Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to describe issues with conducting field studies on technology use in elementary schools. The chapter first provides a brief overview of the study that was conducted with two teachers and their 46 second grade students, and then it presents some of the challenges that the researchers faced. These challenges include everything from securing permissions and scheduling to having sufficient personpower to collect all the data and using technology both in the study and as a topic of study. Solutions for future research are included, along with implications for all stakeholders.
TopLiterature Review
The rising demand for implementing technology in instruction in elementary schools has left teachers in a dilemma (Konokman & Yelken, 2016), as many reflect on the challenges that come with implementing a new technology into their classrooms. These challenges include the availability of the needed technology and school readiness for it; staff, parent, and student understanding, acceptance, and attitude towards it (Vatanartiran & Karadeniz, 2015); the availability of technical support (Al Ghamdi, Samarji, & Watt, 2016; Gupte, 2015; Helm, 2015; Porter & Graham, 2016), and opportunities for effective technology professional development that provides teachers with examples of engaging tasks (Hyndman, 2018; Rebora, 2016).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Calibrate: Calibration is a short process that helps to initiate the Ozobot’s code and line-reading accuracy. For example, a button on the bot is pushed and held, when the bot’s light flashes white, the bot is set on a black dot. When the light on the bot flashes green and it moves a short distance, it has been calibrated and is ready for use.
Technology: In this study, “technology” refers to digital tools that can be used for educational purposes.
Instructional Design: This term refers to using the elements of instruction that ensure its quality; this process starts with understanding student needs, abilities, and goals and then working to develop instruction with them as the basis.
Ozoblokly: This is a coding language that uses blocks of text that can be loaded on the Ozobots to provide them with instructions (available via http:// https://ozoblockly.com/ ).
Professional Development: Also known as “PD,” it refers to teacher learning after their initial certification. Public school teachers in U.S. schools are required to participate in a certain amount of PD in order to keep their teaching certificates valid.
Institutional Review Board: A group, commonly known as IRB, that approves the study, making sure that all legal and ethical responsibilities are considered and carried out. This group reviews the study methods, all instruments and measures, and the wording of consents and assents, in addition to other study aspects.
Elementary: In the United States, elementary schools generally start at kindergarten (students aged 5-6) and then include 1st through 5th grades. Some elementary schools also include 6th grade. After elementary school, students move on to junior high/middle school.
Scratch: Another type of block coding that is generally considered easy for young students to use (available free from https://scratch.mit.edu/ ).
Ozobot: An Ozobot is a small round robot made by Evollve (ozobot.com) that can follow instructions that have either been color-coded or programmed with the block script Ozoblokly.
Debugging: Debugging means finding and solving problems with code.