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Teaching and Teacher Education 29 (2013) 76e85

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Teaching and Teacher Education


journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tate

Teacher beliefs and technology integration


ChanMin Kim a, *, Min Kyu Kim a, Chiajung Lee a, J. Michael Spector b, Karen DeMeester c
a
Department of Educational Psychology & Instructional Technology, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
b
Department of Learning Technologies, The University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA
c
Program Evaluation Group, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

h i g h l i g h t s

< Teacher beliefs (i.e., epistemology and conceptions of teaching) were examined.
< The goal was to understand why technology is integrated differently among teachers.
< Such beliefs were related to teachers’ technology integration practice.
< Teacher beliefs need be considered in order to facilitate technology integration.
< Several suggestions for positive changes in teachers’ beliefs are provided.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The purpose of this exploratory mixed methods study was to investigate how teacher beliefs were
Received 7 November 2011 related to technology integration practices. We were interested in how and to what extent teachers’ (a)
Received in revised form beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning, (b) beliefs about effective ways of teaching, and (c)
13 August 2012
technology integration practices were related to each other. The participants were twenty two teachers
Accepted 14 August 2012
who have participated in a four-year professional development project funded by the U.S. Department of
Education. Specific relations between teachers’ beliefs and technology integration practices are pre-
Keywords:
sented. The implications for professional development and suggestions for teacher belief change and
Technology integration
Teacher education
technology integration are discussed.
Teacher beliefs Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Diffusion of innovation

1. Introduction studied to understand what knowledge and skills teachers lack and
what professional development ought to target in order to
As an international phenomenon, technology is an important systemically improve effective use of technology in teaching
part of our everyday lives and efforts to improve teaching and (Koehler & Mishra, 2009; Mishra & Koehler, 2006). Many argue that
learning (Sandholtz, Ringstaff, & Dwyer, 1997; Voogt, Tilya, & van teachers’ integrative knowledge of technology, pedagogy, and
den Akker, 2009; Williams, Linn, Ammon, & Gearhart, 2004). content that goes beyond specific technology skills should be
With the importance of technology in education, technology inte- emphasized in teacher development (e.g., Niess, 2005; Polly,
gration has been greatly emphasized in teacher training and McGee, & Sullivan, 2010). Although teachers’ TPACK is a strong
professional development (Lawless & Pellegrino, 2007). However, it enabler for effective technology integration, still this does not
has been criticized that teachers have not been provided with explain why teachers with sufficient knowledge utilize technology
adequate support that goes beyond learning specific technology differently. For example, some use an interactive whiteboard only
skills (e.g., using a particular tool or software program) (Llorens, to project content while others use the board to support interactive
Salanova, & Grau, 2002). student inquiry processes (Hall, 2010). Using an interactive white-
In recent years, technological pedagogical content knowledge board just to present information without any interaction has no
(TPACK; changed from TPCK in Thompson & Mishra, 2007) has been real pedagogical advantages over traditional whiteboards.
However, with the functionality that an interactive whiteboard
allows, immediate, dynamic changes in pedagogical decisions and
* Corresponding author. 605A Aderhold Hall, Department of Educational actions that are contingent on students’ input are possible
Psychology & Instructional Technology, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA (Kennewell & Beauchamp, 2007). Interactive use of interactive
30602-7144, USA. Tel.: þ1 706 542 3954; fax: þ1 706 542 4240.
whiteboards to actively engage students with the subject matter
E-mail address: chanmin@uga.edu (ChanMin Kim).

0742-051X/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2012.08.005
ChanMin Kim et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 29 (2013) 76e85 77

