Content-Focused Technology Inquiry Groups

Abstract

This paper examines the process of establishing and sustaining content-focused technology inquiry groups, a teacher professional development model where groups of teachers with similar content and grade areas identify problems of practice and inquire into technology-supported solutions. Through a longitudinal case study of an urban arts-humanities technology inquiry group, this research reveals three phases of group development: (a) defining the group, (b) identifying content-focused technology inquiries, and (c) initiating content-focused technology inquiries. The main advantage of the first year of participation for teachers was their use of technology to solve content-related problems in their classrooms. Challenges included a shifting content focus for the inquiry group, time availability for participants’ inquiries, and the availability of technological innovations that matched the participants’ problems of practice.