1. On-line and Offline Relationships:
Exploring the dynamics of teacher
learning for technology integration
Monica Batac
OISE/University of Toronto

2. Dialogue during/after presentation
Using Twitter (www.twitter.com)
- Mention me at end of tweet @monicabatac
- Hashtag#otfoade
Discussion & questions at the end
Email: monica@monicabatac.com

3. My Background & Journey
• Master of Teaching (OISE/UT); Preservice
training, seminars, & research
• Two professors focusing on educational
technology: Hewitt & MacKinnon
• Elective in “Computers in the Curriculum”
• ISTE Conference; Philadelphia PA - June 26-29

4. ISTE Inspiration
• Self exploration, self directed, self funded
• Traditional workshops
• Dinner and conversation
• Reflecting on this professional “vacation” and
learning re: technology use for student
learning and teacher instruction

5. Theoretical Framework
TPACK – What does this mean?

6. Methodology
• Preliminary findings & analysis
• Narrative
• 3 (of 4 or 5) classroom teachers with
strong, purposeful groundings in their
technology use (TPACK)
• 1 hour interviews
• Continuous collaboration and dialogue, on-
line and offline

7. TPACK Teacher Participants
• David – Grade 7 teacher
• George – Grade 6 teacher & in-school
Technology Support
• Lisa – Grade 3 and Literacy coach
– Ontario context, public school boards
– Pseudonyms

8. Research Questions
• How did the teachers come to the point they are
at in regards to technology integration?
– What are the reported key values and ideas in
understanding technology use and integration?
– What role does collaboration and dialogue play in the
teachers’ acquisition and development of TPACK?
– What kind of training or support do teachers seek
when trying to implement technology in their
classrooms?
• Ongoing – this is my own inquiry, multi-level

9. Pedagogy (P of TPACK)
• David: “My objectives for my students are that
they leave more creative, collaborative, better
at communicating their ideas, and better at
thinking critically.”

10. Pedagogy (P of TPACK)
• George: “It’s developing a personal
relationship with the students, taking interest
in what they do, finding out how they
learn, what their passions are, and going from
there.”

11. Pedagogy (P of TPACK)
• Lisa: “I want them all to feel like they’re
confident readers and writers & that they
have an understanding of media literacy.”

12. Technology (T of TPACK)
• David: “I use technology as a means of
releasing power to students, as opposed to
gaining power over students.”
– Bring your own device –
iPads, iPods, smartphones, “ubiquity of
technology”
– Blogs, Google apps, Web 2.0

13. Technology (T of TPACK)
• George
– Digital storytelling: personal narratives
(nonfiction) with audio & visual components
• Lisa
– Assistive technologies (Dragon Dictate); Puppet
Pals
– Stations: SMARTboard, multiple computers, iPads;
tech & non tech; differentiated instruction

14. Connections in their perspectives &
experiences
• Practice what you Preach
• Mentorship, relationship building
• On-line, offline, blending learning
This is authentic learning fueled by
collaboration and dialogue

15. Practice what you Preach
• David: “If you want to do Bring Your Own
Device, where you get students to bring their
own devices, do you bring your own device?
Because that’s not an event. That’s a culture
you’re going to have to develop. And you have to
be part of that culture.”
• “If you really want your students to use handheld
devices for productive purposes, show how you
do it, without instructing on it. Literally just do it
and the kids notice.”

16. Practice what you Preach
George: “I carry around technology on my
person… I just breathe it every day. I have the
internet in my pocket and can connect with
you, with the world, and learn. Any-time
learning, 24/7.”

17. Practice what you Preach
• Lisa &iPad apps
“Every week there’s something new out there. I
have struggled to always want to buy something
new. I have to go back and ask if it meets my
[instructional] needs, or why am I changing my
plan. Something better might be there, so instead
of wasting time on an app that is taking twice as
long to do a product, I might find one next week
that’s faster. I am always showing the kids my
learning.”

18. Mentorship, relationship building
• George as technology support & mentor
– Supporting from current practices; ongoing
• “If you go in with too much or something that cannot
be folllowed up or supported, then it’s not going to fly”
• Helping with personal technology purchase & use
– Building trust for collaboration
• “It’s all about working together. 9/10 of the ideas are
coming from the teachers. I just kind of suggest and
guide.”

19. Mentorship, relationship building
• George: “I think the most effective leaders…
guide and encourage and support… They will
outline the goals and objectives initially and
then leave you to it. They trust you.”
– Personal connection with you; understands
importance of technology

20. Mentorship, relationship building
• David: “The biggest thing for me, the reason why
I [am] an extremely intrinsically motivated and
satisfied professional is because I got connected
to people who I formed relationships with, who
taught me things… I met people who helped me
be a better teacher.”
– How? “By getting tapped on the shoulder. From them
being introduced… by learning very slowly but surely
to become a networked professional. To surround
myself with people I looked up to and learning with
them, instead of learning by myself or only in my
school.”

21. Blended learning & relationships
• Lisa: “I really, really need the on-line
professional learning community because that
moves me forward in my thinking and
learning. No one here knew [how to solve
issues], so I was the only one in the school, in
the whole town who was using the iPad [for
learning] last year, so I didn’t have anyone that
I could really bounce ideas off of. I needed
that on-line community.”

22. Blended learning & relationships
• David: “Most of the biggest learning, we
attach to some sort of relationship we develop
while doing it. I don’t think we can really have
that deep exploration of a relationship if there
isn’t a face-to-face element.
– 3 types of people: f2f, in-person, blended
– Blended allows you to continue the dialogue

23. Blended learning & relationships
• George: I live in different worlds. The world of my Personal
Learning Network in Ontario and beyond, we talk about
technologies and methodologies that are different from the
four walls that we’re in. That’s part of why I’m here.
There’s a real dissonance.
• My first experience with connecting with other educators…
we not only spoke in real life, but we continued to maintain
on-line professional relationships afterwards. That was
huge for me. That just changed everything… I think before
that, I was starving for other people who were doing
technology in a way that would be interesting… [Now]
there is somebody you can always talk to and get a
dialogue going.
– Interesting to note George’s online learning

24. Blended learning & relationships
• George: “I appreciate my on-line network of Twitter
people… where you can go deeper.
Detailed, meaningful, extended conversation is when
it’s in real life.”
• “It’s more meaningful to connect with these people [in
person] because you’ve already been speaking about it
with them [on-line].”
• “I seem to follow many, many conversations but I do
value a few number of conversations over the whole.
It’s like in real life, if you connect with somebody, and
you get each other, that’s the same thing on-line.”

25. Blended learning & relationships
• Lisa: “There needs to be the face-to-face
support, the on-line support, and you need to
have communities. Two years ago, none of us
[face-to-face colleagues] were on Twitter. We
were craving our face-to-face meetings. We’d
get together & it’d just be
talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. We wouldn’t actually
accomplish as much in our meetings because
we would have all these other questions to
share and ask…”

26. Blended learning & relationships
• Lisa: “Now, when we arrive, the conversations
continue because we are all on Twitter
sharing… follow [each other’s] thinking…
Twitter is just a conversation, and when we
meet now, it’s just to pick up on our last tweet
and go forward with our planning.”

27. Applying it to our own contexts
Elbow partner
- Discuss your current context, role, experiences
- Possible ways to receive or provide support
Prioritizing dialogue and collaboration
- Let’s discuss

28. Next steps
• More analysis & implications… to be
continued
– Presenting March, April, May
Twitter @monicabatac
416 579 5670
monica@monicabatac.com