What is it like to be a computer teacher?
by Cheng, Yu-Ping, Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, 2009, 211 pages; 3362751

Abstract:

This study explored computer teachers' technology-related practices in order to understand the nature of teachers' technological experiences, the learning opportunities brought about by technology, and the Enframing process in schools. Framed by a sociocultural perspective of technology and informed by Heidegger's conceptual reasoning, this study focused on how computer teachers created and sustained a learning environment in the computer-mediated context, how computer teachers' roles and practices evolved with the projects in which they participated, how computer teachers responded to the new cultures that were made possible because of the mediation of technology, and how computer teachers' contextualized educational practices interacted with the technological experiences interpreted under a Heideggerian framework. The qualitative material acquired with ethnographic methods revealed that (a) computer teachers' educational practices created the foundation for technology innovation; (b) computer teachers' technological experiences are composed of their educational practices and technical applications of technology; (c) some of the teachers' roles were reinforced as a response to the culture elements new to the existing classroom culture; (d) the new opportunities that emerged in the projects engaged the computer teachers with the social and cultural groups that were never present in teachers' daily experiences in the colonial schooling in Taiwan; and (e) the powerful school culture deferred the Enframing process in the computer teachers' technological experiences. Based on the teachers' experiences, the researcher suggested that teacher educators stay close to and establish continuous dialogues with teachers so that they may learn and benefit from the emerging opportunities and may further take action to transform themselves and the existing school culture.

 
AdviserRenee Clift
SchoolUNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
SourceDAI/A 70-06, p. , Sep 2009
Source TypeDissertation
SubjectsHistory of education; Elementary education; Teacher education; Educational technology
Publication Number3362751
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