm
• Norma at modeling for faculty; work with "mentor teachers" to integrate expectations at the pre-service level with faculty/school level.

• Norm (Just published book), Valerie (UVic across campus and within Education program with laptops and VC), Andrew (?), Betty (dabbling)

- Eportfolios

• Betty and Andrew are both doing work in this area. Betty's interest in how this influences a more reflective practice in practicing teachers.

Andrew K... 's research is in teacher education. He is looking at electronic portfolios in teacher education. Uses a lot of different sources so that teachers are builidng them from the ground up. Use them as an exit criteria for recommending pre-service teachers for certification Interested also in one to one computing specifically in this technology with aboriginal learners in a Northern community. The school district has purchased them for the entire school districts 4 - 12 students. All have laptops in the classrooms. The community has self funded a large percentage of their laptops. While the students still don't perform well in provincial FSA testing, his research is showing through work on story structure in writing that the students are understanding how to write better. His research is into transformative learning. He looks at teachers and how they have changed. Interesting to note that while they have received very little inservice the teachers tend to teach each other a lot. There is lots of discussion around challenges in technology. This year they have lost their leading technology principal and so he has yet to see what the impact of that will be. Another project is looking at digital divide and the culture.

Griff Richards – model 6 levels of implementation. 1) Getting the equipment in the room 2) Getting teachers comfortable 3) Using for something more than they would normally do 4) Use of the information - are students starting to use it for metacognition; developing strategies 6) Are teachers using real time data to work with students 7) Are students using real time data to change their learning; real time performance Norm Vaughan Interested in faculty development for past 10 - 12 years when at University of Calgary. Has now moved to Mount Royal College (also in Calgary) and their teacher preparation program. Is continuing with this interest and is also looking at blended online learning frameworks. In particular he is using framework communtative ..... In the area of students engagement "the classroom assessment of student engagement hesse He is wondering how the use of collaborative technologies in class change the learning; how tech use changes students' engagment and how that impacts successs, retention and withdrawl rates at post secondary. He sees collaborative technologies as having the potential to develop a stronger and more cohesive sense of community

Valerie Irvine (University of Victoria) - Valerie is an Assistant Professor who works in the preparation of preservice teachers with a core educational tech course. She also teaches an online graduate course on "e-research" (to supplement a research methods course on harnessing and understanding how technology can support the research process and has had guest speakers from Stanford (Dr. Willinsky on open access) and Idaho (Dr. Williams on ethics), etc. She is interested in determinants that impact acceptance and use of technology by various populations (inservice teachers, preservice teachers, and faculty members). Currently only about 10% of faculty make use of LMS and there is pressure to look at how to increase that usage. Valerie is using a model call the "utaut" model which is a unified theory for acceptance and use of technology. It is currently used in business with about 70% explanation of variance. She is about to embark on research in the fall looking with preservice teachers. Currently she has a new $700,000 CFI lab called the "TIE" lab (Technology Integration and Evaluation) with co-PI, Allyson Hadwin. It's exclusively at their disposal and the disposal of their collaborators/grad students. It includes 2000 sq. ft. space that includes a R&D room with 5 workstations (for grad students and RAs), a research coordination room with 3 workstations (post-doc, programmer), a full-room HD video conferencing room with 12-14 person capacity (that can be dual purpose as a roll-out area with laptops), an experimental classroom with 18-person capacity an an in-room mobile lab, but this room can also house a second HD video conferencing unit, and the room's furniture is moveable for perimeter seating or collaborative group seaating). The lab also has elluminate software, research analaysis software, etc. She's getting recording and streaming equipment set up to record the video conferencing sessions. One way is with the Polycom RSS2000 video capture/streaming server that allows 50 web users and 10 IP users. She is also looking at getting the Noldus Observer set-up for also recording in-room (off-camera) recording. The idea for the laptops is to deploy a) in either room in the TIE lab, b) in any room on campus, c) in any room off-campus nearby (they have two close elementary schools and one close middle school), or d) to deploy them separately for individual use, such as online instruction, or one per classroom for K-12 classrooms. So, there is now lots of infrastructure in place and the capacity of research exceeds our human capability. Research affiliates collaborating with her will have free access to this infrastructure. Any other projects will be allowed access on a fee-for-service basis. There are some partnerships already existing that could be taken advantage of, such as 1) Yellowknife SD wants ProD without travel costs and so she is investing how to see up high definition conferencing to provide Pro-D, 2) middle school pilot program that is now being changed into a "global school" with all curriculum connected to a global perspective - the video conferencing could be used to help extend their reach of that goal, 3) she works with a colleagues (Allyson Hadwin, Uvic, and Phil Winne, SFU) on a SSHRC-funded project of self regulation of learning; moving to use technology in that in learning, 3) she has some health education experience and ties. For example, she has finished a project recently on e-support of parents of infants and toddlers (with nursing prof Wendy Hall at UBC) and also has ties with Health Information Science for education of health practitioners including video conferencing as an option. She is looking at ways to network and people to network with. They are currently developing a graduate program and would be open to partnerships in that realm as well. They already have international partners for shared delivery of classes via video conferencing and other technologies, but more collaboration could be done within Canada.

