Oral Candidacy Exam Presentation, Rob Power, Doctor of Education in Distance Education Program, Athabasca University)

1. A Framework for Promoting Teacher
Self-Efficacy with Mobile Reusable
Learning Objects
Dissertation Proposal Candidacy Exam Presentation
Robert Power
Instructional Developer, College of the North
Atlantic-Qatar
EdD Student, Athabasca University

2. The Question:
“What is the single greatest barrier to the widespread
adoption of mobile learning strategies in K12 and
higher education institutions?”
The Response:
“Teachers’ confidence in the technology and their
ability to use mobile learning in their own practice.”
Paraphrased exchange between Robert Power (moderator) and Dr. Mohamed Ally (panelist) at the
Panel Discussion on Tablet Deployment Initiatives at the 12th World Conference on Mobile and
Contextual Learning (mLearn 2013), Doha, Qatar

3. The Problem with Teacher Training
The current educational model is outdated because it
was developed before the advent of information and
communication technologies. The current model,
based on classroom-based face-to-face delivery, is
geared towards educating a certain segment of the
population. Also, teachers are being trained for the
current model of education, and will therefore
continue using the model when they become
teachers. Teacher training must be re-invented to
prepare teachers for the technology-enhanced
educational system.
(Ally & Prieto-Blazquez, 2014)

4. The Problem with Our Understanding
of Teacher Efficacy
Lack of training in the pedagogical considerations for the
integration of a specific type of technology can have a
negative impact upon teachers’ perceptions of self-efficacy
(Kenny, et al, 2010). However, Kenny et al. (2010) note
that:
While a significant body of research exists on learners’ feelings of
self-efficacy concerning computer technology, online learning, and
even podcasting… this concept does not yet appear to have been
examined in any detail in a mobile learning context (p. 2).

5. The Essential Intervention in this Study
• Remove the “new technology” element from
the equation in so much as is possible.
• Put the focus on pedagogical decision-making.
• Determine if that approach has an impact on
teachers’ perceptions of self-efficacy with
mobile learning.

6. Conceptual Framework

7. Research Questions
1. Does the Collaborative Situated Active Mobile (CSAM)
learning design framework provide teachers with an
increased sense of self-efficacy in the use of mobile
reusable learning objects (RLOs) to facilitate or
enhance collaborative learner interactions?
a) Do teachers perceive greater self-efficacy when
using the CSAM framework?
b) Do teachers perceive their use of mobile RLOs be
more effective when using the CSAM framework?

8. HOW?
• Use the CSAM Learning Design Framework as the focus
of pedagogical decision making and self-reflective
practice in a short, online professional development
course on creating mobile reusable learning objects.
• Measure the impact of that training on participants’
perceptions of self-efficacy.
• Get feedback from participants on their perceptions of
self-efficacy and the use of CSAM to help make
instructional design decisions.

9. What is CSAM?
(Power, 2012, 2013a, 2013b, 2013c)

10. Origins of CSAM
• CSAM is:
– A summarization of the key pedagogical elements
present in recent case studies of the use of mobile RLOs
to facilitate collaborative learning.
– A framework to guide instructional design decisionmaking.
– Consistent with Activity Theory, the zone of proximal
development, Transactional Distance Theory, and FLOW
Theory.
• CSAM is not:
– A new learning theory.
– A new model of instructional design.

11. Research Methodology
How will I measure effects on perceptions of selfefficacy?
• Mixed-methods research:
– Mix of quantitative survey data and qualitative feedback
from follow-up interviews
• Design-Based Research:
– This proposed study would constitute the first phase of a
longer-term DBR project. Subsequent phases would build
upon this research to inform iterative improvements to
the professional development course, and the eventual
development of an OER RLO (Anderson & Shattuck, 2012;
Cohen et al., 2011; Design-Based Research Collective [DBRC],
2003)