through the technology would probably justify the additional that learning in collaboration brings about greater benefits than
expense compared to the cost of a traditional whiteboard, and learning alone would tend to include more group work than
schools are already widely equipped with interactive whiteboards teachers who see little or no learning value in collaboration.
in the U.K., the U.S., Australia, South Korea, and elsewhere. Teacher beliefs are regarded as one of the most valuable
In an attempt to understand why technology is differently (or not constructs for teacher education (Kagan, 1992; Pajares, 1992).
at all) integrated into teaching among teachers who are equipped Teacher beliefs have been studied in the U.K. (e.g., Blay & Ireson,
with relevant knowledge, two sets of barriers are often discussed 2009; Florian & Rouse, 2009), Spain (e.g., Cano, 2005), Greece
(Ertmer, 1999, 2005; Hew & Brush, 2007): (a) first-order barriers (e.g., Mattheoudakis, 2007), Portugal (e.g., Fonseca, Costa,
concern factors such as environmental readiness (e.g., computers, Lencastre, & Tavares, 2012), Israel (e.g., Shechtman & Or, 1996;
the Internet access) and teacher knowledge (e.g., TPACK); (b) Zohar, Degani, & Vaaknin, 2001), the Netherlands (e.g., Meirink,
second-order barriers include factors such as teachers’ beliefs Meijer, Verloop, & Bergen, 2009; Tillema, 1994; Zantinga,
(Ertmer, 1999, 2005; Hew & Brush, 2007). Second-order barriers, Verloopa, & Vermunt, 2001), Turkey (e.g., Isikoglu, Basturk, &
defined as the intrinsic factors that hinder technology integration, Karaca, 2009; Özgün-Koca & Şen, 2006), China (e.g., Correa, Perry,
can interfere with teachers’ technology integration even when first- Sims, Miller, & Fang, 2008), South Korea (e.g., Lee, Baik, &
order barriers are overcome (Ertmer, 1999). It has been well Charlesworth, 2006), Japan (e.g., Underwoord, 2012), Singapore
documented that technology availability creates the possibility of (e.g., Lim, 2010), Australia (e.g., Mansfield & Volet, 2010; Ng et al.,
effective technology integration (e.g., Norris, Sullivan, & Poirot, 2010), the U.S. (e.g., Brousseau & Freeman, 1988; Sanger &
2003) but knowledge pertinent to pedagogy and content are Osguthorpe, 2011; Stipek, Givvin, Salmon, & MacGyvers, 2001),
required to realize the full potential of teaching technologies to Canada (e.g., Jordan, Glenn, & McGhie-Richmond, 2010), and the list
improve learning and instruction (e.g., Mishra & Koehler, 2006; goes on. However, the term ‘teacher beliefs’ has been used incon-
Shulman, 1987). Nonetheless, the acquisition of technology and sistently and previous studies focused on a variety of beliefs such as
knowledge does not always lead to effective technology integration teacher expectation of learner success (i.e., self-fulfilling prophecy;
(Polly, Mims, Shepherd, & Inan, 2010). Teachers’ persistent beliefs e.g., Harber & Jussim, 2005), self-efficacy in their own ability to
about current practices are recognized as second-order barriers that teach (i.e., teacher efficacy; e.g., Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy,
delay or inhibit technology integration (Ertmer, 2005). Even when 2001), beliefs about the value of specific teaching strategies or
technology and technical knowledge are in place (i.e., when first materials (e.g., computer use; Park & Ertmer, 2008), content-
order barriers are overcome), effective technology integration specific beliefs (i.e., different views on how to be taught per
requires teachers’ beliefs in “new ways of both seeing and doing content; Kagan, 1992), and so on.
things” (Ertmer, 2005, p. 26). Teachers’ beliefs predict, reflect, and Defining teacher beliefs in relation to technology integration has
determine their actual teaching practice (Kagan,1992; Pajares, 1992; no consensus as well. However, in many studies, what beliefs are
Wilkins, 2008). For instance, research has shown that the ways of about is specified, as Pajares (1992) recommended. Some
teaching can be different depending on teachers’ different beliefs researchers regard teacher beliefs as beliefs about the value of
even when the teachers have similar knowledge and skills (e.g., technology for student learning (e.g., Polly et al., 2010); some
Ernest, 1989). Teacher beliefs are considered even more influential regard teacher beliefs as self-efficacy regarding technology use
than teacher knowledge (Pajares, 1992). Understanding of teachers’ (e.g., Abbitt, 2011; Wang, Ertmer, & Newby, 2004); and some regard
beliefs that make technologies differently integrated into teaching teacher beliefs as a combination of self-efficacy, beliefs about the
would be helpful in improving technology integration trainings. value of technology, and beliefs about teaching and learning with
In short, to promote teachers’ technology integration practice in technology (e.g., Park & Ertmer, 2008).
the classroom, it has been suggested that second-order barriers to One difference that we noticed in research on teacher beliefs in
technology integration should be identified and overcome; positive technology integration contexts is that the view on beliefs is nar-
changes in teacher beliefs could help surmount second-order rower than in research on teacher beliefs in general. In other words,
barriers (Ertmer, 2005; Hew & Brush, 2007). Thus, we examined it appears that researchers examined beliefs only associated with
how teachers’ beliefs are related to their technology integration technology although there should be fundamental beliefs that are
practices. In doing so, first, we reviewed the literature to determine associated with teacher beliefs in relation to technology. For
the teacher beliefs that should be examined. Second, we examined example, a teacher believes that the value of technology for student
teachers’ (a) beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning, as learning is high because an interactive whiteboard allows her to
well as (b) beliefs about effective ways of teaching. Last, we promote active participation of students. In contrast, another
investigated how such beliefs are related to teachers’ technology teacher believes that the value of technology for student learning is
integration practice. Throughout the investigation, it was expected high because an interactive whiteboard allows him to deliver
that information about relationships between teacher beliefs and content more efficiently by projecting online resources on the
technology integration would suggest how to take teacher beliefs board. Although both teachers perceive the value of interactive
into consideration so as to facilitate technology integration. whiteboard technology to be equally high, their beliefs about the
value of the technology do not explain their different uses of that
2. Theoretical framework technology. In order to understand why technology is integrated
differently among teachers, their fundamental beliefs about what is
2.1. Teacher beliefs important in student learning and thus teaching (regardless of
technology use) should be understood.
2.1.1. Defining teacher beliefs in relation to technology integration We are not arguing that self-efficacy, beliefs about the value of
Teacher beliefs have been studied to understand teaching technology, and beliefs about teaching and learning with tech-
practices (Pajares, 1992) since beliefs influence behaviors (Ajzen & nology should not be studied. We do recognize that if teachers do
Madden, 1986). Teacher beliefs are considered an indicator for not have self-efficacy beliefs in their ability to use their interactive
certain behaviors in class because of the mediating effects of beliefs whiteboard, for example, it is unlikely that they will integrate such
on the ways of teaching via their impact on decision making a technology into teaching. We are arguing that fundamental
(Kagan, 1992; Kane, Sandretto, & Heath, 2002; Ng, Nicholas, & beliefs (regardless of the technology involved) that teachers bring
Williams, 2010; Pajares, 1992). For instance, teachers who believe into teaching should be studied in order to understand how
78 ChanMin Kim et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 29 (2013) 76e85

