Date of Award
2012
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Abraham S. Fischler College of Education
Advisor
Raymond S. Froling
Committee Member
Harold Hayden
Committee Member
Ronald P. Kern
Keywords
"Generate list of alphabetized keywords, removing all formatting, comma-separate and decapitalize non proper nouns" Technology, Professional Development, High School, Teacher Websites The push to integrate technology into teachers’ daily practices has met with many forms of resistance. A common approach to increasing technology integration has been to provide teachers with professional development. This applied dissertation was designed to investigate the impact of a peer-led professional development program on teachers’ ability and confidence to integrate computer technology in daily classroom practices. The writer prepared and facilitated a peer-led professional development program on the use of computer technology for volunteer English and social studies teachers. The program was presented as a 6-hour training. At the conclusion of the training, the participants evaluated the program by means of a survey instrument developed by Gagliano-Chambers. The participating teachers then performed a demonstration lesson in a technology-rich classroom that applied the lessons from the professional development program to their classroom practices. The participating teachers self-evaluated the impact of the professional development program on their use of computer technology through post demonstration lesson surveys. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used in this study, and the results indicated that the peer-led professional development program did not reveal a significant difference on the results of this study. However, the ANOVA did reveal a significant difference in the participants’ comfort integrating computer technology and the participants being proud of their teaching accomplishments and their feeling of being a better teacher. A review of the qualitative data revealed most participants were satisfied with the program because the content was relevant to their teaching practices, and their time was spent working on improving their lessons. Although the data suggested that the participants were satisfied with their experience, the relevance of the program’s content, and the collegial atmosphere of a peer-led environment, more research is needed on the long-term impact of peer-led professional development on teachers’ integration of and comfort with integrating computer technology into classroom activities.
Abstract
The push to integrate technology into teachers’ daily practices has met with many forms of resistance. A common approach to increasing technology integration has been to provide teachers with professional development. This applied dissertation was designed to investigate the impact of a peer-led professional development program on teachers’ ability and confidence to integrate computer technology in daily classroom practices.
The writer prepared and facilitated a peer-led professional development program on the use of computer technology for volunteer English and social studies teachers. The program was presented as a 6-hour training. At the conclusion of the training, the participants evaluated the program by means of a survey instrument developed by Gagliano-Chambers. The participating teachers then performed a demonstration lesson in a technology-rich classroom that applied the lessons from the professional development program to their classroom practices. The participating teachers self-evaluated the impact of the professional development program on their use of computer technology through post demonstration lesson surveys.
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used in this study, and the results indicated that the peer-led professional development program did not reveal a significant difference on the results of this study. However, the ANOVA did reveal a significant difference in the participants’ comfort integrating computer technology and the participants being proud of their teaching accomplishments and their feeling of being a better teacher. A review of the qualitative data revealed most participants were satisfied with the program because the content was relevant to their teaching practices, and their time was spent working on improving their lessons. Although the data suggested that the participants were satisfied with their experience, the relevance of the program’s content, and the collegial atmosphere of a peer-led environment, more research is needed on the long-term impact of peer-led professional development on teachers’ integration of and comfort with integrating computer technology into classroom activities.