Standard IV - Reflection on Practice

Artifact Description:

In the course GREV610 Educational Statistics II (Spring 2021) with Dr.Kanyongo, my term project analyzed the quantitative data and reflected on the effectiveness of the design and implementation of the instruction of TinkerCAD. The project investigated whether preservice teachers’ content area (English/Language Arts or ELA, Mathematics, Social Studies) and gender (male, female) have an effect on technology acceptance in TinkerCAD. The project adopted the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1986) which was a well-known tool to assess and predict user acceptance of information technology. Participants who were preservice teachers responded to the Technology Acceptance Questionnaire including perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitude toward using TinkerCAD. The results of the study found that there was no significant main effect of the content area and gender as well as the interaction effect.

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Reflection and Rationale:

TinkerCAD is an emerging 3D modeling and Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software for children to design and create 3D artifacts. Integrating TinkerCAD into K-12 curriculums has potential benefits for improving instructions and learning outcomes. Since TinkerCAD is a useful resource for STEM education, I originally hypothesized that the preservice teacher in Mathematics will have significantly higher technology acceptance in TinkerCAD. Surprisingly, the data analysis showed that there is no significant difference in preservice teachers’ technology acceptance based on the content area. Preservice teachers in Mathematics did not give higher scores on the perceived usefulness of TinkerCAD compared to those in ELA and Social Studies.

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Therefore, I reflected on my design of the instructional activities to try to understand students’ responses to the questionnaire including perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitude toward using TinkerCAD. One of the possible reasons that caused the results is that my instructions did not provide detailed examples for the use of TinkerCAD in the Mathematics class. In the future, I might need to provide specific examples of the use of TinkerCAD in classroom settings. In addition, I might need to conduct interviews with students to figure out the reasons and adjust my instructions to increase their perceived usefulness. Therefore, this artifact demonstrated my ability to analyze and interpret data and artifacts and reflect on the effectiveness of the design, development, and implementation of technology-supported instruction and learning to enhance their professional growth.

 

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Reference: 

Venkatesh, V., Morris, M. G., Davis, G. B., & Davis, F. D. (2003). User acceptance of information technology: Toward a unified view. MIS Quarterly, 27, 425–478.