Wright, V.H., & Wilson, E.K. (2011). Teachers’ Use of
Technology: Lessons Learned from the Teacher Education Program to the
Classroom. SRATE Journal, 20(2),
48-60.
Hooper, S., & Rieber, L.P. (1999). Teaching, instruction,
and technology. In A.C. Ornstein & L.S. Behar-Horenstein (Eds.), Contemporary
issues in curriculum (pp.252-264). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Article #3 Review
Summary
Purpose:
The
purpose of the study, done by Wilson and Wright (2011), was to “examine teacher
use of technology over a period of time following initial certification and completion
of teacher education programs” (p. 49).
A previous study done by Hooper and Rieber (1999) described the five
phases of teachers’ use of technology: familiarization, utilization, integration,
reorientation, and evolution. “The five stages are defined as: 1)
Familiarization, learning the “how-tos” of using technology, 2) Utilization, trying
the technology, but will not miss it if taken away, 3) Integration, using
technology for certain tasks; designated uses, 4) Reorientation, using technology
for more than delivery of content; focus is more on student learning and, 5)
Evolution, continuing to evolve, adapting and integrating technology” (Wilson
and Wright, 49). Wilson and Wright
(2011) argued that most teachers do not progress past the utilization stage,
where they can begin to use technology seamlessly in their classroom.
Participants:
This
study looked at ten teachers, 8 male and 2 female, who were mostly in their
fifth year of teaching. The ten teachers
were teaching at the middle and high school level in the southeastern portion
of the United States (Wilson & Wright 2011). Of the 10 teachers, 5 were teaching at
schools with 40% or more of the students classified as low socio-economic
status.
Methodology:
These teachers were purposely
chosen for this study because the researchers had been monitoring them for many
years prior to the start of this study. During the student teaching time frame, all
participants were required to develop and implement technology in their classrooms.
All participants had taken a teacher
education program, “in which technology was seen as a foundation” (p. 50). The
teachers had many opportunities to see and learn from technology best practices. Wilson and Wright (2011) had covered all of
their bases when it came to professional development for the technology tools
available to each teacher.
Findings:
Based
on interviews and observations done by the researchers, and surveys and
reflections competed by the participants, it was found that all ten teachers
were at the utilization phase of technology (Wilson and Wright 2011). The researchers did not find enough data to
support technology integration. However,
as a follow up, the researchers caught up with all ten teachers 5 years after
the study was completed. Five of the ten
teachers reported being in the integration phase, three in the reorientation
phase, and one in the evolution phase of technology (Wilson and Wright 2011).
Reflection/Application:
I have
to admit I was surprised by the results of this study. I never thought that all ten teachers would
be in the utilization phase after all of the course work they had to complete regarding
technology. I took a closer look at the
reasons each participant gave for their level of technology in their
classrooms. One of the teachers, Steve,
explained that he was limited in his social studies class because of
tests. He also stated that he felt
pressured to meet the requirements of the end-of-year tests and therefore found
it harder to incorporate technology. I
feel like both of these reasons are why so many teachers are hesitant to jump
into using technology. Sometimes it’s
not that teachers are intimidated by the technology tools, but rather just don’t
have the time to add another item to their list of “must-dos.” I myself already feel the pressure of PARCC
and our 8th grade placement tests, so how am I supposed to make room
for learning and incorporating new technology into my classroom. But in the end, it comes down to that
important key idea, that technology should not incorporated just to use it but
rather just to drive the learning skills already in place.
