Authors: Nance Wilson (SUNY Cortland), Vicky Zygouris-Coe (University of Central Florida), & Victoria Cardullo (Auburn University)
E-readers, such as iPads, present teachers with opportunities to design challenging, active, and engaging curriculum. They provide students with access to interactive texts, the Internet, and applications. iPads are changing the way knowledge is shared, constructed and enacted.
Researchers have examined the use of iPads in academic settings since they were adopted into the classroom (Cardullo, 2013; Larson, 2010; Wilson, Zygouris-Coe, & Cardullo, 2014). A common theme throughout all of the iPad-related research is that teaching and learning with e-readers changes teacher pedagogy (Stors & Hoffman, 2013). These changes require a new pedagogical framework to address issues of teaching and learning with one-to-one technology. The Metacognitive Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (M-TPACK) framework (Wilson, Zygouris-Coe, Cardullo, & Fong, 2013) is built upon the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). Within TPACK, technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge intersect to create dynamic and interacting knowledge to support technology integration. The main distinction of the M-TPACK framework is reflected in the “claim”: teaching and learning with mobile learning and emerging technologies, requires a metacognitive teacher. Such a teacher is not only knowledgeable about content, pedagogy, students, and technology, but is adaptive and has positive dispositions toward technology integration into his or her teaching (see Figure 1). Metacognitive teachers “are aware of what they know regarding content, pedagogy, students, and technology and use this knowledge to adapt their teaching to assure that students meet curricular goals” (Wilson, Zygouris-Coe, Cardullo, & Fong, 2013, p. 7).
The focus of M-TPACK on teacher’s disposition rather than knowledge is key. Knowledge is what we know whereas a disposition is a person’s “tendency to act or think in a particular way” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). M-TPACK is unique because it begins not with the technology, but with the teacher. To assure that teaching with iPads promotes deep learning, professional development must start with building metacognitive awareness in teachers through a series of embedded opportunities.
Figure 1. Pedagogical Framework for e-Readers in the Classroom (Wilson, Zygouris-Coe, Cardullo, & Fong, 2013)
“Building” the metacognitive teacher
The disposition to utilize technology begins with building teachers’ confidence with technology (Bauer & Kenton, 2005) and their confidence that their instructional goals will be addressed with technology (Wozney, Venkatesh, & Abrami, 2006). Somekh (2008) emphasizes teachers’ needs for time and support from administration to acclimate, practice, and build knowledge of the iPads and how they can be used in the classroom. In addition, teachers need time to collaborate with peers as well as experts; to reflect, discuss, and problem-solve about implementation, instructional, pedagogical, technological, or student learning challenges (Ertmer, Ottenbreit-Leftwich, & York, 2006). When providing teachers with time and opportunities to use an application such as Noteability to take hand and type written notes that can embed images, webpages, and audio, teachers learn through their own experiences how to use the application for academic purposes. Using this application for the teacher’s learning will help build his or her understanding of how to integrate technology in the classroom. When teachers have the opportunity to use technology in relevant and authentic ways, as they would use it with their students, they not only learn the technology but they also have a chance to plan ahead for challenges, instructional problems, and logistics prior to working with students.
The time and professional development around the use of Noteability should encourage a teacher to consider a series of questions around developing knowledge prior to adopting the application as a digital tool in the classroom. These questions help to build a teacher’s disposition as a metacognitive teacher.
What is Noteability and how can it help meet my curricular goals? (Content Knowledge)
How can Noteability build my students’ deep understanding of content? (Content Knowledge)
For which purpose will I use Noteability, when, and how often? (Pedagogical Knowledge)
What protocols do I need to create for using Noteability? (Pedagogical Knowledge)
Before implementation, how will I examine my students’ prior knowledge of Noteability? (Student Knowledge)
How much practice (and when will I allow for it) will my students need before they become familiar with Noteability? (Pedagogical Knowledge)
What do I need to consider about downloading Noteability and ways in which we will use it in my classroom? (Pedagogical Knowledge)
What evidence will I collect to ensure that my students are using Noteability to improve learning? (Student Knowledge and Pedagogical Knowledge)
By providing teachers with time and support for learning about technology prior to and during integration builds their metacognitive awareness by supporting the development of questions such as the ones above. The professional development is going beyond building teacher’s knowledge to help develop the metacognitive awareness that is key to creating 21st century learners.
