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Learning, Implementation, and Outcome: A Case Study of an Elementary Teacher’s Integration of Scratch Programming in Science Instruction

by Ruohan Liu, Amanda Gonczi & Jennifer Maeng
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The Scratch programming language makes computing accessible for young students and provides valuable support for non-computer-science instruction. Guided by the Interconnected Model of Professional Growth (IMPG), this case study explored an elementary teacher’s learning, implementation, and outcomes in Scratch integration after participating in a year-long science, technology, engineering, and mathematics professional development (PD) program. By analyzing data from multiple sources, the findings suggest that the PD program was effective in fostering positive Scratch-related beliefs, as well as technological and pedagogical knowledge. Following PD participation, the teacher was able to implement concrete strategies to engage students in Scratch-integrated science learning. However, a significant challenge for the teacher, and an evident influence on student-created Scratch projects, was limited programming content knowledge. Based on the findings, the authors offer actionable implications for future research and PD design.

Tracing “My Hero Academia” Fan Fiction Composing Practices in a Seventh-Grade Superhero Storytelling Project

by Beth Krone & Patricia Enciso
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This paper describes the work of three seventh-grade students in a semester-long superhero storytelling project in a midwestern middle school during spring semester 2019. In this paper, the researchers report their analysis of ethnographic data collected during this project to demonstrate how these three authors, who were all fans of the anime and manga franchise My Hero Academia (MHA), brought practices from their MHA fanfiction writing into their superhero storytelling. Using theories of transmedial narratology, the researchers identify three distinct practices this group described as part of their out-of-school fanfiction writing: character deck-creation, queer romantic (re)couplings, and participatory storytelling. They then trace these practices in the superhero story this group created to describe how these practices influenced their narrative. The researchers argue that teachers and teacher educators should see students’ fan fictional practices not only as legitimate reading and writing but also as challenges to the way they conceptualize narrative in schools.

Virtual Pedagogy, Real Impact: Exploring Zoom-Based Repeated Microteaching Rehearsals in Elementary Science Teacher Preparation

by Franklin S. Allaire
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This study explored the implementation of online repeated microteaching rehearsals (RMTRs) within an elementary science methods course, examining its potential to enhance elementary teacher candidates’ (ETCs) instructional development. The study employed a mixed-methods approach, collecting both qualitative and quantitative data to assess ETCs’ experiences with online RMTRs. Findings indicate that ETCs (n = 283) generally perceived RMTRs as beneficial for refining their teaching skills, increasing confidence, and enhancing engagement. While the iterative nature of RMTRs provided opportunities for progressive improvement, reflection, and adaptation, some challenges were noted, including technical difficulties and cognitive overload. This study contributes to the literature on teacher education by exploring how structured, iterative microteaching experiences can be integrated into online learning environments to support ETCs. Implications for teacher preparation programs and suggestions for future research are discussed.

“Don’t Force It”: An Action Research Study on AI Integration in Undergraduate and Graduate Teacher Education Coursework

by Melissa Antonelli, Michelle Vaughan-McGovern & Macie Barrett
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This action research study explored the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in four teacher education courses (graduate and undergraduate) within a college of education. The article reviews current literature on AI in education and discusses results from both instructors’ and students’ perspectives. The findings highlight the benefits and challenges of AI integration, including its impact on students’ learning experiences and perceptions. Undergraduate students found AI tools helpful for improving writing and grammar, while graduate students used AI to support research and curriculum development. The study emphasized the importance of ethical AI use, clear guidance from instructors, and the creation of a supportive culture of inquiry. By modeling AI tools and encouraging reflective practice, educators can enhance the learning experience and prepare future teachers to navigate the evolving landscape of AI in education.

Transformational Technology Leadership in Higher Education: A Systematic Review of Pedagogical Practice

by Kristen Carlson, C. Lorraine Webb & Keirah Comstock
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This systematic literature review analyzed 13 peer-reviewed articles published between 2010 and 2024 to examine how higher education administrators conceptualized and implemented pedagogical approaches in online and distance education. Drawing on Transformational Leadership Theory and the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework, the review synthesized evidence on leadership practices that foster innovation, collaboration, and faculty development in digital contexts. Findings revealed that intellectual stimulation was the most frequently observed leadership dimension, while technological pedagogical knowledge was the most consistently represented TPACK intersection. Together, these results highlight how academic leaders advance technology integration by inspiring faculty members, supporting professional learning, and shaping inclusive digital learning cultures. Implications are offered for leadership preparation, institutional policy, and future research.

Practices, Attributes, and Contextual Factors Shaping Teacher Educators’ Technology Leadership: A Systematic Literature Review

by Ragia Hassan, Yao Fu & Tammy Fry Ware
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Although the literature underscores the importance of teacher educators’ roles in technology leadership, there remains a need to clearly define this concept within teacher education and to understand the attributes and practices that enable teacher educators to act as technology leaders, as well as the factors influencing their leadership in technology integration. To address this gap, the authors conducted a systematic review of the literature on technology leadership in teacher education. Guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), 29 studies were identified, published between 2010 and July 2024 from five databases. Through thematic analysis, a functional definition of technology leadership in teacher education was proposed and the essential attributes and practices that underpin teacher educators’ leadership in technology integration were unveiled. The study revealed a range of contextual factors that could shape technology leadership in teacher education programs, including institutional influences, programmatic challenges, mentor teacher readiness, and national policy and cultural norms. These findings provide important implications for future research on teacher educators as technology leaders.

