INTERNET USE FOR LESSON PREPARATION BY PRE‐SERVICE ...

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INTERNETUSEFORLESSONPREPARATION BYPRE-SERVICETEACHERS:AMIXEDMETHODSSTUDY

by TajinderUppal Athesissubmittedinconformitywiththerequirements forthedegreeofMasterofArts GraduateDepartmentofHumanDevelopmentandAppliedPsychology OntarioInstituteforStudiesinEducation UniversityofToronto ?CopyrightofTajinderUppal2011

INTERNETUSEFORLESSONPREPARATION BYPRESERVICETEACHERS:AMIXEDMETHODSSTUDY

MasterofArts2011 TajinderUppal

GraduateDepartmentofHumanDevelopmentandAppliedPsychology UniversityofToronto

Abstract Thisexploratorystudyexaminedhowpre-serviceteachersusetheInternetwhile

preparinglessonplans.Participants(N=30)preparedaliteracy-focusedlessonusingthe

Internetastheironlyresource.Datawerecollectedthroughscreencapturetechnology,

trackingwhereparticipantswentandhowtheyusedtheInternet,andafterwards,

participants'reflectionswereobtainedthroughstructuredinterviews.Mostparticipants

firstvisitedtheGooglesearchenginetofindinformation,ortheOntariocurriculum

documenttocheckthegradelevelexpectations.Participantsconductedthreeormore

Googlesearchesonaverage,andgovernment,commercial,teacherhosted,and

organizationsiteswerethemostoftenvisited.Thesesiteswereusedtofindmore

informationontheselectedlessonplan,generateideasbyseeingwhatlessonsare

availableonline,lookformaterialsforthelesson,checkcurriculumexpectationsand/or,in

afewinstances,copyalessonplandirectlyfromawebsite.Manyparticipantsreported

regularlypreparinglessonsintheobservedmanner.

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Acknowledgements

Thisstudywouldnotbepossiblewithouttheguidance,supportandexpertiseofmy

supervisorandmentor,Dr.DaleWillows.Shehasshapedmygraduatecareerandinspired

metremendously.Herincredibleworkethicmotivatesmeeachdaytoworkharderand

sacrificethoseextrahoursofsleep.Iwouldalsoliketothankmysecondreader,Dr.Joan

Mossforherfeedback.Also,thankyoutotheentireLiteracyWebsiteteamandmySchool

andClinicalChildPsychology(SCCP)classmatesforanyassistancetheyprovided,in

particular,DaniellaBiondic.Icouldnotaskforbettercolleaguestosharethisgraduate

schooljourney.

IwouldalsoliketothankDr.MichelePeterson-Badali,Dr.JoeDucharmeandonce

more,Dr.DaleWillowsthatreviewedmyapplicationforthemaster'sSCCPprogram.They

sawthepotentialinmetobesuccessfulinsuchanintellectuallystimulatingandmotivating

programwithincrediblyknowledgeablefaculty.Withoutthem,Iwouldnothavehadthe

opportunitytoconductthisstudy.

Averyspecialthankyougoestomyhusband,forhispatienceandunderstandingas

wellashislovingsupport.Heis,quitesimplyput,awonderfulpartner.Heacceptsand

lovesmeunconditionally,despitemymanyquirks.

Additionally,Iwouldliketothankthe30pre-serviceteachersthattookthetimeout

oftheirbusyscheduletoparticipateinthisstudy.Thedatatheyprovidedwasextremely

valuableandguidedthispaper.

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TableofContents Acknowledgements......................................................................................................................iii TableofContents..........................................................................................................................iv ListofTables..................................................................................................................................vi ListofFigures...............................................................................................................................vii ListofAppendices.......................................................................................................................viii 1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................1

1.1 TeachersandTechnologyUse..............................................................................2 1.2 InternetUseduringLessonPreparation.............................................................5 1.3 ObjectivesofthePresentStudy...........................................................................6 2. Methods.....................................................................................................................................7 2.1MixedMethodsResearchApproach...................................................................7 2.2Design.......................................................................................................................8 2.3DataSources............................................................................................................8 2.4Participants...........................................................................................................11 2.5Procedure..............................................................................................................12 2.6DataAnalyses.....................................................................................................12 3. Results.....................................................................................................................................14 3.1QuantitativeResults...............................................................................................14 3.2DescriptiveQualitativeExplorationResults.......................................................15 4. Discussion...............................................................................................................................23 4.1IntegrationofMixedMethods:OverviewofMajorFindings..........................23 4.2LimitationsandFutureResearchDirections...................................................26

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4.3Conclusions.........................................................................................................28

5. References..............................................................................................................................31

6. Tables......................................................................................................................................34

7. Figures.....................................................................................................................................38

8. Appendices..............................................................................................................................39

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ListofTables Table1.CategoriesandSubcategories. Table2.SearchActivity:NumberofSearches. Table3.SearchActivity:SelectingfromSearchResults. Table4.WebsitesViewed:TypesofWebsitesVisited.

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ListofFigures Figure1.MixedMethods:ConvergentParallelDesign.

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ListofAppendices

AppendixA.DefinitionsofLessonPlanChoices

AppendixB.LessonPlanMatrix.

AppendixC.LessonPlanningQuestionnaire.

AppendixD.DemographicQuestionnaire.

AppendixE.ConsentFormsandLetters.

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