Teachers' views on learning and teaching in rich technology-based classrooms: A developmental perspective

This paper reports on an exploratory, longitudinal case study that describes, analyzes and interprets the evolution of teachers' beliefs regarding learning, teaching and technology use in the context of integrating technology-based information rich tasks in 6, 4^th-6^th grades classrooms. Assuming that teachers' beliefs are tentative constructions and therefore subject to revision, and acknowledging that teachers can hold more than one educational belief concerning teaching and learning, including contrasting ones, the study applies a constructivist approach to studying the use of information technology in schools, emphasizing the importance of studying teachers' educational beliefs and their context, using qualitatively different tools: interviews, questionnaires and observations. The main findings of the study reveal different patterns and pace of change in teachers' educational beliefs and classroom practices. The study also underscores the fact that even when working in groups in a supportive and dynamic learning community, teachers respond differently to similar educationally innovative ideas relating to information technology in a rich-technology school. Also, the study supports the theory of action whereby teachers learn from their actions, use what they learn to plan and carry out future actions, and that this ultimately affects their beliefs.