Shu-Ju Diana Tai

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to explore the ways in which teacher education institutions (TEI) prepare pre-service teachers for integrating information and communication technology (ICT) in their classroom practise. Specifically, a mul-tiple case study was conducted to examine the ways in which the development of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) was promoted in the existing curriculum of three TEI in Flanders. In the three cases, data were drawn from semi-structured interviews with the heads of the department and the ICT coordinators. Focus group discussions collected the perspectives of pre-service teachers and teacher educators. The results indicate that (1) the three institutions are moving from ICT as a 'stand-alone' course towards embedding ICT across the curriculum and (2) three approaches were adopted for developing pre-service teachers' TPACK, each representing different ways of understanding the place of ICT in the curriculum. The discussion will focus on the challenges and opportunities inherent in understanding how to develop pre-service teachers' TPACK in the curriculum of TEI.

Recent research indicates that Web 2.0 applications contribute to supporting a social constructivist approach for language learning. However, students encounter different types of barrier associated with technologies and learning tasks, which can cause disengagement during different phases of learning. Thus, based on flow theory and the strategic motivation framework, this study aims to investigate students’ motivation and their engagement patterns while participating in Web 2.0 digital storytelling activities. The participants are 24 elementary school students of a suburban school in northern Taiwan. Over 19 weeks of observations on students aged 9–10 years in a third-grade classroom, data were collected through three sources: surveys, students’ digital stories, and English tests. The analysis of the data showed that motivation was a dynamic process, initially low but increasing in later phases. A dynamic pattern was also identified in the students’ flow perceptions, which included...

to understand how English teachers develop CALL competency and adopt the competency in their teaching. Participants were 24 elementary English teachers in Taiwan. The study used a mixed methods design (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007), collecting and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data concurrently but separately before they were triangulated. Findings show that the TPACK-inAction workshops had a positive impact on the 24 teachers. In addition to the development of CALL competency, it was also observed that participants demonstrated CALL competency in their teaching, such as selecting online materials and appropriate technology for content teaching, using cloud computing for student interaction, and matching the affordances of technology to meet their instructional goals and pedagogy. In sum, the study provides empirical evidence and a new perspective in the investigation of CALL teacher education. The theoretical and pedagogical implications for CALL teacher education research...

The present study seeks to investigate what and how Shannon, an English teacher of 7-12 classrooms, adopted what she learned in the technology and literacy course into her classrooms. Starting from being handed an iPad in her hand and told to use it in her teaching to taking part in a technology for literacy course guided by the TPACK framework (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) and TPACK-in-Action model (Tai, 2013), Shannon had gone through an adventurous journey in technology integration. Coming from a case study approach, the study aims to investigate what and how Shannon took away from the course and transform what was learned into actions in her classrooms through multiple data sources including her course projects, observations, and interviews. The findings indicated that Shannon had not only adopted what she had learned in the course, including technology and in-class activities but also transformed the knowledge learned into actions. Moreover, Shannon demonstrated a number of TPACK competency in her teaching, indicating that she was able to see beyond technology in solation but rather the interplay among technology, pedagogy, and content while integrating technology into her teaching. In all, the findings indicate that helping teachers understand TPACK and employing TPACK-in-Action model to guide the preparation course might plan an important part in preparing teachers to integrate technology, which informs teacher educators and teacher preparation program in the design of their courses and program.

This symposium reports the research on faculty technology mentoring through the case studies where gradate students (mentors) worked with the faculty members (mentees) on various technology integration projects. Faculty Mentoring Program originated in the Department of ...

ABSTRACT This study reports the TPACK knowledge and competency observed in K-6 classrooms of exemplary teachers with the purpose of designing an observation instrument that documents specific teacher characteristics that align with the seven domains of TPACK. Participants are four elementary teachers who were recommended by administrators or technology directors of schools located in the Midwest in the US. Data were collected through two sources, observations and interviews. Based on the analysis of the data sets, 39 main codes within seven domains of the TPACK framework were identified (60 counting all subcodes). In addition to a full code name, each code contains definitions with examples from observation and interview data. Findings from the study provide a more in-depth way of understanding what TPACK “looks like” in a classroom and what specific characteristics contribute to a teacher’s ability to apply and foster the interplay between content, pedagogy and technology in classrooms.

