Personalized Professional Learning Experiences and Teacher Self-Efficacy for Integrating Technology in K-12 Classrooms

Abstract

Graduate College. I want to extend my deepest gratitude to the teachers, administrators, and staff of Mesa Public Schools that I was privileged to work with. I could not have completed this work without the support of my colleagues in the Educational Technology and Professional Development departments. In particular, I want to thank Marie, Shelley, Brad, Laura, and Susan for always encouraging me to continue forward in moments of doubt. vi ABSTRACT The studies in this dissertation were designed to develop an understanding of the impact of personalized professional learning experiences for K-12 teachers. These studies took place in a large, preK-12, public school district in the Southwest region of the United States. Through a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodology, these studies measured the growth of teachers' perceptions of their ability to work with technology tools and their self-efficacy towards integrating technology purposefully to improve the learning experiences of their students, as well as delving into the personal experiences of select teachers in the program. The Core Conceptual Framework for teacher professional development (Desimone, 2009), theories of personalized learning (Pane, Steiner, Baird, & Hamilton, 2015), and self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1997)served as the theoretical framework for examining these experiences.The quantitative results of both studies showed a significant improvement in teachers' technology skills and self-efficacy toward integrating technology in the classroom after the personalized professional learning program. The interview findings of the second study revealed that the elements of personalization that produced the most positive learning experiences for the teachers interviewed were choice, coherence, and support. The challenges that were revealed in the interview process were an increased need for content specific courses demonstrating technology integration, a desire for increased community of practice among teachers in the program, and the overarching vii struggles of teaching as a practice. Based on the findings of these studies, recommendations were developed to support increased personalization and improved teacher learning experience.

Effects of a successful mathematics classroom framework on students’ mathematics self-efficacy, motivation, and achievement: a case study with freshmen students at a university foundation programme in Kuwait

“…This means, using an online interactive platform not only allows the students to practice what they learnt in class, but also could assist them in organizing and operating their conceptual knowledge (Banerjee & Subramaniam, 2012;Soliman & Hilal, 2016;Handal & Herrington, 2003). Moreover, using an online interactive platform, it may offer immediate feedback and motivating comments that can improve students' learning skills, extrinsic motivation, since they gained grades for completing their online homework, achievement (Handal & Herrington, 2003), and selfefficacy (Hall, 2019;Nordlöf, Hallström, & Höst, 2019;O'Neil & Krause, 2019;Bakar, Maat, & Rosli, 2020).…”