Wendy Martin

Connecting Instructional Technology Professional Development to Teacher and Student Outcomes

Abstract This article presents findings from an evaluation of an instructional-technology professional development (PD) program that uses many practices advocated by PD experts. In this multiphase evaluation, evaluators examined the program, determined whether variations in program implementation had an impact on teacher outcomes, and then looked at whether variations in program implementation and teacher outcomes had an impact on student achievement. We found that greater PD fidelity was associated with higher-quality lesson plans and higher student achievement. This evaluation suggests that instructional-technology PD that is closely aligned to a program’s core conceptual foundations can lead to positive teacher and student outcomes.

The Regional Educational Technology Assistance Program: Its Effects on Teaching Practices.

Abstract This article discusses the effects of the Regional Technology Assistance Program (RETA) on the teaching practices and collegial behaviors of its participants and instructors. We present findings that suggest that, as a result of their involvement in RETA’s ongoing, peer-directed, constructivist-based professional development workshops, teacher participants and teacher instructors have: (1) increased their use of technology in the classroom, (2) increased their use of certain constructivist practices in the classroom, (3) increased their collaboration with other teachers, and (4) assumed more leadership positions. Successful reorientation of teachers from direct instruction to constructivist teaching methods must alter teachers’ epistemologies. Professional development, then, must address the beliefs held by educators and the methods in which they incorporate those beliefs into their teaching as well as deliver effective, new methods of integrating technology and curricula.

Testing the Impact of a Pre-Instructional Digital Game on Middle-Grade Students' Understanding of Photosynthesis.

Abstract Rigorous studies of the impact of digital games on student learning remain relatively rare, as do studies of games as supports for learning difficult, core curricular concepts in the context of normal classroom practices. This study uses a blocked, cluster randomized controlled trial design to test the impact of a digital game, played as homework prior to instruction, and associated supplemental instructional activities, on middle grade students’ understanding of the process of photosynthesis. The role of the teacher as a potential moderator of the game’s impact on student outcomes was also investigated, using Classroom Assessment Scoring System-Secondary Edition (CLASS-S) observations as a measure of instructional quality. Study findings demonstrate that the intervention did not have a significant impact on student understanding of photosynthesis. The interaction of treatment teachers’ CLASS-S scores and students’ average photosynthesis assessment scores approached significance. This study suggests that when digital games are used as a step in the process of learning difficult conceptual material, teachers may need support and guidance to make productive connections between in-game experiences and the target concepts.

Extending the Impact of Digital Games by Supporting Analogical Reasoning

The potential of digital games to support learning has been well documented, and yet the empirical evidence on the impacts of digital games on student learning finds varied effects. This paper explores an issue that we believe is central to realizing the potential of digital games for influencing learning: the relationship between games and the transfer of knowledge, and specifically the need to support the meaningful integration of games into instruction. We examine the theoretical and empirical literature on how middle-grade students can transfer knowledge and skills gained from digital gameplay to develop new conceptual models of the science concepts that the games target, focusing on the research on the use of analogical reasoning in science. Finally, we illustrate this approach with an example of using analogies with digital games in middle school science classes.