Running Head: TEACHERS AND TECHNOLOGY TROUBLESHOOTING 1

Teachers and Technology Troubleshooting An Action Research Study of Teachers Technology Needs

TEACHERS AND TECHNOLOGY TROUBLESHOOTING 2 Abstract This action research study was started because I have found teachers within my school district do not have well developed technology troubleshooting skills. Many teachers have to change their instructional plans to accommodate the fact that the technology they are using isnt working, since they cannot fix the issues on their own. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine if there is a need for teachers to learn troubleshooting skills. To do this, I surveyed the kindergarten through third grade teachers within my district. Overall, the survey showed that there is a need for the teachers in my district to gain skills in troubleshooting technology issues.

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Problem Statement Many school districts today have a wide range of technology tools and Web 2.0 tools at their disposal, but these districts are often unable to use these tools to their full capabilities. As educators go through professional development on new technology, problems sometimes arise and push the use of technology out of the classrooms. For example, teachers are often unable to troubleshoot problems that arise with the hardware or applications they are attempting to use. It can also be time consuming to incorporate the technology and the technology might not align with the curriculum or fit the pacing guides (Berrett, 2012). As educators of 21st century learners, teachers need to think about integrating the 4Cs: critical thinking, collaboration, communication and creativity, into their curriculum ("A parent's guide," 2012). With this educational shift, students will learn 21st century skills that they can take with them through college and their careers ("A parent's guide," 2012). Integrating technology into the classroom gives teachers and students many avenues to teach and learn the 4Cs. There are many different factors that hinder teachers from integrating technology into their instruction. Professional development funding has decreased as state funding to schools has decreased. This puts pressure on technology directors and teams to offer workshops that just skim the surface of how to integrate a technology learning tool (Berrett, 2012). Teachers are left to their own devices to dig more into what the given technology can do for their students. As problems arise with technology, troubleshooting skills are necessary for teachers to fix the issue. Teachers have to learn the specific

TEACHERS AND TECHNOLOGY TROUBLESHOOTING 4 domain knowledge for the technology they use, to be able to differentiate what information is important and what is not and use that information to fix the problem (Ross & Orr, 2009). However, many teachers arent trained in troubleshooting skills. Arlene Anderson in an article Cant We All Just Get Along?, laid out a plan for teachers to receive the help they need. Using a help desk in her district, teachers are able to call in and receive the assistance they need to troubleshoot. In her district they have also implemented workshops and one-on-one training sessions to help those who need it. They look for teachers who are willing and enthusiastic to learn troubleshooting skills and then those teachers are able to train their peers (Anderson, 2009). If technology use in the classroom is going to really take root, then other districts and schools need to find ways to help teachers not only use the technology when its working appropriately, but also fit it when there are problems. Purpose, Research Questions and Importance The purpose of this research is to investigate the need for teachers to have troubleshooting skills to use for their classroom technology. To do this, the following four research questions will be addressed. Operational definitions of variables in each research question are provided in Table 1. RQ1: What does classroom technology use look like for K-3 teachers? RQ2: What type of troubleshooting issues do teachers report having? RQ3: How do problems with technology impact teacher instruction? RQ4: How can teachers be better supported in technology issues?

TEACHERS AND TECHNOLOGY TROUBLESHOOTING 5 Table 1 Operational Definitions of Variables Used in Research Questions for this Study Research Variable Name Operational Definition Question Descriptive Variable- the frequency Technology Use and type of technology teachers use 1 in the classroom. Troubleshooting Instructional Impact Technology Support Descriptive Variable- any trouble a teacher has with technology. Qualitative Variable- technology trouble that causes instruction to have to change. Qualitative Variable- providing teachers with support with technology. 2

This research is important because teachers in my district are encouraged to incorporate more and different forms of technology in their classroom instruction. As more technology is used, teachers will need to rely on their own technology skills to fix problems thaVaVt arise when they are instructing, or they will have to change their instructional plans for the lesson. Teachers will not always have the luxury of having an IT coordinator to assist them when needed. Within my district, we have two IT coordinators and one educational technology coordinator. These three people have to cover five different buildings throughout the district. Getting immediate assistance to fix an issue during the school day is difficult. However, if teachers are given basic troubleshooting skills they can fix many issues that arise efficiently on their own and continue with their instruction. This research aims to help determine what professional development is needed to help equip educators in the use of technology troubleshooting. Coming from the background of using technology throughout my high school and college

