Transforms : Educators ' Transformational Learning Experiences in Professional Development

Research conducted among 175 teachers engaged in learning educational technology reveals that transformational learning provides insights into their experiences of learning to use technology in their teaching. As facilitators and themes of perspective transformation are presented, recommendations for faculty development in educational technology are discussed. Purpose Technology innovation is offering an opportunity for adult education to impact teachers' learning and practice. As changes in technology engulf us, we strive to find ways to keep pace and incorporate the new technology meaningfully and efficiently in our personal and professional lives. Like other professions, the field of education needs to respond to the demands technology innovation brings with it. This study presents grounded adult education research that can serve as a basis for making educational decisions about professional development of educators and their classroom practice. A striking observation is that as we look at the need to incorporate technology into the education experience at all levels, adult education can play a critical role (King, 1997, 1999; Lawler & Wilhite, 1997). Adult learning theory and principles can provide a framework for examining and understanding the adult learning experiences of teachers learning educational technology, and recommend meaningful, effective, and andragogically sound guidelines for such experiences. This research study was undertaken with transformational learning theory as the perspective from which to examine educators' learning of educational technology. Research among educators and teachers-in-training learning educational technology provides answers to four research questions: 1) How many participants identified their experiences as transformational learning? 2) What do the educators recognize as promoting this experience? 3) What are the themes of this transformational learning? and 4) How might these learning experiences be characterized within the transformational learning framework? Theoretical Framework This research examines teachers' professional development as adult education. Therefore, just as Cranton (1996) introduced the concept of professional development as perspective transformation, this adult learning theory may be used to reveal new insights into educators' professional development in one timely and specific context, learning educational technology (King, 1999). Perspective transformation has dominated the adult learning theory literature in recent years (Cranton, 1997; Merriam & Caffarella, 1999; Taylor, 1998). This theory explains the process whereby adult learners critically examine their beliefs, assumptions, and values as they acquire new knowledge and experience a "reframing" of their perspective of circumstances, issues, and subsequent actions (Cranton, 1994; Mezirow, 1994; Taylor, 1998). Since Mezirow first articulated the concept of transformational learning in the literature in 1978, there has been much discussion about the model in the field of adult education (Taylor, 1998). Recognizing that it has been difficult to delineate an all-encompassing definition of perspective transformation, Mezirow's definition (1990) is used in this research to offer a foundation for the initial examination of faculty development in educational technology. This on-going transformational learning research aims to further inform our understanding of educators' experiences of learning technology and its many consequences. Research Methodology This study was conducted with a convenience sample of 175 educators and teachers-in-training in pr ivate a graduate school of education in New York City. A third of the participants were not matriculated in degree programs, but were participating in the courses through a subsidized program for teacher development. This distinctive afforded the investigation of the professional development experiences of teachers beyond the usual scope of traditional, matriculated graduate education students. The participants were taking Master's level education courses where they learned, practiced, and discussed technology applications to the classroom. The courses were conducted in formats that included discussions, small groups, journal writing, synchronous and asynchronous on-line conferencing, presentations, and "hands-on" experience with technology. In addition to the 175 completed surveys, the participants wrote a total of 633 journal entries, and 19 reflective essays about the professional development learning experience. An adapted survey instrument (King, 1997, 1999) was used to initially identify those who had experienced a perspective transformation and to select 45 respondents for in-depth interviews. The final analysis of these data included individual effects, frequencies, proportions, and coding of free responses and interviews. While a causalcomparative model was used to identify effects learning activities (e.g., critical reflection, lab exercises) might have on perspective transformation, a phenomenological perspective of identifying emergent themes through constant comparison (Gall, Borg, & Gall, 1996) was used to analyze the substantial data source of survey freeresponses, follow-up interviews, journal entries, and reflective essays in order to understand the adults' learning experiences. This research design of incorporating qualitative with quantitative methods offers a powerful means of examining these transformational learning experiences. Participants In order to fully understand and interpret the findings of this study, the participants are described by several demographic characteristics. These descriptors will assist in determining similarities and differences to other groups of educators. The sample was predominantly female (75.4 %, 132/175). Racial identification followed the distribution of White, non-Hispanic, 71.3%, Black, 10.9%, Hispanic, 8.4%, Asian or Pacific-Islander, 6.6%, and other, 2.4%. The mean age range was 30-39. In addition, prior levels of educational achievement were primarily distributed among Bachelor's degrees (55.5%), Master's degrees (38.7%) and Doctorates (2.9%). While 34.6% of the participants were in their first semester of study at the university, 69.2% were in their first three semesters and a cumulative 91.2% were there six or fewer semesters. This demonstrates that the sample was composed of primarily new students as would be expected in Master's degree programs and courses. The mean number of years teaching was M = 10.334, with the range extending from 0 (teachers-in-training) to 40 years. Findings The following captivating quote is excerpted from a participant's reflective essay about her experience of personal and professional change while learning educational technology. For the past five years, I have attempted to become familiar with computers. I wanted to learn about the Internet and bring its resources in the classroom but felt anxious about developing these skills. Needless to say, deciding to take a course in technology proved to be difficult because I was concerned about taking the risk and finding myself lost in technological jargon. At the beginning, the textbook readings were difficult to understand until I started doing my readings after our class discussions. I found that class discussions helped clarify many misconceptions I had about technology by allowing me to ask questions. Based on the challenging experience of writing the proposal, I learned to utilize and evaluate educational technology. I also learned to plan and use technology to enhance the curriculum through software and the Internet. As a result of these changes in my understanding and views of technology and education, now I use technology in the classroom, help the children and their parents engage in internet based activities and provide them with web sites that correlate to the texts we use in class. I work with the children who do not have computers at home. I am beginning to display their "Story Soup" activities inside and outside the classroom. I have observed teachers and other students reading the stories. This is good! Hopefully by next year, the children, parents, and teachers will be i nvolved in several technology projects over the course of the year. Now I can share what I know with my colleague who is in the same situation I was four months ago, only now it won't be the blind leading the blind so much .