differently (or not at all) technology is integrated. For example, teaching to support learning and instruction. Student change (e.g.,
after teachers attended a professional development training surface and deep learning approaches) and achievement are
together, acquired necessary knowledge and skills with confidence, dependent on teachers’ conceptions of teaching (Cano, 2005).
and are convinced to use their interactive whiteboard, why do they
use their interactive whiteboards differently? In this study, our core 3. Research questions
interest is in teachers’ fundamental beliefs that may play a critical
role in making a decision on how to use a particular technology to The purpose of this study was to examine the relation of
support learning. Thus, we decided to investigate teacher beliefs teachers’ beliefs to their technology integration practices. The
about the nature of knowledge and learning (i.e., epistemology; context for the study was a four-year professional development
e.g., Schommer, 1990) and about effective ways of teaching (i.e., project. The goal of the professional development project was to
conceptions of teaching; e.g., Chan & Elliott, 2004), regardless of increase the technology capacity and competency of teachers in
any particular technology. More specific descriptions of teachers’ poorly performing rural schools and to improve the quality of
epistemology and conceptions of teaching are provided in the participating teachers’ integration of technology in their class-
following sections as well as the rationale for our choice for these rooms to support specific learning objectives and students’ mastery
two beliefs. of skills and competencies described in the states’ standards.
It was reasonable to consider that first-order barriers to tech-
2.1.2. Teacher beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning nology integration were overcome in this group of teachers since
(epistemology) extrinsic factors (e.g., access to resources and sufficient technology
One’s beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning are skills and knowledge) were appropriately functioning. We do not
directly or indirectly related to performance mediated by cognitive claim that all first-order barriers were overcome because teachers’
processes, motivation, attitudes, behavior, efforts, and so forth integrated knowledge of technology, pedagogy, and content was not
(Schommer, 1990). Most of the research on these beliefs has specifically examined in this study. However, it was worth inves-
focused on epistemological beliefs. Schommer has conceptualized tigating second-order barriers, especially teacher beliefs, not only
and refined a framework of epistemological belief research because of environmental readiness but also because of teachers’
(Schommer, 1998; Schommer-Aikins, 2002; Schommer-Aikins & technology skills and knowledge that were used in technology
Hutter, 2002). Schommer (1990) argued that one’s epistemolog- integration combined with their existing knowledge of content and
ical beliefs consisted of multidimensional beliefs, which were to pedagogy. Consequently our research questions focused on teacher
some degree independent of each other (Schommer, 1990). Her five beliefs. We were specifically interested in how and to what extent
dimensions of beliefs about knowledge acquisition and learning teachers’ (a) beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning, (b)
consist of: 1) the structure of knowledge, ranging from isolated beliefs about effective ways of teaching, and (c) technology inte-
pieces to integrated concepts, 2) the source of knowledge, ranging gration practices are related to each other. The following research
from authority to reasoning, 3) the stability of knowledge, ranging question was addressed: How do teacher beliefs about the nature of
from certain knowledge to changing knowledge, 4) the speed of knowledge and learning as well as effective ways of teaching relate
learning, ranging from quick learning to gradual learning, and 5) to their technology integration practices?
the ability to learn, ranging from fixed at birth to improvable
(Schommer, 1998; Schommer-Aikins, Duell, & Hutter, 2005). She 4. Context and methodology
indicated that “unspoken and sometimes unconscious beliefs about
the nature of knowledge and learning play a critical role” in guiding 4.1. Participants
a person’s thinking (Schommer-Aikins & Hutter, 2002, p. 13) and
affect reasoning and decision making in learning and teaching The participants were among the teachers who have partici-
environments. For example, if a teacher believes that the source of pated in our four-year Comprehensive School Reform program
knowledge is authority, that teacher may not use a relatively open- funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Among a total of 42
ended approach such as a WebQuest (Dodge, 1997) that encourages teachers involved in our project over its four-year duration, 22
students to explore a variety of sources (e.g., Google search, library, teachers were selected for this particular research, using these two
etc.) and construct answers to a given problem or complete criteria: (a) taught in class during the project years (e.g., school
a certain task. Instead, that teacher may just show answers on an library media specialists were excluded from the data collection),
interactive whiteboard, which is not so different from showing and (b) participated in the project for at least two consecutive years
content on a traditional blackboard. from 2007 to 2010. In short, the selection of only 22 of the 42
teachers was to intentionally focus on those teachers who were
2.1.3. Teacher beliefs about effective ways of teaching (conceptions actually in classrooms most of the time during the project. Among
of teaching) the 22 teachers, 5 taught 4th graders, 4 taught 2nd graders, 4 taught
Teacher beliefs about effective ways of teaching are conceptions 6th graders, 3 taught 5th graders, 2 taught 3rd graders, 2 taught 8th
of teaching associated with teacher-centered and student-centered graders, 1 taught 1st graders, and 1 taught 7th graders.
approaches to instruction (Chan & Elliott, 2004). Teacher-centered The primary goal of our project was to improve the use of
approaches tend to emphasize the activities that a teacher uses to technology in poorly performing rural K-8 schools in the Southeast
promote learning. Student-centered approaches tend to emphasize in the United State by providing (a) new technologies, (b) profes-
the activities in which a student is engaged. Associated with these sional development workshops, and (c) technical and pedagogical
two approaches is a continuum from structured, directed learning assistance. The technologies included laptops, interactive white-
environments to unstructured, open-ended learning environments. boards, digital cameras and recorders, and other technologies
For example, if a teacher believes that teaching is about letting selected in collaboration with participating schools. Professional
students search around for answers rather than explaining the development workshops included intensive, week-long summer
answers directly, that teacher may use a relatively open-ended training workshops each year as well as workshops on demand
approach such as a WebQuest (Dodge, 1997). Technology integra- during the school year. Training sessions involved such topics as
tion goes beyond the use of any particular technology, and it can be integrating Web resources into lessons (e.g., the use of GeoGebra
tightly connected with teachers’ beliefs about effective ways of allowing the dynamic manipulation of equations along with
ChanMin Kim et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 29 (2013) 76e85 79

