Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemTeachers and technology: experiences and perceptions of professional development( 2001)This study investigated professional development to support teachers' use of information and communication technologies in one primary school setting. It explored teachers' attitudes and feelings towards information and communication technologies and their perceptions about professional development to support them in this area. The ways in which this group of teachers are currently utilising information and communication technologies to assist teaching and learning processes were also investigated. Current practice and professional development experiences were explored to discover links, and to investigate participants' perceptions of effective types of professional development to support their use of information and communication technologies. Other support such as access, technical assistance and support from management were also explored to discover their impact on teachers' use of information and communication technologies. An exploratory case study approach was taken and both qualitative and quantitative methods utilised to cater for the richness of the context. Data were collected from three sources; documents relating to professional development for information and communication technologies, a survey of teachers' technology skills and use, and a semi-structured interview. Data management and analysis were computer assisted. The study aimed to discover the types of professional development and the modes of presentation of this professional development that would be most effective in assisting this group of teachers with their use of information and communication technologies. This 'human dimension' is the key to appropriate use of technology, as illustrated by a working party for the Directorate of School Education: �The Working Party considers that attention should be directed to the human dimension, which promises to provide the key to more successful implementation of information technology in schools. It believes the issue should be addressed through structured professional development programs based on information technology and an understanding of such matters as learning, change and the factors that affect school culture.� Directorate of School Education, Victoria (1994, p. 2)
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ItemThe attitudes of teaching college students to the role of primary teacher( 1978)The particular problem chosen here was one of 'normative consensus': to what extent were 150 second year students in the State College of Victoria at Geelong in agreement as to the forms of behaviour which could be regarded as appropriate when acting the role of primary teacher? More specifically in this case how much consensus was there regarding the role of the primary teacher in given situations as seen through the students' eyes, and as they perceived the college lecturers and the practising teachers to view this role? The students were asked to complete a set of four role-norm inventories developed by Foskett (1969). Each inventory contained 45 identical questions which examined four main areas of teaching, attitude to pupils (15 items) attitude to colleagues (10 items), attitude to parents (10 items) and 10 items concerning the teacher's attitude to the community. The students answered the inventories from four points of view: - R.N.I. 1 as they thought they ought to behave; R.N.I. 2 as they intended to behave when they began teaching; R.N.I. 3 as they thought the college lecturers would like them to behave and R.N.I. 4 as they thought practising teachers would behave. The norms and expectations were measured on a 5 point Likert-type scale. The data from the inventories were used to obtain the mean and standard deviation for each item. The means were then compared, item by item, to see if significant differences existed between the various role-setting at .01 level of significance. There was one item of significant difference between R.N.I 1 and R.N.I. 2, 12 between R.N.I. 1 and R.N.I. 3 and 21 between R.N.I. 1 and R.N.I. 4. The results indicated that students tended to identify with their college lecturers and to be opposed to the way they perceived teachers to behave, especially in the area of classroom interaction. Various weaknesses of the research methods employed were examined but nonetheless the evidence that the process of teacher training might serve to produce conflict between the novitiate teacher and the school was considered strong enough to warrant further investigation.