Providing Content Specific Technological Experiences
It is not enough to provide teachers with opportunities to practice using iPads for academic purposes; teachers must see how the iPad can be used to build active learning in their discipline (Beach & O’Brien, 2012). Choosing applications require that teachers have a deep understanding about pedagogical and content knowledge to assure that the applications that they choose support students’ learning and are aligned with curricular goals. For example, when working with a group of social studies teachers provide them with an opportunity to engage with the application Timeline Builder to create their own timelines before demonstrating for an entire class (or small groups of students) will allow teachers to understand its multimodal capabilities and how the application works. Scaffolding the teachers’ experiences in this way will create positive teacher interactions with the device, and in turn, will help them to develop metacognitive and adaptive learning skills as well as teaching strategies.
Providing teachers with time to build academic experiences with the device and its applications is only a piece of the puzzle for promoting the development of the metacognitive teacher at the center of the M-TPACK framework. Teachers also need support through Professional Learning Communities (PLC) (Dufour, 2004) and co-teaching opportunities. PLCs can promote technology efforts and provide teachers with a forum for discussing how integration of technology can improve student achievement, learning, and teacher collaboration. In addition, a PLC focused on the integration of iPads in the classroom allows teachers to discuss the adaptations needed to ensure that all students are learning using the devices. During the PLC she learns how to adapt to the technology and she knows that a ubiquitous learning environment is about access to content, research, support, expertise, real world artifacts, accessing information sources, ease of mobility, motivation, curiosity, communication, and collaboration (Cardullo et al., 2014). The collaborative culture of the PLC provides a culture offers a place for teachers to develop best practices and solve problems.
When building metacognitive awareness with a teacher who is working towards integrating iPads into the classroom, co-planing and teaching with a professional development provider, a PLC teammate, or technology coordinator allows the classroom teacher the opportunity to see adaptations in real time and offering support when recognizing that adaptations need to be made. Co-teaching is when two or more professionals co-plan to deliver active instruction within a single classroom (Friend & Cook, 2003). For instance, when co-teaching with the Subtext application on the iPad both teachers were walking around assisting students with the application and the close reading. As the teachers worked together with the students the classroom teacher had the opportunity to see the technology coach revise their original teaching plan to meet the needs of a student who was unable to use the application in the way originally planned. The PLC along with support using co-teaching builds a classroom teacher who is metacognitive regarding her knowledge and technology integration. After the teaching session, the coach and teacher would discuss a series of metacognitive questions, such as those above used to illustrate the awareness needed to ensure flexible and adaptable application of Subtext.
When integrating iPads into the classroom, we must begin with the teacher. We must build the teacher’s knowledge about the technology and about pedagogical practices that are necessary for implementing the technology. We must provide the teacher with opportunities to ask questions about the role of the iPad in her classroom. We must support teachers as they build their content, student, technological, and pedagogical knowledge about using iPads through embedded professional development that supports day-to-day teaching and learning.
Deep learning refers to using knowledge and skills in ways that prepare students for real life (The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, 2014). On the other hand, deep trouble is what happens in classrooms that adopt technologies without a plan, purpose, teacher professional development, and a school culture that neither embraces nor supports teaching and learning with technology. In short, preparing teachers to engage with iPads is a complex endeavor that requires more than traditional professional development; an endeavor that if approached strategically and effectively can result in deep student learning, and if not, it can result in deep trouble (i.e., frustration, instructional time loss, decrease in teacher and student motivation, etc.). Teachers need time with the devices before they incorporate them for learning in the classroom. Training is needed both inside and out of the classroom, and teachers need to be adaptive and reflective as they bridge emerging technologies and content. Building teacher metacognitive awareness in the context of 21st century teaching and learning should start in teacher preparation programs and continue throughout a teacher’s professional career.
Works Cited
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