Table 1 2004; Schommer-Aikins et al., 2005). Scale reliabilities in this


Sample questions on the Epistemological Belief Questionnaire (EBQ). study were .40 for the structure of knowledge, .22 for the source of
Beliefs about: Sample questions from Epistemological Belief knowledge, .36 for the stability of knowledge, .65 for speed of
Questionnaire (EBQ) learning, and .50 for ability to learn.
Structure of “The best thing about science courses is that
knowledge most problems have only one right answer.” 4.2.2. Teacher beliefs about effective ways of teaching (conceptions
Source of “Sometimes you just have to accept answers from
of teaching)
knowledge a teacher even though you don’t understand them.”
Stability of “Today’s facts may be tomorrow’s fiction.” Teacher beliefs about effective ways of teaching were measured
knowledge using part of the Teaching, Learning, and Computing (TLC) survey
Speed of learning “Successful students understand things quickly.” developed under projects funded by the National Science Foundation
Ability to learn “Wisdom is not knowing the answers, but knowing and the U.S. Department of Education (Becker, 2001). We used three
how to find the answers.”
scales from the survey (J1, J2, and J3) to figure out where teachers’
conceptions of teaching are along a teacher-centered and student-
centered continuum. The rationale for our choice was to investigate
automatic visualization to learn both geometry and algebra; teachers’ beliefs about effective ways of teaching regardless of tech-
Hohenwarter, Hohenwarter, and Lavicza (2009)), video recording nology by asking about their beliefs regarding class discussions (J1),
and editing, maintaining a Web-based knowledge sharing system, learning process (J2), and teacher role (J3). For example, the items
using video-conferencing, and so on. Technical and pedagogical with regard to class discussions questioned teachers’ perspectives on
assistance was given to teachers face-to-face, by phone, and by how open-ended the class discussions should be (see Fig.1 for sample
video-conference. The eight participating elementary and middle questions). Reliability score on the sub-scales of TLC was .83 (Becker,
schools in Alabama, Florida and Georgia received approximately 2001) and validity was verified using interviews and classroom
40% of the total grant to support technology upgrades and teacher observations (Ravitz, Becker, & Wong, 2000). Scale reliabilities in this
professional development training. The schools had voice and study were .92 for class discussions (J1), .76 for learning process (J2),
choice in selecting which technologies to acquire, although these and .33 for teacher role (J3).
technologies had to be consistent with project goals and used by
participating teachers. 4.2.3. Technology integration
Technology integration was measured using (a) classroom
4.2. Data collection observations and (b) teacher interviews. For classroom observa-
tions, the Classroom Lesson Observation (CLO) survey of CITERA
4.2.1. Teacher beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning (Comprehensive Information Technology Education in Rural
(epistemology) Appalachia, funded by the National Science Foundation; http://
Teacher beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning www.theedventuregroup.org/citerawv/) was used. We used two
were measured using Schommer’s (1990) Epistemological Belief scales from CLO to rate the design and implementation of teachers’
Questionnaire (EBQ). The questionnaire consists of 63 questions lessons that incorporated technologies, ranged from teacher-
with regard to five multidimensional beliefs, which are to some centered (highly structured, directed learning) to student-
degree independent of each other, as follows: 1) the structure of centered (mostly unstructured, open-ended learning). CLO has
knowledge; 2) the source of knowledge; 3) the stability of knowl- been utilized in middle and high school contexts to see the impact
edge; 4) the speed of learning; and, 5) the ability to learn. Table 1 of technology integration professional development on classroom
shows sample questions for each belief. Reliability scores on the teaching (Darrah & Blake, 2009). For the teacher interview, a semi-
sub-scales of EBQ (its adult version) range from .63 to .85 and structured interview protocol was used to examine teachers’ levels
validity has been verified in a variety of settings (Chan & Elliott, of use (LoU) of technology (Hall, Dirksen, & George, 2006). This

Fig. 1. Sample teacher conception questions.


