Research Article
Thuthukile Jita, Alice Dhliwayo
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 16, Issue 3, Article No: ep520
ABSTRACT
The role of higher education in improving educational practices and access through research in technology innovations across the wider spectrum of schooling has especially increased in the information driven 21st century lifestyle. Pre-service teacher training plays a significant role in this transformation. For South Africa, research in technology integration has not provided requisite skills for teacher educators to bring about this envisaged transformation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the affordance of the design-based research (DBR) when combined with community of practice (CoP) framework in mitigating context-based technology integration related challenges and professional development in teacher education through the social learning theory. The qualitative paper explores the experiences teacher educators had of using tablets in a DBR as technology integration tools for contextual pedagogical practices. Teacher educators (n = 10), in one university in South Africa were given tablets to use over a year before they responded to semi-structured interviews about their experiences and were also observed as they engaged in both the CoP and in classroom practice. After a thematic analysis, the main results were that the CoP provided space for teacher educators to improve their confidence and technology integration skills. The combination of DBR and the CoP was found to be complementary in bridging the gap between theory and practice for teacher educators. The CoP provided the much needed safe space for professional growth and confidence building for teacher educators. However, learning engagements were limited by inadequacy of ICT tools for the students. In light of this, the implication of the study is that professional development plans for teacher educators in technology integration skills must be context based and subject specific through DBR programs for practical results and sustainability.
Keywords: community of practice, design-based research, pedagogical practices, modelling, professional development, tablet
Research Article
Jiseung Yoo, Min Kyeong Kim
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 15, Issue 3, Article No: ep438
ABSTRACT
This study focuses on how teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of mathematics may differ depending on teacher interactions in an online teacher community of practice (CoP). The study utilizes data from 26,857 posts collected from the South Korean self-generated online teacher CoP, ‘Indischool’. This data was then analyzed using natural language processing techniques; specifically, text classification with word2vec, BERT, and machine learning classifiers was used. The results indicate that the texts of posts can predict the level of teacher interactions in the online CoP. BERT embedding and classifier exhibited the best performance, ultimately achieving an F1 score of .756. Moreover, topic modeling utilizing BERT embedding is used to uncover the specific PCK of teachers through high- and low-interaction posts. The results reveal that high-interaction posts with numerous likes and replies demonstrate more in-depth reflections on teaching mathematics and refined PCK. This study makes two significant contributions. First, it applies a data science framework that allows for the analysis of real data from an actual online teacher community. Secondly, it sheds light on the intricacies of knowledge management in an online teacher CoP, an area that has to this point received limited empirical attention.
Keywords: online community of practice, natural language processing, mathematics pedagogical content knowledge, knowledge management
Research Article
Olgun Sadik
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 13, Issue 1, Article No: ep285
ABSTRACT
This research was designed and conducted considering the theoretical and practical suggestions of design-based research (DBR) methodology and aimed to identify and address problems in a one-semester technology integration course at a Midwest university in the US. Community of practice (CoP) was used as the theoretical framework in this research to design and implement interventions, and improve the quality of the course. The researcher observed a community of teacher educators and aimed to make suggestions for building successful strategies for communities of practice in similar contexts. The study results showcased the connection between pedagogy, content and technology as an important theme for preparing future teachers in technology integration courses but also in all the teacher education courses. Furthermore, aligned with the previous literature, pre-service teachers’ beliefs and confidence were identified as important conditions for effective technology integration. CoP was found as a challenging but helpful model when all the members share ideas in a supportive and balanced environment. An experienced member of the community acting as a moderator and facilitating the discussions was helpful to address the communication issues in a community of teacher educators.
Keywords: community of practice, design-based research, teacher education, technology integration