Learning to teach secondary mathematics using an online learning system

The authors report the results of a classroom study of three secondary mathematics teachers who had no prior experience teaching with technology as they began to use an online mathematics learning system in their lessons. The study investigated whether the inbuilt structure of an online mathematics learning system might assist teachers who are inexperienced users of ICT to develop their ability to teach mathematics with technology in new and different ways that constructively engage students in their learning. The teachers were from a high school in a low- socioeconomic area of western Sydney. The authors gave the teachers only basic instruction on how to operate the system and then observed them intensively over four school terms as they taught using it. They documented changes in the teachers' Pedagogical Technology Knowledge and subsequently classified their various roles as technology bystanders, adopters, adaptors and innovators. Results show that all teachers made some progress toward using the system in more sophisticated ways, but the improvements were not uniform across the teachers. The authors suggest possible reasons to explain the variation and discuss some implications for teacher professional development. [Author abstract, ed]