1. Mentoring Interns in Using Technology: Pinning our Hopes for Change on a “Do it Yourself” Basis Dr. Robert Smith, University of North Carolina, Wilmington smithrw@uncw.edu Dr. Dennis Kubasko, University of North Carolina, Wilmington kubaskod@uncw.edu Draft of paper available at http://people.uncw.edu/smithrw /http://people.uncw.edu/smithrw / http://people.uncw.edu/kubaskod /

2. National Emphasis on Including Technology National Emphasis on Including Technology National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T): Six standards for inclusion of technology in all teacher education programs. Overall goal: Standard 3 Teachers use methods and strategies for applying technology to maximize student learning.

3. Technology and Change Support for change Computers viewed as a possible catalyst for changing instruction (Pedretti, 1999) Social Studies Conceptualization of technology evolved from atheoretical collection of tools to a constructivist orientation.. Berson (2004). Support for promoting active learning involving project based learning. Science Reform minded documents, Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy (AAAS, 1993) and National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996), both speak to the importance and immediacy of the inclusion of technology in current science education.

4. Technology and Change Limited Change □ Cuban et al (2001) without fundamental changes in how schools are structured “only modest peripheral modifications will occur in schooling teaching and learning.” □ Social Studies In relation to historical inquiry, approaches are still few in number – (Hartzler-Miller, 2001) Technology enhanced traditionalism (Dewitt, 2005)  Science Instruction about technology transitions to instruction with technology; specific to learning the science content and create meaningful learning experiences (Henriques, 2002; Neiss, 2001; & Weinburgh, 1997).

5. Importance of Qualified Mentor NETS T Standards call for: □Provision of an experienced and knowledgeable mentor/partnership teacher; □Role model for technology use □Guide and continuously evaluate mentee’s teaching

6. Context of Technology Use  Larger societal context of national and state standards and policies relating to technology  Local or school context, including the school district and individual school and policies relating to technology use, access and support  Individual teacher’s knowledge, skills and interest in technology.  Discipline specific content pedagogy

8. Teachers, Teaching and Policy □ Teachers as mediators: - have considerable latitude in interpreting and implementing policies developed at higher levels (Means, 2003) □ Teaching based more on craft knowledge: each teacher is left to invent his or her knowledge base – unexamined, untested, idiosyncratic and potentially at odds….(Burney, 2004)

9. Research Questions This study sought to answer the following questions: □ How and why are interns using technology in teaching and learning? □ What mentoring does the partnership teacher provide to the intern in their use of technology? □ How does the mentoring affect the interns’ use of technology?

10. Technology Use and Mentoring □ Mentoring in the use of technology: conceptualized in three ways. The partnership teacher: Modeled the use of emerging or emerged technology Provided general feedback & support to the intern on technology use Provided specific guidance on technology use. □ Technology use: 1)by teacher and 2)by students

11. Methods Participants: Eighty one secondary interns of various disciplines. □Surveyed about their use of technology and the mentoring provided by their partnership teacher Case Studies with 3 Social Studies interns and 3 Science interns and their mentors □Individual interviews with intern and partnership teacher at the beginning and end of internship □Weekly log of intern’s technology use during 2 week period □Observations: Each intern was observed 4 times teaching a 90 minute lesson

12. Findings: Technology Use □Interns described their skills with using technology in teaching and learning as: □70% advanced □24% intermediate □5% expert □1% novice

13. Findings: Technology Use □In terms of their uses of technology: □100% word processing and email □96% internet searches □83% presentation software □50% developed a teacher webpage □48% LCD projector □15% handheld computers

14. Main source of support for technology integration: □65% indicated other main sources: □26% other interns □25% university supervisor □9% other teachers □6% school technology coordinator □35% of interns indicated partnership teacher

15. Range in use of technology and mentoring □ Model 1: Intern Models Mentor’s Full Teaching Practice □ Model 2: Intern Modifies Mentor’s Practice □ Model 3: Intern Models Only Mentor’s General Pedagogy

16. Three models of mentoring Model 1: Intern models Mentor’s full teaching practice “We sat down together and pretty much did our presentations together and made sure that we presented the same knowledge. And so we would work together to use the same technology. We showed a lot of the same movies.” “She modeled and supported my use of technology. She is a digital goddess” Mentor → Intern General Pedagogy: Lecture with (creative) student assignments to use/apply information Intern models mentor’s practice Same as mentor Technology Use: Used emerged tech; some use of emerging tech. Intern models mentors use; Receives support and guidance Primarily teacher use but some student use

17. Three models of mentoring Model 2: Intern Modifies Mentor’s Teaching Practice “He is an awesome lecturer, not lecturer, he doesn’t stand back there but he gets the class involved by talking to them. He likes worksheets a lot and I can’t lecture for an hour and thirty minutes” “He had to teach me how to do everything. He provided guidance with PowerPoint, and showed me good websites. But the computer lab, I kind of did on my own.” Mentor → Intern General Pedagogy: Lecture, with present software, discussion and work sheets Intern uses lecture but includes creative assignments for student application and reinforcement of learning Lecture with present software plus creative student assignments Technology Use: Teacher use only: present software and SmartBoard Intern models mentor use of technology Guidance for teacher-direction but not student-centered Primarily teacher use but with some in class student use

18. Three models of mentoring Model 3: Intern Models Mentor’s General Pedagogy “We both would lecture and then have students complete worksheets. I used PowerPoint a lot in all my lectures.” “That’s probably the biggest weakness in my internship. He didn’t use it. I don’t think it was because he didn’t want to use it. I don’t think he was really familiar with the resources that were available to him.” Mentor 3 → Intern 3 General Pedagogy: Lecture with use of worksheets Intern models mentor’s practice Same Practice observed Technology Use: No use of emerged or emerging technology No modeling or guidance for intern Intern uses.ppt for instructional presentation

19. Discussion Use of Technology Variation even in classrooms in the same school and discipline Social Studies – technology largely used for teacher use Science – Technology largely used for teacher use; some evidence of student use Mentoring: Variation in the quality of mentoring in technology Mentors – one of many sources

20. Conclusion Technology & Change: Big gap between policies and standards at state and national level and technology use in the classroom. A “Do it yourself approach.” Need a much more thoughtful, coordinated approach to teaching, involving move from craft to research based knowledge.