Curriculum enactment customizations as a catalyst for teacher learning

Researchers often design robust professional development to support the introduction of educational technology curricula. These programs include summer workshops as well as reflective teacher practice meetings conducted during the school year. While this support may be effective in changing teacher practice with gains in student achievement, the classroom enactment period itself is often overlooked as an opportunity for additional reflection and rapid customization (modification, deletion, or addition) of core activities. In addition, some authors note that as robust university support fades, teachers begin using pre-support enactment preparation routines that may undermine university introduced reforms. As universities introduce technology-based curricular interventions, they must understand this near-enactment curricular customization period to more efficiently apply professional development and improve the prospects for long-term adoption of reforms.;This dissertation investigates two data sets of curricular customization patterns during teacher enactments of the Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE) educational technology. In the first longitudinal study. I follow two teachers over a three year period. The data includes transcripts of planning meetings and researcher observations of teachers as they use educational technology in their classrooms. The teachers show a preference for using direct observation of student progress during enactment to guide the daily modification, deletion, or addition of project activities in response to emergent student learning needs.;From the customization characteristics, I develop a model for teacher near-enactment customization of curricula. I then use semi-structured interviews and classroom observations to test and refine the model for a second set of five teachers as they enact a WISE project during an additional one-year study. I conclude by developing educational technology research dimensions for future research and propose the movement toward more complete research agendas that include analysis of the opportunities for technology supported professional development that complement the observed near-enactment curricular customization routines.