Reading Matters Winter 2018

Professional Development, Technology Integration, and Rural Educators

By Brooke Orrell Sievers & Emily Howell, Iowa State University

ABSTRACT—Rural school districts face challenges in the areas of technological access, technology support, consolidation, distance education, and high teacher turnover. These challenges prevent overcoming barriers to technology integration and developing skills needed for effective digital literacy. Yet, a systematic review of technology integration in K-12 rural schools is missing from the research literature. Thus, this review of the existing theoretical, empirical, and practitioner education literature focused on the following research question: How are rural school districts preparing teachers to integrate technology into their curriculum? Although relatively few studies focus on technology integration in rural areas and the professional development being done to improve that integration, we discuss 28 sources that helped to answer our research question. The findings presented focus on four emerging themes influencing rural K-12 schools and technology integration: professional development and personnel support, teacher attitude toward technology, access to technology, and cultural influence. Current education standards demand that teachers integrate digital literacy into educational curriculum (Hutchison & Woodward, 2014; National Governors Association Center for Best Practices [NGAC] & Council of Chief State School Officers [CCSSO], 2010); however, there is evidence that teachers struggle with such integration (Howell, Butler, & Reinking, 2017; Hutchison & Reinking, 2011). Digital literacy is defined as the “skills, strategies, and dispositions that students and teachers develop and use when learning literacy skills with digital technology” (Hutchison & Colwell, 2015, p. 2). Thus, digital literacy builds upon, rather than replaces, traditional literacy skills that are embedded across content areas (Jenkins, Clinton, Purushotma, Robison, &Weigel, 2006). To authentically integrate technology, teachers need support in planning instruction and determining the best digital tools for students to achieve specific goals, in both content learning and digital literacy. Supporting teachers in both this planning and integration process, however, is challenging, particularly in rural school districts. Many K-12 rural schools struggle to keep pace with technology integration due to limited financial resources, lack of professional development and technology support, and teacher attitudes toward technology (Cullen, Brush, Frey, Hinshaw, &Warren, 2006; Howley & Howley, 1995). Rural school districts across the United States struggle to keep up with the increasing demands of technology, including long-term teacher professional development that supports classroom-integrated technologies (Blanchard, LePrevost, Tolin, & Gutierrez, 2016). Rural students, in particular, are not being given the school support needed to develop digital literacies needed in a technological society. For instance, rural students are underrepresented in technological opportunity and the ability to create content,

which is increasingly afforded via online platforms and digital tools (Bouck, 2004; Goh & Kale, 2016; Lenhart & Madden, 2005).

Reading Matters Research Matters

Rural school districts face challenges in the areas of technological access, technology support, consolidation, distance education, and high teacher turnover. These challenges prevent overcoming barriers to technology integration. Howley and Howley (1995) suggested that technology holds the promise for rural communities to “participate in the mainstream of American life without sacrificing traditional virtues” (p. 129). However, the recent United States presidential election highlighted that rural citizens may instead feel overlooked by the American majority (Pappano, 2017). Although there have been reviews of the literature on technology integration in K-12 education (DiMaggio, Hargittai, Celeste, & Shafer, 2001; Lawless & Pellegrino, 2007) and rural education overall (Arnold, Newman, Gaddy, & Dean, 2005), an overview of what the research literature says specifically about technology integration and the support for such integration in rural schools is missing. Thus, this review of the existing theoretical, empirical, and practitioner education literature focused on the following research question: How are rural school districts preparing teachers to integrate technology into their curriculum? Method This review of technology integration in K-12 rural public schools is composed of peer-reviewed articles and books. To pull the most contemporary studies and discussion on technology integration, the researchers narrowed the search from 1994 to 2017 with a specific focus on schools in the United States, and technology integration programs within school districts as compared to distance education. This range focused on research during an era when the internet became an accessible tool for most classrooms and communities. The National Center for Education Statistics noted that only 35% of schools in the United States had internet access in 1994, compared to nearly 100% in 2005 – including rural school districts (Wells & Lewis, 2007). This range also reflected relevant technologies available in current classrooms with the availability of wireless internet and broadband connections, classroom technology access, student and teacher computers, laptops, or hand-held computers (Wells & Lewis, 2007). Initial search terms included rural K-12 school technology integration, rural technology integration, United States rural schools technology, technology in K-12 schools and professional development technology integration. Using the EBSCOHost search engine, the researcher focused on studies, practitioner articles, and literature reviews specific to K-12 education in the United States, and refined these search results for publications between 1994 to 2017. Manuscripts were classified into

Reading Matters | Volume 18 • Winter 2018 | scira.org | 15

CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS