Elementary teachers’ reflections on their use of digital instructional resources in four educational contexts: Belgium, Finland, Sweden, and U.S.

Abstract

We examine teachers’ reflections on incorporating digital instructional resources (DIRs) into their mathematics teaching. We analyze qualitative interviews with 39 elementary school teachers from four educational contexts: Belgium, Finland, Sweden, and the U.S., using a framework proposed by Pepin et al. (Int J Math Educ 46: 645-661, 2017) to consider opportunities for DIRs to shift elements of teaching and learning in potentially transformative ways. Teachers described three major domains of teaching practice where they used DIRs: (a) class instruction, (b) student practice, and (c) professional participation. We found that teachers readily used DIRs during class instruction and to support student practice, guided by their existing instructional goals, which were shaped in part by education structures in the context. Few teachers incorporated DIRs in ways that transformed typical learning spaces. We also found that DIRs impacted several aspects of teachers’ professional practices, including professional learning and collaboration. In particular, participation in social media and resource sharing altered the nature of and ways teachers participated in their own professional learning. We assert that efforts to use DIRs to stimulate change need to begin with an understanding of teachers’ current practices and use our findings to identify three potential levers that might support movement toward change.

Appendix A: Online student facing platforms

Region	DIR	Student Guidance	Customization	Content description
FI	TT online	Textbook	Levels of difficulty	Curriculum program
	YN online	Textbook	None	Curriculum program
	Bingel	Videos	Adaptive, Task assignment and reports	Aligned to national core curriculum
	Ville	None	Adaptive, Task assignment and reports	Skills practice
	10Monkeys	None	Reports	Skills practice
	Ekapeli	Modeling	Adaptive learning path	Skills practice
	Vektor	None	None	Cognitive development
FL	Bingel	Videos	Adaptive, Task assignment and reports	Aligned with NP
	Gynzy	None	Adaptive, Task assignment and reports	Skills practice
	Ambrasoft	None	Adaptive, Task assignment and reports	Skills practice
SW	FM online	Textbook	Levels of difficulty	Curriculum program
	Bingel	Videos	Adaptive, Task assignment and reports	Aligned with MD
	Edqu.se	Videos, feedback on errors	Task assignment/creation, reports (with subscription)	Aligned to national core curriculum
	Studi.se	Videos	None	Aligned to national core curriculum
	Nomp	None	Task assignment/creation, reports (with subscription)	Aligned to national core curriculum
	Multi	None	Adaptive	Skills practice
	King of Math	None	Adaptive	Skills practice
	Elevspel	None	None	Skills practice
	Klockgården	None	None	Skills practice
	Gruvan	None	None	Skills practice
	Affären	None	None	Skills practice
	10Monkeys	None	Reports	Skills practice
US	EM: ConnectEd	Interactive textbook	None	Curriculum program
	Zearn	Videos, hints, scaffolded support	Reports	Aligned with EK
	Compass Pathblazer2	Hints, explanations	Learning path, task assignment	Aligned with CCSS
	First in Math	Explanations	Adaptive, task assignment	Aligned with CCSS
	IXL	Explanations	Adaptive, task assignment and reports (with subscription)	Aligned with CCSS
	Study Island	Videos, explanations	Adaptive, task assignment and reports	Aligned with CCSS
	Dreambox	None	Learning path, reports	Aligned with CCSS
	SumDog	None	Reports	Skills practice
	BigBrainz	None	Reports	Skills practice