Research in the area of educational technology has often been critiqued for a lack of theoretical grounding. In this article we propose a conceptual framework for educational technology by building on Shulman’s formulation of ‘‘pedagogical content knowledge’’ and extend it to the phenomenon of teachers integrating technology into their pedagogy. This framework is the result of 5 years of work on a program of research focused on teacher professional development and faculty development in higher education. It attempts to capture some of the essential qualities of teacher knowledge required for technology integration in teaching, while addressing the complex, multifaceted, and situated nature of this knowledge. We argue, briefly, that thoughtful pedagogical uses of technology require the development of a complex, situated form of knowledge that we call Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK). In doing so, we posit the complex roles of, and interplay among, three main components of learning environments: content, pedagogy, and technology. We argue that this model has much to offer to discussions of technology integration at multiple levels: theoretical, pedagogical, and methodological. In this article, we describe the theory behind our framework, provide examples of our teaching approach based upon the framework, and illustrate the methodological contributions that have resulted from this work.

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Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A Framework for Teacher Knowledge

Lincoln, Yvonna, and Egon Guba, "Postpositivism and the Naturalist Paradigm," pp. 14-46 in Yvonna Lincoln and Egon Guba, Naturalistic Inquiry . Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1985.*

Course Description In this course, we will explore the question of the actual and potential connections between democracy and education. Our focus of attention will be placed on a critical examination of democratic theory and its implications for the civic education roles and contributions of teachers, adult educators, community development practitioners, and community organizers. We will survey and deal critically with a range of competing conceptions of democracy, variously described as classical, republican, liberal, radical, marxist, neomarxist, pragmatist, feminist, populist, pluralist, postmodern, and/or participatory. Using narrative inquiry as a means for illuminating and interpreting contemporary practice, we will analyze the implications of different conceptions of democracy for the practical work of civic education.

Democracy and education.

Although the conditions for successful technology integration finally appear to be in place, including ready access to technology, increased training for teachers, and a favorable policy environment, high-level technology use is still surprisingly low. This suggests that additional barriers, specifically related to teachers’ pedagogical beliefs, may be at work. Previous researchers have noted the influence of teachers’ beliefs on classroom instruction specifically in math, reading, and science, yet little research has been done to establish a similar link to teachers’ classroom uses of technology. In this article, I argue for the importance of such research and present a conceptual overview of teacher pedagogical beliefs as a vital first step. After defining and describing the nature of teacher beliefs, including how they are likely to impact teachers’ classroom practice, I describe important implications for teacher professional development and offer suggestions for future research.

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Teacher Pedagogical Beliefs: The Final Frontier in Our Quest for Technology Integration?.

1. Interaction. The interactions learners have with each other build interpersonal skills, such as listening, politely interrupting, expressing ideas, raising questions, disagreeing, paraphrasing, negotiating, and asking for help. 2. Interdependence. Learners must depend on one another to accomplish a common objective. Each group member has specific tasks to complete, and successful completion of each member’s tasks results in attaining the overall group objective.

将“Cooperative Learning”融入课堂——浅谈英语素质教育

Teachers’ instructional perspectives and use of educational software

The question of how we learn from hypertext is more complicated than that of how we learn from traditional text. Although all the same elements of character decoding, word recognition, sentence comprehension, and so forth remain the same, a number of features unique to hypertext produce added complexity. It is these features that drive the research of hypertext in education and have shaped our discussion in this chapter. The most basic feature of hypertext, of course, is its nonlinear structure. How nonlinear structure alters learners’ mental representations or ability to use their new knowledge has been an active area of research. This feature gives way to a number of factors related to learning. Primary among these is a flexibility of information access. Whereas traditional text allows the author to assume what information has already been encountered and present new information accordingly, information within a hypertext may be retrieved in a sequence specified by each user. In other words, there is a greater degree of learner control when engaged in hypertext-assisted learning (HAL). The shift in control of access from author to learner places a greater cognitive burden on the learner. Specifically, the learner must now monitor to a greater extent whether he or she understands what has been read, determine whether information must be sought to close information gaps, and decide where to look for that information in the text. In short, there are greater metacognitive demands on the reader during HAL. While the vast majority of research on hypertext is not specifically relevant to learning, investigation into its educational utility began to heat up in the 1980s, and many research reports and articles have been published since then. Chen and Rada (1996) conducted a metanalytic study of learning from hypertext. Of 13 studies they found comparing learning outcomes for subjects using hypertext versus nonhypertext systems, 8 revealed an advantage of hypertext. Although the combined effect size was small to medium (r = .12), it was highly significant (p < .01). In addition, they report that the effect sizes and significance levels among studies comparing learning from hypertext and linear text were heterogeneous. They interpret this result as an indication that factors such as system design, system content, and experimental design influence educational effectiveness, and a number of empirical studies have pointed to the influence of such factors on learning outcomes. In addition to system variables, user traits such as goals, motivation, and prior knowledge are also factors in HAL. Moreover, these learner variables interact with hypertext characteristics to influence learning outcomes. We have attempted here to sort through the data to identify the variables that affect HAL most strongly and the mechanisms through which this occurs. Wherever it is appropriate, we have also tried to explain how user and system variables interact. Because of such interactions, the field is largely looking toward adaptive technology to tailor systems for the user, so we have also included a section on adaptive

http://www.compassproject.net/sadhana/teaching/readings/23.pdf

Learning from hypertext: research issues and findings

Advances in technology have enabled the development of hypertext-based instructional materials. These computerized information presentation systems are becoming increasingly popular as schools and businesses develop the technology infrastructure to support their use; however, before hypertext-based instruction completely takes over the classroom and the boardroom, a number of questions about the utility of this presentation medium must be answered. The present study is an examination of the effects of the cognitive load associated with using hypertext linking capabilities to “criss-cross the conceptual landscape” on student learning. Results indicate that extensive use of hyperlinks to compare and contrast concepts when reading hypertext may inhibit learning. Cognitive load theory is discussed as a possible explanation for these findings.

The Influence of Cognitive Load on Learning from Hypertext

Five principles of instruction have been shown by current research to promote deep and durable learning. Specific examples show how these principles apply to online courses.

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Promoting Deep and Durable Learning in the Online Classroom

Cluster analysis is a group of statistical methods that has great potential for analyzing the vast amounts of web server-log data to understand student learning from hyperlinked information resources. In this methodological paper we provide an introduction to cluster analysis for educational technology researchers and illustrate its use through two examples of mining click-stream server-log data that reflects student use of online learning environments. Cluster analysis can be used to help researchers develop profiles that are grounded in learner activity—like sequence for accessing tasks and information, or time spent engaged in a given activity or examining resources—during a learning session. The examples in this paper illustrate the use of a hierarchical clustering method (Ward’s clustering) and a non-hierarchical clustering method (k-Means clustering) to analyze characteristics of learning behavior while learners engage in a problem-solving activity in an online learning environment. A discussion of advantages and limitations of using cluster analysis as a data mining technique in educational technology research concludes the article.

Dale S. Niederhauser

Papers

Teachers’ instructional perspectives and use of educational software

Learning from hypertext: research issues and findings

The Influence of Cognitive Load on Learning from Hypertext

Promoting Deep and Durable Learning in the Online Classroom

Using Cluster Analysis for Data Mining in Educational Technology Research