80 ChanMin Kim et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 29 (2013) 76e85

interview protocol was constructed based on the Concerns-Based Table 2


Adoption Model (CBAM), which is frequently applied to assessing Levels of use (Hall et al., 2006).

teachers’ status of technology integration and to providing support 0: Nonuse State in which the user has little or no knowledge of the
for them (Ellsworth, 2000). CBAM has been utilized in a variety of innovation, no involvement with the innovation, and is
studies and is regarded as “a powerful tool for diagnosing the doing nothing toward becoming involved.
1: Orientation State in which the user has recently acquired or is
implementation effort’s progress” (Ellsworth, 2000, p. 43). acquiring information about the innovation and/or has
Teachers’ responses to the semi-structured interview protocol were recently explored or is exploring its value orientation
analyzed by the research group following the branching chart of and its demands upon user and user system.
LoU (see Fig. 2) and one of the eight levels were determined for 2: Preparation State in which the user is preparing for the first use of the
innovation.
each response (see Table 2). The following are some of the ques-
3: Mechanical use State in which the user focuses most effort on the short-
tions included in the interview protocol included questions. term, day-today use of the innovation with little time for
reflection. Changes in use are made more to meet user
 Can you describe your preparation process for a lesson in which needs than client needs.
you used a technology? (How much time did you spend? 4A: Routine use Use of the innovation is stabilized. Few if any changes are
being made in ongoing use. Little preparation or thought
Where did you start? How did you pick the technology? Did is being given to improving innovation use or its
you talk to your colleagues about your lesson plan?) consequences.
 What concerned you the most when you were planning the 4B: Refinement State in which the user varies the use of the innovation to
lesson? (Time you spent for the preparation; students’ reac- increase the impact on clients within immediate sphere
of influence. Variations are based on knowledge of both
tions; technologies failure; etc.)
short- and long-term consequences for clients.
 Did you feel the class went well? (If so, what aspects were 5: Integration State in which the user is combining own efforts to use
satisfactory? If not, why did you feel it didn’t go well? Did you the innovation with related activities of colleagues to
make some changes and try the lesson again?) achieve a collective impact on clients within their
 What technologies you think were the most effective? Why? common sphere of influence.
6: Renewal State in which the user re-evaluates the quality of use of
 Have you felt like you’ve needed to make changes in your ways the innovation, seeks major modifications of or
of teaching with technologies? How would you like to change alternatives to present innovation to achieve increased
the way of using technologies? If so, what kinds of changes impact on clients, examines new developments in the
have you thought of? field, and explores new goals for self and the system.

Both the classroom observations and teacher interviews were


done by the project team that consisted of four researchers. Before team rated each item independently and then the team debriefed
the classroom observations, the team conducted a pilot test by each observation and reviewed scorings as a group to reach
observing a couple of classrooms and scored each item of CLO inde- a consensus on scores, which were used in the data analysis. Inter-
pendently during each classroom observations. After the observa- rater reliability was over .70; however, this reliability score is not
tions, the team discussed similarities and differences in ratings as statistically interpretable due to the small number of observations.
well as rationales for each rating in order to synchronize the team’s For the teacher interviews, one of the researchers led all the
understanding of each item and interpretation as much as possible. interviews but each interview had two other researchers partici-
For the actual classroom observations, two or three members of the pating. Each interview was audio-recorded. Two of the research

Fig. 2. Branching chart in (From: Measuring implementation in schools: Levels of Use (Fig. 3.1: Branching Chart, p. 18) by G. E. Hall, D. J. Dirksen, and A. A. George, 2006,
Austin: SEDL. Copyright Ó 2006, SEDL. Reprinted by ChanMin Kim with permission of SEDL).
ChanMin Kim et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 29 (2013) 76e85 81

Table 3
Descriptive statistics. Technology
Integration
Measures Variables Mean (SD)
Teachers’ beliefs about the Structure of knowledge 3.27 (.25) r = .673 to .882
nature of knowledge and Source of knowledge 3.72 (.27)
learning (epistemology)a Stability of knowledge 3.13 (.39) Teacher Beliefs about
(described in Section 4.2.1) Speed of learning 3.75 (.26)
Effective ways of
Ability to learn 3.65 (.34) teaching
Teachers’ beliefs about Class discussionb 3.30 (1.27) (Conceptions of
effective ways of teaching Learning processc 2.81 (.70) teaching)
(conceptions of teaching) Teacher roleb 2.67 (.55) r = .422 to .447
(described in Section 4.2.1) The nature of
Technology integrationc Lesson designd 2.69 (.56) knowledge and
(described in Section 4.2.3) Lesson implementationd 2.62 (.82) learning
(Epistemology)
Level of technology usee 3.79 (1.43)

Notes: Possible ranges: 1e5 for a, b, d; 1e6 for c; 0e7 for e. Date sources: d was
obtained from observations; e was determined from interview data.
Fig. 3. Correlations among teacher beliefs and technology integration.

