Congratulations Jenny!
The Final Oral Examination For the Degree of
DOCTOR of PHILOSOPHY
(Curriculum Studies)
JENNY ARNTZEN
B.F.A., Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, 2003
M.A., The University of British Columbia, 2007
Friday, November 20, 2015, 12:30 pm
Room 200, Graduate Student Centre
Teacher Candidates’ Imaginative Capacity and Dispositions Toward Using ICT in Practice
EXAMINING COMMITTEE
Chair: Dr. Deborah Butler (Special Education)
Supervisory Committee:
Dr. Samson M. Nashon, Research Supervisor (Curriculum Studies)
Dr. Stephen Petrina (Curriculum Studies)
Dr. E. Wayne Ross (Curriculum Studies)
University Examiners:
Dr. Marlene Asselin (Language and Literacy Education)
Dr. Peter Gouzouasis (Curriculum Studies)
External Examiner:
Dr. Ann-Louise Davidson
Concordia University
ABSTRACT
The study investigated the relationship between instructional discourses in a pre-service teacher education program and teacher candidates’ subsequent plans to use ICT in their professional practice. Teacher candidates’ dispositions, in terms of comportment and composure, were seen as indicative of the quality of their relationship with ICT. Teacher candidates’ manifestations of these dispositions, in terms of ICT imaginative capacity, were seen as indicative of the characteristics of their use (what they had the capacity to imagine and the capability to implement). Manifestations of dispositions were described as displays of ICT imaginative capacity.
The setting for the study was a post-baccalaureate two-year teacher education program in a large regional university in western Canada. Participants in the study were comprised of a thirty-eight member cohort of teacher candidates in the first year of their two-year program. A sub-group of teacher candidates was self-selected from the cohort and participated in a research intervention.
This study adapted a social constructivist theoretical framework complemented by an enactive analysis of social interactions examining communicative events from the teacher education program. An interpretive case study methodology collected data from teacher education classes, teacher candidate questionnaires, and focus group discussions. These three datasets were analyzed and interpreted to explore relationships between instructional discourses and teacher candidates’ dispositions toward using ICT.
Findings document teacher candidates’ dispositions toward using ICT as demonstrated by their capacity to imagine using ICT and their capability to implement these imaginings in practice. Conclusions suggest a need for further research into “ecologies of learning”. Recommendations also include a need to investigate instructional discourses with regards to developing ICT imaginative capacity and imaginative capability. The need to develop imaginative capacity extends beyond when, where, why, how, or what ICT teachers learn to use in practice.
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