Betty Gilgoff - Faculty Associate at SFU working with TLITE (Teaching and Learning in an Information Technology Environment) Graduate Diploma Program Working with practicing teachers in this two year graduate diploma program to learn about techologies and then incorporate them into their teaching practice. While increased comfort and use of technology is a goal, the underlying goal is to have teachers learn to use a model of reflective practice combined with teacher inquiry (action research). Generally this results in a fairly major "transformative learning" experience for each teacher, and often, in turn, their students. While not engaged in official research per se, Betty is interested in understanding how to better support teachers in this process. She uses ePortfolios as a tool for promoting reflective practice and follows several "students' through their self-directed learning process.

Norma Nocente - U o A Interested in rentention in highschool; Notes that there is a call for research into how technology can help. This makes the assumption that because children are not completing and that they are not going on to Post Sec. This perhaps not true. It is complex as while the statistics show poor retention, Alberta is a prosperous province and students are moving on to well paying jobs and education in other forms perhaps. Norma's research is into using visualization tools on line. She is interested in what can you use to help students visualize concepts in science. Recently explore learning.com which has 100 or more science simulations as a tool as well as several math ones. Can play with any one of them for 5 minutes or so. Some excellent simulaitons created with big funding. Also looking at "Probe ware" in science; tools that can be used for collection of data; There are difficulties in schools using portable hardware as they are often not conducive to classroom use with 30 students. More movement to hand held data collection devices with no cables and good batteries. Trying to move to hardware with fewer hassles. Looking at strengths of this technology, the ability to manipuate variables and immediately see outcomes; She is curious how this impact teachers. Within the faculty of education she is involved with modeling the use of technology. With preservice program funding lets them bring in teachers from the field who use technology to work with pre-service teachers; mentor teachers are able to see what the faculty expects; This helped to make it possible to support the pre-service teachers. Following up with interviews with preservice teachers and mentor teachers and the impact of that model on the learning. Looking at interview data to see the ways that student teachers found technology increasing or reducing the human experience. How aware are we of the shaping of technology with students and with interactions with curriculum. Mentioned resources: Chalmers - Media shift Don Idhe- Philosopher of technology.

Ontario group: Session 1 TATE preconference, May 30, 2008: Participant Interests--with abbreviated notes, please feel free to expand!!

Stephanie Chitpin-Ottawa—critical rational framework for grad and preservice students can use to build their portfolios—looking at diffs between electronic and paper based ones—what are the issues. Also, interdisciplinary group formed in faculty to share technology across different disciplines. Resistant to online learning, how can that be bridged?

George Hou—Windsor. Science education, how to use technology in science education, graphing calculators in particular. This in preservice how does it impact competence in teaching? Now project based on that Lesson study—design lesson plans with technology and see if it helps them be more effective in terms of depth of content.

Julie Mueller-Wilfrid Laurier: before integration of technology—preferences, beliefs and philosophy of teaching. Now in Fac of Ed—inquiry learning and school improvement—program evaluation. They are a laptop program—teacher candidate responses to the program. Immersion process, based on Robin Kay’s approach to analysis, how they interpreted it. Exploratory. Electronic portfolios, based on standards of practice—working on evaluating that now. E-pearl.

Kathy Browning- Laurentian: Visual arts and tech and industrial designer, digital photographer. Set up programs in the States—back to Canada to high school. MUN—wanted to develop an approach to technology that is more local. Using Photo Paint, Photoshop and publishing software for high school. Photo paint gr 3-10—student examples at MUN and Laurentian and what they learned. Developing lessons. Teaches art principles with the digital apps. Students motivated with the digital stuff even if not fond of art.

Kamini Jaipal Jamani-Brock—teaching and learning in science ed, secondary school in particular although k-12. Using semiotics and literacy frameworks, and discourse, Lemske. Technology integration with student preservice teachers and their associates, elementary. Established a PLC with online and onsite supports. TPaCK as a framework. Small things impact effectiveness—hence the integrative frameworks—have tech and ped knowledge not necessarily the integration.

Candace Figg-Brock—With faculty—small group effective at using DRUPAL blogging most users are web 1.0 trying to bring them into 2.0 and the open online nature of that hard to sell. Instructors—10 minute training sessions at end of meetings. Faculty wide initiative, Dean is one of the 9 of those who post. Challenge to ramp up.

Clare Brett-OISE/University of Toronto-preservice faculty development--designing and enlarging a technology infusion initiative with online and f2f components. Also technology affordances for supporting apprenticeship in online learning.