Professional Development for the Use of iPads in Instruction
Abstract
Elementary teachers at a school in the southeastern United States received iPads and iPad training to improve teaching and learning in the content subject areas. Despite the iPad training provided by district technology personnel, teachers expressed a need for more content-specific training. Teachers need adequate and appropriate professional development to assist in preparing integrated computer-based technology instruction to increase student academic achievement. The purpose of this qualitative bounded case study was to explore the descriptions of 10 purposely selected 4th and 5th grade teachers who used iPads in content subjects and 1 instructional technology facilitator who provided district iPad training regarding the district's iPad professional development and implementation in instruction. The theoretical support for this study was the technological pedagogical content knowledge framework that provided an interaction among technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge. Data were collected from face-to-face interviews and lesson plans. Inductive analysis was used with hand coding to discover themes. Teachers recognized the need for ongoing professional development and collaboration with colleagues to create content-specific iPad integrated lessons. Based on these findings, a project was designed to provide teachers with a 3-day professional development to include modeled lessons, collaboration with colleagues, a shared Google Drive folder, and a schedule for ongoing professional development. These endeavors may promote positive social change by providing ongoing content-specific iPad professional development for elementary teachers that could improve computer-based technology instruction and student learning in content subject areas.