TEACHERS AND TECHNOLOGY TROUBLESHOOTING 6 career, I have become familiar with certain troubleshooting skills or I have found resources to help me troubleshoot. From this background, I have seen the benefits of being able to troubleshoot my own technology issues. I am able to fix a problem more quickly and continue on with my instruction. If other teachers are able to troubleshoot their technology issues they too could maneuver through the problem more quickly and return to their instruction. Research Design The research being conducted in this study is action research because I am completing the study in my own school district for the use to help improve teachers technology troubleshooting skills to help improve student learning (Ferrance, 2000). Additionally, this study is using a survey research design (Slavin, 2007). The purpose of using a survey research design for this study, is to use it for practical purposes to have a better understanding of the technology needs the teachers in my school district have. Lastly, this is a concurrent mixed methods study as I am collecting both quantitative and qualitative data and this data is being collected and analyzed at the same time (Terrell, 2012). Method Sample and Sampling Method Participants for this study are teachers within the Bryan City Schools district. The teachers in this study teach in grades kindergarten through third grade (N=20). The years of experience for this sample of teachers is from four years to thirty years. This study used a sampling method of convenience. The teachers were available and easy to contact. It is also purposeful because the teachers sampled, are the teachers in my building and it

TEACHERS AND TECHNOLOGY TROUBLESHOOTING 7 helps me identify what help is needed in the building. See Table 2 for teacher demographics, frequencies and percentages.

TEACHERS AND TECHNOLOGY TROUBLESHOOTING 8 Table 2 Kindergarten-Third Grade Teacher Demographics (N=20)
Teacher Demographics Gender Male Female Years of Experience 0-10 years 11-20 years 21-30 years 40% (n=8) 35% (n=7) 25% (n=5) 5% (n=1) 95% (n=19)

Instrumentation and Procedures Data for this study was collected from a survey sent to the teachers. The survey was administered through a link that was sent through email. The survey consisted of ten questions about what types of technology the teachers use and what kinds of problems they have with the classroom technology and how frequently these issues arise. The questions asked were in multiple choice and short answer form. All data collect was put into tables for interpretation.

TEACHERS AND TECHNOLOGY TROUBLESHOOTING 9 Results Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data from each research question. The results are organized by each research question. RQ1: What does classroom technology use look like for K-3 teachers? When teachers were asked what types of technology they used in their classrooms 90% (n=18) said they used SmartBoards within their classrooms. 70% (n=14) of teachers said they used the classroom computers and iPads frequently. This has practical importance because it is important to know what types of technology the teachers within the K-3 setting are using most frequently in the classroom to know where they might need troubleshooting assistance. Figure 1 displays these results.

Firgure 1. Technology used most frequently in the K-3 classroom setting.

RQ2: What type of troubleshooting issues do teachers report having? According to teachers in the K-3 setting, 65% (n=13) of teachers have the most troubleshooting issues with their SmartBoards. 25% (n=5) of teachers report having

TEACHERS AND TECHNOLOGY TROUBLESHOOTING 10 trouble with their teacher computers that the school provides for them, but only 5% of the teachers said they had issues with their classroom computers. With applications, teachers have the most issues with their Notebook software for their Smartboards, 41.2% (n=7). This has practical importance because to give teachers help, with troubleshooting technology or application issues on their own, it is important to know what forms of technology cause them the most trouble.

Figure 2. Technology tools that require the most troubleshooting.

Figure 3. Technology Applications that require the most troubleshooting.

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RQ3: How do problems with technology impact teacher instruction? Teachers stated four different ways that technology impacts their instruction time when the technology they wanted to use wasnt working. The most common problem teachers have with technology trouble is that it distracts their students. It's distruptive to my lesson and flow and that can cause behavior issues for the students that don't like to wait. The next most common problem is having to change the type of tool the students or teacher is using. Usually the smart board acts up and then we have to use the books or white boards and the kids don't focus as well with those tools. Finally, the last issues that teachers found when technology doesnt work is that it wastes instruction time and they have to find a new plan for the lesson. Usually I just have to come up with a Plan B without warning and figure out how to instruct without the technology.