From the perspective that a teacher’s TPACK depends on the subject domain, the students and the ecology of the school and the classroom, this symposium intends to contribute to a better understanding of TPACK in language teaching. We present four studies that discuss the meaning of TPACK as a knowledge base for teaching language with technology (mother tongue and modern foreign languages). Two contributions studied what the knowledge base for teaching with technology could be in respectively early literacy and modern foreign language teaching. Two contributions demonstrate how TPACK in language teaching can be developed in in-service and pre-service teachers.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact field experiences, that are specifically targeted on using technology in PreK-12 educational contexts, have on preservice teachers in relation to their development of TPACK and as a result how prepared they are to integrate technology into their future classrooms. Participants are 9 preservice teachers enrolled in a 1-credit class offered for a Learning Technologies Minor at a large Midwestern university. Participants are required to complete a minimum of 24 hours in classrooms or educational contexts to observe how PreK-12 educators interact with and teach using technology. Data are collected from surveys completed before and after the field experiences, participants’ documentation of two observations framed in TPACK, their written reflections after each visit, and a focus group interview that is conducted at the end of the semester. Participants’ survey responses showed that they perceived themselves with higher TPACK after completing the field experiences in the PreK-12 educational contexts. Moreover, the field experiences helped them develop a more reflective stance about their teaching and future instructional goals, which was not solely limited to technology.

Shu-Ju Diana Tai, Iowa State University This study investigated the impact of a CALL teacher education workshop guided by the TPACK-in-Action model (Tai, 2013). This model is framed within Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK, Mishra & Koehler, 2006) and advocates a learning-by-doing approach (Chapelle & Hegelheimer, 2004) to understand how English teachers develop CALL competency and adopt the competency in their teaching. Participants were 24 elementary English teachers in Taiwan. The study used a mixed methods design (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007), collecting and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data concurrently but separately before they were triangulated. Findings show that the TPACK-in-Action workshops had a positive impact on the 24 teachers. In addition to the development of CALL competency, it was also observed that participants demonstrated CALL competency in their teaching, such as selecting online materials and appropriate technology for content teac...

Abstract The development of ubiquitous computing and sensor network technology has made full-body interaction with computers possible in many scenarios. However, learners encounter different interaction style such as body touch or body demonstration in the ...

ABSTRACT This study reports the TPACK knowledge and competency observed in K-6 classrooms of exemplary teachers with the purpose of designing an observation instrument that documents specific teacher characteristics that align with the seven domains of TPACK. Participants are four elementary teachers who were recommended by administrators or technology directors of schools located in the Midwest in the US. Data were collected through two sources, observations and interviews. Based on the analysis of the data sets, 39 main codes within seven domains of the TPACK framework were identified (60 counting all subcodes). In addition to a full code name, each code contains definitions with examples from observation and interview data. Findings from the study provide a more in-depth way of understanding what TPACK “looks like” in a classroom and what specific characteristics contribute to a teacher’s ability to apply and foster the interplay between content, pedagogy and technology in classrooms.

This symposium reports the research on faculty technology mentoring through the case studies where gradate students (mentors) worked with the faculty members (mentees) on various technology integration projects. Faculty Mentoring Program originated in the Department of ...

Recent research indicates that Web 2.0 applications contribute to supporting a social constructivist approach for language learning. However, students encounter different types of barrier associated with technologies and learning tasks, which can cause disengagement during different phases of learning. Thus, based on flow theory and the strategic motivation framework, this study aims to investigate students' motivation and their engagement patterns while participating in Web 2.0 digital storytelling activities. The participants are 24 elementary school students of a suburban school in northern Taiwan. Over 19 weeks of observations on students aged 9–10 years in a third-grade classroom, data were collected through three sources: surveys, students' digital stories, and English tests. The analysis of the data showed that motivation was a dynamic process, initially low but increasing in later phases. A dynamic pattern was also identified in the students' flow perceptions, which included two cycles of disengagement and reengagement. Students encountered different challenges that led to disengagement phases, which highlighted the need for specific types of learning support in elementary school contexts. In addition, the participants' vocabulary and oral fluency were found to have been enhanced by the end of the study. The implications for educational practice are discussed and the direction for future studies addressed.