12. Research Instruments
• Combined Teacher’s Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES)
and Mobile Teacher’s Sense of Efficacy Scale
(mTSES) survey instruments (Benton-Borghi, 2006;
Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001a, 2001b)
– Pre and post-intervention surveys
– General sense of self-efficacy vs self-efficacy with
using mobile RLOs before and after the training
• Follow-up Interviews
– Qualitative feedback regarding the training, and
participants’ perceptions of self-efficacy with mobile
RLOs

13. Research Design:
A Framework for Promoting
Teacher Self-Efficacy with Mobile
Reusable Learning Objects

15. Participant Selection
• Interested Faculty and Graduate
Education Students from:
– Confirmed:
• Ohio State University
• Athabasca University
• College of the North Atlantic-Qatar
– Possibilities:
• College of the North Atlantic
• Memorial University of Newfoundland
• Tennessee State University

16. A Snapshot of the Intervention
•
Online Professional Development course called
Creating Mobile Reusable Learning Objects
Using Collaborative Situated Active Mobile
(CSAM) Learning Strategies.
•
Hosted on the Canvas open LMS
•
Can be accessed via computer or mobile
device.
•
Five modules, run over ten days (two days per
module).
•
Research survey instruments are embedded as
learning activities (to reduce extra time
commitments for participants).
•
Beta-testing to include a review of course
design elements by a group of professional
instructional developers from College of the
North Atlantic-Qatar.

18. References
Ally, M. & Prieto-Blázquez, J. (2014). What is the future of mobile learning in education? Mobile Learning Applications in Higher
Education [Special Section]. Revista de Universidad y Sociedad del Conocimiento (RUSC), 11(1), 142-151. doi
http://doi.dx.org/10.7238/rusc.v11i1.2033
Anderson, T., & Shattuck, J. (2012). Design-based research: A decade of progress in education research? Educational Researcher, 41(1),
16-25. DOI: 10.3102/0013189X11428813. Retrieved from http://edr.sagepub.com/content/41/1/16.full
Benton-Borghi, B. (2006). Teaching every student in the 21st century: Teacher efficacy and technology (Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State
University). Retrieved from http://www.pucrs.br/famat/viali/tic_literatura/teses/BentonBorghi%20Beatrice%20Hope.pdf
The Design-Based Research Collective (2003). Design-based research: An emerging paradigm for educational inquiry. Educational
Researcher, 32(1), 5-8. Retrieved from http://www.designbasedresearch.org/reppubs/DBRC2003.pdf
Kenny, R.F., Park, C.L., Van Neste-Kenny, J.M.C., & Burton, P.A. (2010). Mobile self-efficacy in Canadian nursing education programs. In
M. Montebello, V. Camilleri and A. Dingli (Eds.), Proceedings of mLearn 2010, the 9th World Conference on Mobile Learning, Valletta,
Malta.
mLearn 2013 (2013). mLearn 2013 panel discussion (Part 1). Retrieved from http://youtu.be/9b7u7QBWDEk
Power, R. (2012). Effective learning strategies with mobile devices: Collaborative situated active mobile learning. Unpublished
manuscript, Center for Distance Education, Athabasca University, Athabasca, Canada.
Power, R. (2013a). Collaborative situated active mobile (CSAM) learning strategies: A new perspective on effective mobile learning.
Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives, 10(2). Retrieved from
http://lthe.zu.ac.ae/index.php/lthehome/article/view/137
Power, R. (2013b, April). Collaborative Situated Active Mobile (CSAM) learning strategies: A new perspective on effective mobile learning.
Presentation at the Mobile Learning: Gulf Perspectives Research Symposium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 25 April 2013.
Power, R. (2013c, April). Create your own mobile RLOs (reusable learning objects) for situated active learning. Workshop presentation at
Technology in Higher Education 2013, 16-17 April, 2013, Doha, Qatar.
Tschannen-Moran, M., & Woolfolk Hoy, A. (2001a). Teacher efficacy: Capturing and elusive construct. Teaching and Teacher Education,
17(7), 783-805.
Tschannen-Moran, M., & Woolfolk Hoy, A. (2001b). Teacher’s sense of efficacy scale. Retrieved from
http://people.ehe.osu.edu/ahoy/files/2009/02/tses.pdf