Integrating Technology and Problem-Based Learning: A Comparison of Two Teacher Professional Development Approaches

Abstract: This article presents two technology-oriented teacher professional development (PD) models aimed at helping teachers find high-quality online learning resources and use them in designing effective inquiry learning activities for their students. The models use problem-based learning (PBL) as its cornerstone inquiry approach. In the first enactment, teachers learned PBL design skills concurrently with technology skills, while in the second, the needed technology skills were presented prior to learning about PBL. Results for both enactments indicate large increases in teacher knowledge and attitudes with regards to technology use and integration. Teachers also show sustained usage of the technology over time. In terms of differences between the two enactments, participants who learned technology skills followed by the PBL intervention utilized significantly more PBL features in their learning activities than participants in the technology concurrent with PBL group. Introduction The rapidly emerging and evolving CyberLearning Infrastructure (Computing Research Association, 2005; Pea et al., 2008) increasingly provides instant access to a growing network of high-quality, open access online resources for teaching and learning. Resources available through this networked environment include innovative curricula, 2 teacher-created lesson plans, as well as interactive tools such as visualizations and simulations that use real-world datasets (Barker, 2009; McArthur & Zia, 2008). When this technical infrastructure is combined with the social aspects of ‘Web 2.0’ functionality, the intended result is a collaborative network transcending location, time, and educational context. This allows users (e.g., researchers, content developers, teachers, students) to access, create, connect, and share knowledge in ways that can fundamentally transform educational practice and deepen learning in the disciplines (Greenhow, Robelia, & Hughes, 2009). However, within this seemingly boundless environment, several contextual factors limit the extent to which teachers adopt and adapt the technologies, resources, and pedagogical skills necessary to leverage and make their own contributions to CyberLearning environments. In particular, despite teachers’ documented beliefs that online resources can enrich their classrooms and improve student learning, they experience many barriers that prevent them from doing so in effective and transformative ways. Barriers are in large part due to the required knowledge for and inherent complexity of effective technology integration (K. Hanson & Carlson, 2005; Kramer, A. Walker, & Brill, 2007; Mardis, 2002; M. Recker et al., 2005). Teacher professional development (PD) has long been used as a way to increase teachers’ knowledge and skills, and many studies have demonstrated its positive effects on instructional practices and student learning (Borko, 2004). However, while much is known about characteristics of effective PD (e.g., intensive, sustained, job-embedded, focused on content, active, and collaborative), these are not precise enough to guide practice (Wayne, Yoon, Zhu, Cronen, & Garet, 2008). Further, there is a dearth of studies that examine longterm impacts of PD on teachers, as well as their students (Lawless & Pellegrino, 2007). Narrowing the focus, models for teacher technology professional development do indeed exist. On example is learning by design (Koehler & Mishra, 2005a), which advocates