Technology Integration and Teaching Expertise

This paper reports on a study that investigated the relationships between technology-use and teaching ability in the practice of elementary teachers. Case study data from exemplary technology integrators, representing various levels of teaching and technology-use ability, led to the formulation of five assertions about ways these teachers taught with technology: (1) the ways technology was used determined the teachers' personal definitions of technology integration; (2) teachers at the lower levels of either technology use or teaching ability altered their planning habits when planning for technology inclusion; (3) teachers taught with and about technology according to their own personal learning strategies; (4) teachers' individual definitions of technology integration directed their management of student computer use; and (5) teachers at the lower levels of either technology-use or teaching ability altered their perspective on assessment when assessing student use of technology. Differences observed among technology-use practices were associated with individual levels of teaching expertise. The paper concludes by proposing a theoretical definition of technology integration, along with specific recommendations for the professional development of both preservice and inservice teachers. (Contains 21 references.) (MES) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. 1 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY