Supporting Professional Learning and Research in a Collaborative Inquiry: A Case Study of a Technology in Mathematics Classroom Assessment Focused Collaboration

Abstract

This thesis presents findings from a qualitative study of a collaborative inquiry into the use of technology in mathematics classroom assessment. The inquiry included five high school mathematics teachers, two instructional coaches, two technology coaches, and myself―a doctoral student researcher and part-time teacher. In this thesis I examine what was learned about using technology in assessment and how our learning was facilitated. This study was informed by the premise that our learning could be prompted by our interactions with one another and with different ideas for using technology in assessment (Davis & Simmt, 2003, 2006). For my study of our learning, I analyzed data that were collected from our face-to-face and online (synchronous and asynchronous) communications (e.g., meeting transcripts, my observation reflection notes), and from the materials that participants created and shared (e.g., sample assessment materials, participant-created meeting summaries). I use different lenses to examine this inquiry in three articles that are included in this thesis by articles. In the first article I focus on what was learned about using technology in assessment. This article shows that participants found that different tools could enrich formative assessment (as and for learning) by making it possible to improve the immediacy of feedback to teachers and students, to support student self-assessment, and to capture and share student thinking (e.g., video recordings of their solution strategies and/or their thinking about a problem, pictures of their work). Participants also found that technology could support summative assessment (assessment of learning) by changing the ways students can demonstrate their learning. In the second article I look at how our learning was supported. This article shows that teachers appreciated opportunities to share ideas and resources, and to hear what their colleagues were doing; that online communications helped to enable more frequent sharing between teachers at different schools; and that project leaders, particularly coaches who were in teacher support roles, supported professional learning and inquiry processes by sharing leadership responsibilities and by mediating technical demands on teachers. In the third article I examine my own experiences with navigating multimebership, as a teacher, project leader, and researcher in this collaborative inquiry. These findings show how I experienced internal tensions when it came to leading, learning, and conducting research in this inquiry with my colleagues.