Kaalberg, K. F. (2014). Enhancing teaching and learning through iPad integration in a clinic- based literacy course [Doctoral dissertation, University of Nevada, Las Vegas]. Digital Scholarship@UNLV. http://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations/2101/

Abstract:

“A re-conceptualized clinic-based literacy methods course offered the opportunity to engage participants with digital media, i.e., iPads, as a part of reading and writing instruction. This multiple case study highlights the experiences of those involved with the course: two instructors, 18 teacher candidates, and the 18 elementary tutees who received literacy tutoring. Framed through a new literacies perspective and TPACK framework, the study focused on teacher candidates’ use of iPads with their literacy instruction of elementary tutees, tutees’ learning experiences, and the ways in which course instructors’ TPACK was influenced.

Data collection involved multiple case study methodology (Merriam, 1998; Yin, 2003, 2009) and consisted of interviews, collaborative discussions, observation and field notes, artifacts, and surveys. Data analysis involved open coding and axial coding, utilizing additional analytic tools, and drawing from a TPACK content analysis. Categories were constructed and grouped together to form constructs.

Four themes formed; honoring course instructors and teacher candidates as learners, tutee motivation and engagement, challenges with using technology creates tension, and broadening literacy perspectives. The findings indicate course instructors and teacher candidates integrating technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge as they learned about and with iPads in a supportive environment that encouraged their learning. Teacher candidates utilized digital media with their literacy instruction as they provided tutees opportunities to engage with a variety of literacies. A key implication for this study involves issues of domestication, where technology is placed into existing structures rather than being recognized for the new possibilities it creates.”