Reading Matters Winter 2018

three categories: review of literature/theoretical for studies or commentaries of existing research literature, practitioner articles/books for pieces that focused on teaching, and studies for research involving expressed methods and participants. Our search yielded thirteen theoretical articles/literature reviews, three books and/or practitioner articles, and twelve studies. Of these resources, twelve were specific to K-12 public school education and technology integration in rural areas (see Table 1). We read each article for emerging initial coding (Charmaz, 2014). The initial codes were grouped thematically into six emerging focused codes: teacher demographics,

Results Reviewing the literature revealed four factors influencing technological integration in rural areas: professional development and personnel support, teacher attitude, access to technology, and cultural influence. Rural school districts struggle to support personnel compared to urban districts, and therefore ongoing professional development and teacher support of technology integration remains sporadic. Research showed an increase in teacher confidence and use of technology when teachers had consistent access to devices, such as laptop computers, and opportunities to collaborate with other teachers and support staff. While professional support and

Reading Matters Research Matters

Review of Literature/Theoretical Pieces

Practitioner Articles/Books

Studies

*Arnold et al. (2005)

Hollandsworth, Dowdy & Donovan (2011)

*Blanchard et al. (2016) *Cullen et al. (2006) *Goh & Kale (2016) Howley & Howley (2008)

*Azano (2015)

Hutchison & Colwell (2015)

*Beesley (2011)

Hutchison & Woodward (2014)

Bennett & Maton (2010)

*Bouck (2004)

*Howley, Wood, & Hough (2011)

Darling-Hammond & Richardson (2009)

Hughes (2005)

Desimone (2009)

Hutchison & Reinking (2011) Knezek & Christensen (2007)

*Gordon (2011)

*Herold (2015)

Lenhart & Madden (2005)

*Howley & Howley (1995)

Leu et al. (2014)

Lawless & Pellegrino (2007)

Wells & Lewis (2006)

*VanSciver (1994)

Windschitl & Sahl 2002

Yancey (2009)

Table 1: Sources Included in Coding

* Denotes articles applicable to a rural context.

access to updated technology and internet, support to teach with technology, student performance, financial allocation, and distance education. We collapsed these focused codes to form four emerging theoretical codes depicting rural K-12 schools and technology integration: professional development and personnel support, teacher attitude toward technology, access to technology, and cultural influence. Although our search included technology integration in K-12 schools, we focus here on the emerging themes from rural school populations as technology integration in rural schools is often neglected in research (Azano, 2015), and rural populations face less technological opportunity (Goh & Kale, 2016). Thus, we wanted to focus on how teachers are being prepared to address this technological inequity. The rural populations in the United States discussed throughout the articles ranged from sparsely populated communities in the West, remote communities in the East, parts of Appalachia, and farming communities in New York. According to Beesley (2011), nearly one-third of all public schools are in rural communities. The small populations and geographic proximity mean “rural schools face challenges unfamiliar to urban and suburban schools” (Beesley, 2011, p. 26). These challenges may also include declining enrollment, loss of economic resources, and limited accessibility to professionals, and we discuss these challenges as they pertain to technology integration in schools.

technology access seemed to be substantial barriers to technology integration in rural school districts, cultural attitude was also a factor. Professional Development and Personnel Support in Rural Schools Toward the end of the 20th century, literature emphasized the capabilities rural schools would soon have with more advanced technologies (Howley & Howley, 2008). While there have been significant advances in technology tools that can assist and support teachers and students, rural teachers have limited amounts of time, resources, and technologies needed to make foundational changes to their existing curriculum structure or classroom space (Blanchard et al., 2016; Howley & Howley, 2008; Gordon, 2011). Teachers need ongoing support with existing and new technologies to troubleshoot issues and effectively utilize technology in the classroom (Gordon, 2011). Professional development must be integrated throughout the year to address teacher and technology needs (Darling-Hammond & Richardson, 2009; Desimone, 2009). Ongoing professional development may have an even greater impact, as illustrated in a study of 25 rural public school districts in Dallas, Texas (Knezek & Christensen, 2007). Participating schools in the KIDS project, a K-3 reading program implemented in 1999-2004, created three years of professional development over the summer for five district team members. These team members collaborated with experienced teachers who

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