team members transcribed the interviews: one of them transcribed


the interviews first and the other reviewed the transcripts while
listening to the interviews and made changes to ensure the accu-
b) Teacher conceptions on teacher role was significantly
racy. The other two members of the team scored transcripts
correlated with levels of technology use (r ¼ .673).
collectively; that is, one of the two scored transcripts first and then
(3) Technology integration practices examined through classroom
the two discussed each scoring line by line to either keep the score
lesson observations were correlated with technology integra-
or revise it per discussion. We did not record inter-rater reliability.
tion practices examined through teacher interviews:
a) Lesson design was significantly correlated with levels of
5. Results technology use (r ¼ .826).
b) Lesson implementation was significantly correlated with
Table 3 shows the descriptive statistics of the data. Pearson levels of technology use (r ¼ .849).
correlation coefficients were used to examine the relations among
teacher beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning (epis- These results showed that teachers’ beliefs about the nature of
temology), beliefs about effective ways of teaching (conceptions), knowledge and learning (epistemology), beliefs about effective
technology integration practices (see Table 4). ways of teaching (conceptions), and technology integration were
A summary of significant results is as follows: positively correlated with one another; that is, the more sophisti-
cated epistemology teachers had, their conceptions were closer to
(1) Teacher beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning the student-centered approach end of the teacher-centered/
(epistemology) were significantly correlated with teacher student-centered continuum (1-a & 1-b) and their status of tech-
beliefs about effective ways of teaching (conceptions): nology integration showed a more seamless use of technology,
a) Epistemological beliefs about the structure of knowledge was meaning that the focus and emphasis remained on the learning
significantly correlated with teacher conceptions on rather than on the technology (2-a & 2-b). In addition, there was
learning process (r ¼ .444) and teacher role (r ¼ .447). consistency between what teachers do in their teaching and what
b) Epistemological beliefs about the source of knowledge was they say they do (3-a & 3-b). It is noteworthy that what teachers say
significantly correlated with teacher conceptions on they do (levels of technology use) was significantly correlated with
learning process (r ¼ .422). both their beliefs about effective ways of teaching (conceptions on
(2) Teachers’ beliefs about effective ways of teaching (conceptions) class discussions and teacher role) and their actual practices with
was significantly correlated with technology integration regard to technology integration (lesson design and lesson imple-
practices: mentation). The relations are illustrated in a simplified diagram (see
a) Teacher conceptions on class discussions was significantly Fig. 3) and example scenarios of Teacher X and Teacher Y illus-
correlated with lesson design (r ¼ .692) and levels of tech- trating different technology integration practices according to
nology use (r ¼ .882). teacher beliefs (see Table 5).

Table 4
Correlations among variables.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1.Structure of knowledge e
2.Source of knowledge .477* e
3.Stability of knowledge .486* .189 e
4.Speed of learning .288 .410 .146 e
5.Ability to learn .190 .071 .133 .027 e
6.Class discussion .213 .151 .103 .101 .196 e
7.Learning process .444* .422* .299 .138 .064 .446* e
8.Teacher role .447* .361 .064 .110 .203 .532* .556* e
9.Lessson design .233 .327 .047 .143 .077 .692* .024 .390 e
10.Lesson implementation .235 .157 .154 .233 .065 .549 .016 .372 .752* e
11.Level of technology use .125 .197 .428 .292 .179 .882* .479 .673* .826* .849*

* denotes a correlation that is significant at the .05 level.


82 ChanMin Kim et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 29 (2013) 76e85

Table 5
Example scenarios illustrating different technology integration practices according to epistemological beliefs and teaching philosophy.

Teacher X Teacher Y
Beliefs about the nature of knowledge Source of knowledge: authority Source of knowledge: reasoning
and learning (epistemology)
Beliefs about effective ways of Ms. Hill’s class discussion (see Fig. 1) was preferred; Mr. Jones’ class discussion (see Fig. 1) was preferred;
teaching (conceptions) asking questions that the students could answer quickly many of the questions came from the students
based on the reading they had done the day before themselves. Mr. Jones suggested where the students
could find relevant information
Technology integration practices Teacher-centered: Highly structured, directed learning Student-centered: Mostly unstructured, open-ended
Level of use: 3 (mechanical use) learning
Teacher’s comments: “My main concern still today . Level of use: 4B (refinement)
when I plan a lesson that involved using technology, Teacher’s comments: “They have their own laptops,
the Smartboard or whatever it is, I still make myself which could be sometimes a time issue. But it is worthy
a back-up plan in case it doesn’t work.” because they love it and want to and can do much more.
“There are so many resources out there so I can use For example, there are so many games they can learn
without taking my time.” from.”
“Basically I am not here, but the class can go on. just “I would like to know anything new that could interest
efficient.” my students and keep them engaged.”

6. Discussion and .6 or between .6 (strong) and 1.0 (very strong; see Table 4). We
also would like to highlight the practical significance of the corre-
6.1. Summary of findings lations in this study. The associations of the beliefs about the nature
of knowledge and learning on technology integration seem implicit
As stated previously, our core interest was in relationships and medicated by more explicit beliefs such as beliefs about
between teachers’ beliefs and their technology integration prac- effective ways of teaching. Those findings imply that designing
tices. The overall goal of the professional development aspect of the interventions for changes of the beliefs about effective ways of
project was to increase the technology capacity and competency of teaching could be more effective and efficient to lead changes of
teachers in poorly performing rural schools and the goal was ach- technology integration as well as positively influence the beliefs
ieved as shown in research on the project (e.g., McKeown, 2008). about knowledge and learning.
However, to find ways of improving professional development and It should be further studied what should be done to make
to contribute to larger communities of teacher education and positive changes to teachers’ beliefs to enact technology integration
technology integration, it was necessary to examine why teachers that promotes student learning. This is critical in the 21st century
differently integrated technology into classrooms (e.g., using an when it is expected that “the teacher is a facilitator or coach for
interactive whiteboard to show content vs. to interact with learning rather than a purveyor of expert knowledge” (Deakin
students). Crick, 2012, p. 175). To fulfill the expectation, teachers’ beliefs
As fundamental beliefs, teachers’ beliefs about the nature of that students can be a source of their own knowledge, for example,
knowledge and learning (epistemology) and beliefs about effective can be a gateway belief to facilitate changing how technology is
ways of teaching (conceptions) were examined. We found that integrated into teaching and learning. The role of teachers as
teachers’ beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning and a facilitator is shown to be important in McCombs, Daniels, and
beliefs about effective ways of teaching were related to their Perry’s (2008) study; that is, students’ perceptions of their
technology integration practices. This finding is consistent with teachers’ “facilitation of thinking and learning” were positively
prior research that has shown that teacher beliefs are strongly correlated with their perceptions of their own competence and
connected to teaching practices (Kagan, 1992; Nespor, 1987; interest in school (p. 29). The following section describes what can
Pajares, 1992). Although technology integration is about how be done to help with positive changes in teachers’ beliefs.
teaching is practiced, there has not been much research on the
connections between teachers’ epistemology and conceptions and 6.2. Suggestions for teacher belief change
their technology integration practices.
Our study findings suggest that teacher beliefs should be Researchers have discussed how and to what extent teacher
considered in order to facilitate technology integration. Especially, beliefs can be altered. Pajares (1992) argued that changes in adults’
teacher beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning that beliefs are rare and if changes occur, “a gestalt shift” enabled the
influence their beliefs about effective ways of teaching should be changes (p. 325). Kagan (1992) acknowledged that teacher beliefs
further studied since those fundamental beliefs can be a starting do not change by reading about newer beliefs but change “through
point to overcome the second-order barriers to technology inte- “conceptual change” that requires them to critically recognize their
gration. For example, the finding that teachers’ beliefs about the own beliefs as well as to observe, evaluate, and alternative beliefs
speed of learning and the source of knowledge are most strongly (p. 76). Although many agree that beliefs are resistant to change,
related to their conceptions suggests that personal epistemology they also agree that the difficulty changing teacher beliefs comes
determines decision making on how to teach in general as well as from experience that teachers bring into their beliefs (Kagan, 1992;
how to teach with technology (Chan & Elliott, 2004). Kane et al., 2002; Pajares, 1992). This suggests that we ought to
It is worth noting that we only indicate that teacher beliefs are allow experience that can be built up to challenge teachers’ current
related to technology integration. Correlation does not imply beliefs but ultimately optimize their beliefs for student learning.
causation. Correlation-coefficients are obtained by standardizing The argument that teacher beliefs ought to be considered to
the covariance between variables, which makes it possible to improve teaching practices is consistent among researchers who
compare the relative strength of covariances. There is an empirical study teacher beliefs in relation to technology integration. Changes
consensus of the magnitude of the value in social sciences (Glass & in teacher beliefs are recommended as a critical part for facilitating
Hopkins, 2008). Values in this study indicate either strong or very teacher change in the contexts of technology use (e.g., Ertmer &
strong relationships since they fell into the range either between .4 Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2010). Some attempt to change teacher
ChanMin Kim et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 29 (2013) 76e85 83

