0.4 Discussion  (Page 6/23)

Although the instructors in this study had become adept at technology for personal use, such as Word, email, and the Internet, the instructors did not have equal skill levels with using technology in the classroom. Only a few of the instructors had mastered a course management system.

Pierson (1999) found that in order to fully integrate technology in teaching, the instructor needed to be firmly grounded in three types of knowledge: pedagogical, content, and technological.

Technology in the hands of an exemplary teacher is not a foregone conclusion of integrated use. Unless the teacher views technology use as an integral part of the learning process, it will remain a peripheral supplement. True integration is the intersection of multiple types of teacher knowledge and is likely as rare as expertise. (p. 225-226)

The instructors were clearly experts in the areas of subject content and pedagogical knowledge. Several were very experienced in the use of course management systems. However, for the vast majority, there was a distinct lack of technological pedagogical knowledge ( Pierson, 1999 ).

An example of a lack of technological pedagogy was Carrie’s previous attempt to use discussion boards. Carrie was very experienced in her field of study, and had extensive training in the course management system, WebCT. She had successfully implemented discussion boards with classes before, but because her method of assessment was highly individualized and time consuming, she had stopped using discussion boards years ago. The two online instructors, Ed and Ken, did not emphasize grades for discussion board postings. Ken’s assessment took place within the discussion board. Ken chose one idea to comment on, and posted it to the whole class. Ed actively participated in the discussions. He explained to the students that they would not receive grades for the postings, but their active participation and quality of responses could boost their grade a point or two, if they were on a borderline between one letter grade and another. These types of assessment encouraged participation and did not require extra time on the part of the instructors. Research shows that teacher participation in discussion boards increases student engagement ( Durrington, Berryhill,&Swafford, 2006 ).

How did they teach?

Figure 6 shows the range of teaching methods used as reported by the instructors. All of the instructors were aware of the importance of, and therefore used, a variety of methods to work with students who had different learning styles.