Pixels, Prose, and Literary Knowledge Production: Cultivating Aesthetic Literacies Through Audiovisual Essay Composing

by Trevor Aleo
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Preparing preservice and early-career teachers to navigate digital texts, platforms, and practices in K-12 classrooms is one of the most pressing issues facing teacher education programs today. Teacher educators must equip students with the disciplinary knowledge to teach conventional approaches to English language arts and the ability to incorporate digital, multimodal, and youth literacies into their practice, approaches often positioned as competing goals in the literature. This study explored an early-career teacher’s experience designing a learning ecology that invites students to take up aesthetic literacies from literary studies and youth interpretive communities to create audiovisual essays. Drawing on data from students’ think-aloud protocols and teacher interviews, the study examined the relationship between pedagogical moves, composing practices, and the affordances of audiovisual essays. Findings suggest that early-career teachers who engaged with audiovisual essays developed a more expansive vision of intellectual work and digital pedagogy. Additionally, the findings demonstrate how teachers might model disciplinary practices and playful uses of aesthetic forms to create hybrid interpretive communities and cultivate aesthetic literacies. This study contributes to scholarship attempting to synthesize disciplinary and youth literacies perspectives while offering insight into ways teacher educators can support early-career teachers in designing learning experiences that are scholarly, culturally sustaining, and justice oriented.

Examining Educators’ Social Media Use to Support Digital, Civically Engaged English Teaching

by Emily Plummer Catena & F. Blake Tenore
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This study examined the understudied phenomenon at the intersection of teachers’ social media (SM) use, civic engagement, and English disciplinary instruction. The authors invited 18 in-person preservice teachers and nine online in-service teachers enrolled in their Teaching Multiliteracies courses to engage in a think-aloud protocol (Carpenter, 2024) while reading/viewing SM and considering applications for civically engaged ELA teaching. Data generated included artifacts participants produced during the think-aloud exercise. The authors collected digital and hardcopy visual maps of students’ SM use, video recordings, and peer partner notes. Data were analyzed using open (Maxwell, 2013) and in-vivo coding (Miles, et al., 2014) and content analysis (Neuendorf, 2016; Saldaña, 2015). Findings are presented in three themes that emerged from the data. Teachers navigated their SM in ways that disrupted a personal-professional dichotomy associated with teachers’ SM use; teachers negotiated and reconciled their conceptualizations of “the local” across SM and their classrooms; and they effectively connected politics across scales in their imaginings of civically engaged ELA instruction. The paper concludes with implications and instructional recommendations for English teacher education to offer teachers necessary support for learning to teach with SM’s digital, networked texts.

CIVIC: Five Pillars for Using Artificial Intelligence in Social Studies Education

by Tina Heafner & Daniel Maxwell
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As generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) becomes increasingly integrated into K-12 education, it holds significant potential to enhance social studies instruction through personalized learning, inquiry-based exploration, and interactive simulations. However, the responsible and ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI) and GenAI in social studies requires a clear framework that aligns with the discipline’s emphasis on critical thinking, inclusivity, and civic engagement. This article introduces CIVIC, a framework of five pillars for using AI in social studies education: encouraging human-AI cointelligent partnerships in learning, ensuring responsible, inclusive, and equitable AI use, promoting the critical evaluation of AI-generated content, enhancing inquiry-based learning, and preparing for the future in the era of GenAI. Drawing from current literature and research, the CIVIC framework offers practical strategies for educators to incorporate AI and GenAI effectively into their classrooms while addressing challenges related to bias, data privacy, and the ethical implications of AI in historical and civic contexts. By following these guidelines, educators can leverage AI to support student engagement and learning while preparing students for the complexities of an AI-driven society.

AI-Integrated Instructional Design in Higher Education: A Systematic Exploration of Tools, Roles, and Challenges

by Yufeng Qian & Ragia Hassan
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Over the past few decades, technology-enhanced learning has positioned instructional design as a crucial catalyst for academic innovation within higher education. The emergence and rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) are now reshaping instructional design practices. This review study reveals a rapidly expanding ecosystem of AI tools that extend instructional design’s content generation, creativity, and analytics aspects. Yet, while AI enhances efficiency and scalability, this review also identifies growing concerns over the erosion of design intentionality, learner-centeredness, and pedagogical depth in the pursuit of automation. Importantly, this study argues that AI is no longer merely a supplementary, augmenting tool, but is becoming an embedded and cocreative partner within modern instructional design practice — signaling a paradigm shift from tool use to design partnership in the AI era. As AI reshapes higher education, instructional designers must exercise technology leadership — ethically steering rapid change and orchestrating evidence-based teaching, learning, and assessment.

Editorial: There’s an Elephant in the History Classroom: Rethinking GenAI Through Technocuriosity

by Amy Allen & David Hicks
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In this editorial, the authors explore how history educators are navigating generative AI (GenAI) in the classroom. Drawing on insights from a Summer Institute providing professional development about GenAI and the metaphor of Seven Blind Mice, they describe how teachers come to GenAI with partial understandings, conflicting emotions, and a shared desire to make sense of a rapidly evolving tool. Building on existing frameworks like technoskepticism and technoromanticism, they introduce technocuriosity: a conceptual and methodological stance rooted in situated experimentation, speculative ethics, and critical engagement. Rather than asking whether GenAI should be used, technocuriosity asks how it is being configured, what it makes possible, and who gets to shape its educational futures. They argue that GenAI is not just a tool but a figural, co-intelligent actor in classrooms and that history educators have a critical role to play in steering its development.