beliefs by implementing pedagogical interventions such as technology integration. We concluded that a crucial condition for
problem-based learning, modeling laboratory experience, etc. (e.g., change is the active involvement of leadership, consistent with
Ma, Lai, Williams, & Prejean, 2008; Park & Ertmer, 2008). However, Ellsworth’s (2000) finding. Not only “the cognitive or rational
beliefs studied in such contexts tend to be only technology-focused impact of leadership” but also “the affective influences of leader-
without considering fundamental beliefs (e.g., beliefs about ship” should be emphasized (Ellsworth, 2000, p. 67). The leader-
teaching regardless of technology). Moreover, teacher beliefs about ship development effort could be made to help principals play the
the nature of knowledge and learning have rarely studied (Chan & roles of not only an official supervisor but also a consultant to
Elliott, 2004), especially in the technology integration contexts (c.f., handle teachers’ “fundamental choices, mental models and
Maor & Taylor, 1995), despite the notion that “epistemological cultures” (Sparks, 2004, pp.14e15). The leadership of the principal
beliefs play a key role in knowledge interpretation and cognitive can be empowered to make impact on teachers’ implementation
monitoring” (Pajares, 1992, p. 325). of newer beliefs and provide them with scaffolding for them
Various strategies have been suggested to promote teacher overcoming their weaknesses and accelerating their strengths
belief change such as observation, practice, reflection, and social (Ellsworth, 2000).
cultural support (Ertmer, 2005; Kim & Baylor, 2008; Ma et al., 2008;
Shulman, 1987). These strategies can be done through collaboration
among teachers that could also change school culture (Chen, 2008). 6.3. Limitations and suggestions for future research
In order to facilitate collaboration, both internal (within the same
school) and external (beyond school boundaries) networking is There are several limitations in our present study worth
recommended. Both are necessary for the teachers to share infor- mentioning. First, the number of participants is small, which limits
mation, discuss difficult situations, and guide and encourage the the generalizability of the results of this study. The selection of the
implementation of newer beliefs. For instance, if a cultural envi- 22 teachers was based on the goal of examining the second-order
ronment of teacher collaboration encourages beliefs that not every barriers (i.e., teacher beliefs) to technology integration of teachers
lesson should be teacher-centered, it is possible for teachers to let who were actually in classrooms for the three-year project. In
students create movie clips to present their understandings of addition, the eight schools cannot be considered representative of
weather changes in a science class. Through the observations of the population of all schools or even all poorly performing rural K-8
other teachers’ lessons, teachers can reflect on and perhaps alter schools in the United States. Also considering that reliability scores
their roles and responsibilities and change their ways of integrating for some of the measures were lower in this study than in previous
technology. Besides, a collaborative environment can give teachers studies, the findings reported earlier should only be considered
more opportunities to see successful outcomes of innovative uses of provisional and suggestive.
technology and see different beliefs and technology integration Second, the chance of Type I error increased due to the several
practices in action (Rogers, 1995). A technological environment that correlations computed. Bonferroni adjustment could have helped
allows dialog, debate, and collective sense-making such as Cohere avoiding Type I errors. However, Bonferroni adjustment is also
(see De Liddo & Buckingham Shum, 2010) can be used to formulate known to cause the inflation of Type II errors reducing statistical
collective beliefs that a group of teachers are convinced to act on. power. Researchers question if avoiding Type I errors is more
The process of formulating collective beliefs should include worthy than ignoring the relationship that is possibly real
“examining existing beliefs,” “filtering prior beliefs,” and “align- (Nakagawa, 2004; Perneger, 1998). For this reason, the Bonferroni
ment and conflict of ideas”; these were found to be critical in adjustment is often used for corrections as studies of group
developing a set of beliefs related to classroom teaching in differences in post hoc or follow-up pairs tests wherein Type I
a study by Mansfield and Volet’s (2010) with Australian preservice errors are likely to be more considerable. We decided not to use
teachers (p. 1404). Bonferroni adjustments because making findings insignificant via
It is less likely that a one-time effort to change teachers’ belief Bonferroni adjustment would have been a far more problematic
systems transforms teachers radically. Fundamental changes do not than single studies with possible Type I errors.
happen quickly or automatically. In order for the sustained growth Third, it was not examined if there were differences in tech-
and positive changes in teaching practice to occur, incremental nology integration practices among teachers due to individual
supports should be provided, and the supports should be ones that differences other than teacher beliefs. There may have been
satisfy progressive needs for change. First of all, any incremental differences in teachers’ teacher beliefs and technology integration
step or change should be sensitive to the current needs of teachers. practices according to their teaching grades, college majors, prior
For that, both formative and summative evaluations should be teaching experiences, age, gender, and so forth. There were not
conducted (Schiffman, 1995). For example, during the processes of sufficient numbers to investigate such differences in this study. A
designing, developing and implementing a teacher collaboration study with many more participants might well investigate this
program, formative evaluations should be conducted. After possibility, which is likely to have implications for teacher training
implementing a collaboration program, summative evaluation of its and constructing supports to change teacher beliefs to be more
impact and effects should be undertaken. Appropriate reflection educationally effective with the in-depth knowledge of teachers’
and support should be followed up only with the understanding of dispositions.
the needs based on the results of the evaluations. In addition, this Fourth, some researchers argue that teachers do not always act
process of evaluations can contribute to building the leadership on their beliefs when it comes to technology integration (Belland,
that connects policy for professional development to the evidence 2009; Chen, 2008; Windshitl, 2002). Even when teachers have
of what teachers need to know to improve beliefs and improve appropriate beliefs, they may still not integrate technology in
teaching practice (Timperley & Alton-Lee, 2008). effective, efficient, and engaging ways (Spector & Merrill, 2008).
Allowing school voice and choice in selecting appropriate There have been attempts to explain beliefs that are not activated in
technologies and teacher leaders was a unique aspect of our project technology integration practices with teachers’ habits (Belland,
that contributed to its overall success in terms of teacher and 2009) and volition (Kim & Keller, 2011). Future studies should
principal support. However, we also realized that such a unique take this aspect into considerations to examining of teachers’
effort was not as effective as it could have been in cases where actions that are not grounded in beliefs and to understanding the
a school lacked strong principal support and advocacy for interplay of beliefs with technology integration.
84 ChanMin Kim et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 29 (2013) 76e85

Last, teacher beliefs were examined only once. If there were K-8 Schools in the Southeast: Integrative Technologies for Quality
longitudinal data on beliefs and changes in beliefs over time along Initiatives.
with changes in technology integration practices, we might have
obtained a better understanding of the dynamics of belief and prac-
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