PEDAGOGIC TECHNOLOGY IN ADULT VOCATION EDUCATION: SELF-EFFICACY.

• Author: Sparks, Klenton
• Position: Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Having instructors with the ability and the comfort level to implement technology into the classroom lesson plan is important to provide maximum opportunity for student success.

When focusing only on the vocational aspects of online adult education, instructors managing students' participation using an onsite hands-on vocational training may cause a burden to the adult education students by not providing the online resources (McSwain & Davis, 2007). There is a problem in mainstream academics with acceptance of the student's environmental influences despite the numbers showing that accredited online adult education in vocational training is growing (Ross-Gordon, 2017).

Teachers in Adult Education programs struggle with the implementation of technology in a vocational-based classroom. The lack of effective technology integration has an impact on the practitioners teaching environment by having the instructors focusing on their skill sets and not incorporating more sensory learning styles for the individual student like visual, aural, and solitary learning.

The attraction to vocational schools for students is the hands-on approach to learning the material, while there is didactic instruction to learn the constructionism concept with big ideas to engage students' interests.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Supporting a Nontraditional Student Population

It is estimated by the year 2025 the United States will need 106 million Americans to have some postsecondary credentials for jobs and 63% of jobs in the future will require at least a bachelor's degree (Carnivale, Smith, & Strohl, 2010). According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2009), adult education learners are projected to grow at a rate faster compared with the traditional late adolescent student for the near future making it vital for colleges and universities to recognize, and cater to this aspect of student diversity (Chen, 2017).

The pressure on educators is to adapt and provide educational content and teaching methods that keep pace with ongoing pedagogic technical progress. Educators and higher educational institutions are feeling more pressure to deploy technology effectively to deliver content for students, whether on campus or online (Lambert et al., 2014).

According to Skiba & Barton (2006), instructors have a mandate to meet requirements for an appropriate information technology infrastructure including disaster recovery and network security. They support the literature that challenges of a new and unique population of learners are converging upon higher educational institutions. While new teachers have shown they have a higher level of comfort with technology, they use it more for pre-classroom prepping. The more experienced instructors have established a best practice of using technology more often in the classroom when delivering instruction or having students engage in learning activities (Russell, et, al, 2003).

The research addresses the problem of teachers in Adult Education programs who struggle with the implementation of technology in a vocational based classroom. The lack of effective technology integration has an impact on the teaching environment by having the instructors focusing on their skill sets while not incorporating sensory learning styles. The individual student prefers visual, aural, and solitary learning and recognizes that the technology is available. It is the teachers' pedagogical beliefs that are creating the barriers of implementation (Ertmer, 2005). The millennial students of the 21st century are accustomed to using online resources. The implementation of technology-based applications will allow educator's to serve students quickly and more efficiently (Courts & Tucker, 2012).

The literature indicates a shift in the traditional teacher-centered pedagogy model to a more learner-centered model of instruction. The emphasis is on guiding and supporting students as they learn to construct their understanding of the culture and communities of which they are a part and connecting with one another using collaborative tools (Laurillard, 2002). This process of shifting the pedagogic focus causes the learning needs to have meaning and purpose (Reeves, Herrington & Oliver, 2002; Herrington, Oliver & Reeves, 2003).

A much researched area in the literature suggests instructors are not motivated or given incentive to learn new technology on their own. The literature suggests educational institutions make teaching as part of the quarterly in-service and Continuing Education Units (CEU) to create a platform where comfort level and ability can flourish. This group setting would allow senior or seasoned educators with technology experience and comfort to assist the in-service facilitator growing the team (Russell et al., 2003).

The literature suggests that the overall best practice of implementing pedagogic technology in adult vocation education requires the educator to start early and make the technology part of their professional development.

Transforming How Teachers Teach

Technology is readily available for any educator or institution to integrate into their environment. Training is increasingly available for the instructors that embrace the technology and yet technology use is low. The literature suggests an instructor's pedagogical beliefs could create additional barriers (Ertmer, 2005). Using technology to enhance learning requires the educator and the institution to embrace technology in the design of instructional competencies (Kirschner, 2015).

The standard method adopted of introducing technology is to train an instructor on the basic competencies of hardware and software packages without the instructor acquiring an understanding of the complex relationships among content, pedagogy, and technology (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). In contrast, Aldunate & Nussbaum (2013) report the instructor which adopts technology early, regardless of its complexity, is more likely to integrate new technology and those that adopt late, abandon the adoption at some point.

The practice agreed upon as best for integration of new pedagogical technology is to adopt early, requiring the educator and the institution to embrace the training as development. Instructors' must commit more time to personal development while institutions provide access to resources, incentives to change, and support (reference)

Using the Technology of Today In the Classroom

Early technology adopter (Tapscott (1998)) foresaw the World Wide Web and the Internet as being the interactive learning environment of choice. Tapscott predicted the vast repository of human knowledge, tools to manage this knowledge, access to people, and virtual laboratories for medical students would reside on the Internet. The Internet is the tool best suited, according to the literature, to provide the base for new technology designed to provide access, collaboration, and resources allowing instructor's professional methods to implement technology in the classroom.

Education is moving from teacher-led instruction where students are passive recipients of information, to student-based learning. The instructor is an active provider of technology allowing students' to organize their process of learning independently (Moeller & Reitzes, 2011). The Internet is changing the educational landscape in how educators gather information and students' collaborate.

To serve students quickly and efficiently, educators are embracing as best practice the use of online resources and technology-based applications, to include digital classroom applications web-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual classroom opportunities, and digital collaboration. This practice allows students to decide about their study, its time, their resources, and its place (Mashhadi & Kargozari, 2011).

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design

This research design uses a quantitative pre- and post-instruction assessment test with twelve multiple choice questions to measure the ability and a quantitative pre- and post-instruction survey with twelve Likert style, closed end questions, to measure the comfort level of the instructor in the research practitioner's environment to implement new classroom technology.

According to Mills (2011), the main goal of action research within education is to determine ways to enhance the lives of children and at the same time, action research can enhance the lives of those professionals who work within educational systems. Further, action research is associated with the professional growth and development of teachers (Osterman & Kottkamp, 1993; Tomlinson, 1995).

This study adheres to the key tenet of action research which is to observe, reflect, and act (Stringer, 2008). It Investigates if instructors adopt professional growth and development to improve their ability and comfort level to implement new pedagogic technology in the classroom lesson plan and provide the maximum opportunity for student success? The sample size in this study is 16 and designed for best practice guidelines not a generalizable study.

This study established two principle themes: Constructionism and Connectivism with several thematic headings with each theme identifying gaps between what early adopters perceived the role pedagogic technology in adult vocation education would play and the actual position it holds in the current researcher practitioner's vocational academic environment.

Research Questions

1. How will pedagogic technology training impact instructor's ability to implement technology in the classroom as measured by a pre and post integration assessment?

2. How will pedagogic technology training impact instructor's comfort level to implement technology in the classroom as measured by a pre and post survey?

   The resolution of implementing the results requires the instructors to participate, not just agree on the obtainable results.

   Participants

   The Instructors in the four vocational programs of Medical...