Digital Immigrants Teaching Digital Natives : A Phenomenological Study of Higher Education Faculty Perspectives on Technology Integration with English Core Content

Abstract

In the last two decades, technology use has escalated and educators grapple with its advances and integration into the classroom. Issues surrounding what constitutes a literate society, the clarion calls for educational reform emanating from US presidents to parent teacher organizations, and educators’ ability to cope with advances in technology in the classroom demand attention. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and understand the professional and educational experiences of six English faculty members teaching undergraduate courses at Midwest universities. Using the framework of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge – TPACK (Koehler and Mishra 2008), the major focus of the study was to determine how faculty members understood what characterized the nature of teaching with technology in undergraduate classrooms. Results of this study revealed the following five themes showing how the participants were introduced to technology, how they assimilated it into their pedagogy, and how they integrated it into teaching practice: Theme 1: Early pioneers in using technology with English course content; Theme 2: Constant evolution of technologies proved to be challenging; Theme 3: The changing nature of student learning prompted investment in teaching with technology; Theme 4: Expanded opportunities for depth and breadth of content; Theme 5: Technology, pedagogy, and content are seamless in learning. This study has the potential to impact the nature of illustrating the methods and techniques used by the six participants as they merge technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge and set in motion classroom practices that assist faculty at all levels to develop and teach technology skills necessary for the 21st century and to better prepare students for thinking critically about how to use digital advances.