Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

4909

Date

2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major

Instr and Curr Leadership

Concentration

Instructional Design and Tech

Committee Chair

Clif Mims

Committee Member

Trey Martindale

Committee Member

Amanda Rockinson-Szapkiw

Committee Member

Drew Polly

Abstract

Integrating technology into the K-8 mathematics classroom is important. One of the technologies frequently used is adaptive learning programs. Adaptive learning programs provide instruction to students at the appropriate level of difficulty by presenting content, providing hints and feedback, and allowing students to master skills before progressing. Understanding what these programs can and cannot do is important for teachers. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of preservice teachers and seek to interpret how their experiences influence their perceptions and plans to integrate adaptive learning programs in their future K-8 mathematics classroom. Having an understanding of preservice teachers' perceptions and how they interpret their experiences about adaptive learning programs is important and useful information for teacher education programs as they work to develop appropriate instruction that prepares preservice teacher to integrate technology effectively. Archived data from a K-8 mathematics methods course was analyzed and interviews were conducted with students from that course to answer the following research questions: What are preservice teachers’ perceptions of using adaptive learning programs in the K-8 mathematics classroom? How do preservice teachers’ experiences influence their perceptions and plans to integrate adaptive learning programs in their future classroom? The findings from this study indicate that the participating preservice teachers plan to integrate this technology in their future K-8 mathematics classroom. The participating preservice teachers perceive adaptive learning programs to be beneficial for students, and they recognize they have many decisions to make regarding what adaptive learning programs are used and how they are integrated into the classroom. Providing preservice teachers with information on the types of programs available and the myriad of features available will help them be able to make these decisions. The results of this study will be used to inform instructional practices in the researchers course as well as teacher preparation programs at large.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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