RQ4: How can teachers be better supported in technology issues? According to the teachers surveyed most of them would like to see more mini lessons or professional development opportunities given throughout the year for teachers to attend, I think mini update lessons would be great for all technology. Another way teachers think they could be supported is through SmartBoard troubleshooting, which they use on a regular basis, and also iMovie or other application that they do not use on a regular basis. PD that addresses applications that are not frequently used would help me. Finally, teachers would also like a to be given different troubleshooting websites, Websites that are highly used with instruction and classroom, shortcuts with the Smartboard and other equipment.

TEACHERS AND TECHNOLOGY TROUBLESHOOTING 12 Conclusion Overall, the teachers within my kindergarten through third grade school district seem to need help in dealing with technology issues that arise in their classrooms. All teachers said they had to troubleshoot the classroom technology they use and they also expressed the need for some sort of professional development to help them in troubleshooting the technology. According to Ross and Orr (2009), it is the main goal of teaching troubleshooting to develop an integrated knowledgebase, and it is important that teachers be actively involved in the process. This gives teachers the power to help themselves when they have technical issues and gives them the reassurance that if some thing goes wrong they will be able to fix the problem. As teachers stated that technology issues are disruptive to the classroom, this would be minimal if teachers had the ability to troubleshoot. Finally as many of the teachers stated mini lessons or professional development sessions would benefit teachers greatly, just like implementing one-on-one sessions and workshops help Andersons (2009) school district. Overall, having technology troubleshooting professional development would help teachers in their classroom with their attitudes and also their instruction. Limitations The external validity in this study is limited because the results are just from a small sample of teachers within my school district. Not all schools use the same types of technology or computer applications so the types of needs would be different between other districts. An internal validity issues would be that the teachers selected for this survey were not through random selection. There are only a certain number of teachers within the kindergarten through third grade staff, so they were all surveyed. A validation

TEACHERS AND TECHNOLOGY TROUBLESHOOTING 13 strategy that was used to increase the credibility of this study was to reflect on myself as the researcher to my prior experiences and interactions that have shaped the interpretation of the results. I have had prior experience in troubleshooting through course work and I have also talked to teachers prior to the survey about how they feel about the need for troubleshooting skills within the school. Recommendations From this study I feel it is important to teach technology troubleshooting skills teachers in the kindergarten through third grade staff in my district. It is recommended that teachers and the IT staff, within the school, develop professional development sessions for teachers to attend to learn troubleshooting skills. This will benefit not only the teacher by providing them skills they can use in their classroom to help instruction, but also the students. Students will have more opportunities to use the classroom technology because the teacher will be able to handle any issues that arise. It is also recommended that teachers and the IT staff develop a troubleshooting website that teachers can visit to find quick troubleshooting techniques or websites that can help. The results from this study have the potential to help develop strategies to make troubleshooting easier for teachers to do, but this study would need to be extended into the other grade levels within the district to help the district as a whole meet their technology goals.

TEACHERS AND TECHNOLOGY TROUBLESHOOTING 14 References Anderson, A. (2009). Can't we all just get along?. Learning and Leading with Technology, 37(4), 21-23. Berrett, B. (2012). Administrator insights and reflections: technology integration in schools. The Qualitative Report, 17, 200-221. Ferrance, E. (2000). Themes in education: Action research. Providence, RI: Northeast and Islands Regional Education Laboratory at Brown University. Ross, C., & Orr, R. R. (2009). Teaching structured troubleshooting: integrating a standard methodology into an information technology program. Education Tech Research Development, 57(2), 251-265. doi: 10.1007/s11423-007-9047-4 Slavin, R. E. (2007). Educational research in the age of accountability. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Terrell, S. R. (2012). Mixed-methods and research methodologies. The Qualitative Report, 17(1). (2012). A parent's guide to 21st century learning. Retrieved from edutopia.org