The present study seeks to investigate what and how Shannon, an English teacher of 7-12 classrooms, adopted what she learned in the technology and literacy course into her classrooms. Starting from being handed an iPad in her hand and told to use it in her teaching to taking part in a technology for literacy course guided by the TPACK framework (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) and TPACK-in-Action model (Tai, 2013), Shannon had gone through an adventurous journey in technology integration. Coming from a case study approach, the study aims to investigate what and how Shannon took away from the course and transform what was learned into actions in her classrooms through multiple data sources including her course projects, observations, and interviews. The findings indicated that Shannon had not only adopted what she had learned in the course, including technology and in-class activities but also transformed the knowledge learned into actions. Moreover, Shannon demonstrated a number of TPACK competency in her teaching, indicating that she was able to see beyond technology in solation but rather the interplay among technology, pedagogy, and content while integrating technology into her teaching. In all, the findings indicate that helping teachers understand TPACK and employing TPACK-in-Action model to guide the preparation course might plan an important part in preparing teachers to integrate technology, which informs teacher educators and teacher preparation program in the design of their courses and program.

This study investigated the impact of a CALL teacher education workshop guided by the TPACK-in-Action model (Tai, 2013). This model is framed within Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK, Mishra & Koehler, 2006) and advocates a learning-by-doing approach (Chapelle & Hegelheimer, 2004) to understand how English teachers develop CALL competency and adopt the competency in their teaching. Participants were 24 elementary English teachers in Taiwan. The study used a mixed methods design (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007), collecting and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data concurrently but separately before they were triangulated. Findings show that the TPACK-in-Action workshops had a positive impact on the 24 teachers. In addition to the development of CALL competency, it was also observed that participants demonstrated CALL competency in their teaching, such as selecting online materials and appropriate technology for content teaching, using cloud computing for student interaction, and matching the affordances of technology to meet their instructional goals and pedagogy. In sum, the study provides empirical evidence and a new perspective in the investigation of CALL teacher education. The theoretical and pedagogical implications for CALL teacher education research and practice are discussed.

This chapter examines how multiple research approaches can be used to understand teachers’ development of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). Classroom observations and follow-up interviews were used to document the TPACK knowledge and competency of exemplary teachers who were using technology as an integral part of their teaching and learning. A qualitative case study approach, guided by Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) and the Data Analysis Spiral (Creswell, 2013), was used. Each participant was
observed twice teaching in a classroom and a follow-up interview was conducted with teachers after each classroom observation. A coding system and comparative analysis were used to identify themes that emerged from the observation and interview data collected. The codes that emerged from the observations were aligned with teachers’ self-reported perception items describing their development of TPACK (Schmidt et al., 2009-10). Ultimately, the goal of this research is to better understand how to assess the nature of teachers’ TPACK using triangulated measures in the context of K-8 classrooms.

Research in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and Computer Assisted Language
Learning (CALL) suggests that using peer feedback to complement instructor feedback in
the second language (L2) writing classroom has the potential to enhance learners' writing
skills and text quality. However, the literature on online feedback points to some issues
that need to be addressed in order to make online peer feedback successful. Two of such
issues are (1) the need to ensure that learners focus on providing revision related
comments rather than engaging in social chats; and (2) the need to provide opportunity
for students to give feedback beyond the written word. This case study investigated how
six ESL learners used an asynchronous multimodal communication platform,
VoiceThread, to provide online peer feedback for revision. The findings suggest that
when using an asynchronous multimodal platform, the learners provided mainly revision
related feedback through multiple modes, including spoken, written, and visual. In
addition, learners used comments they received to revise their papers. The pedagogical
implications of these findings are discussed.