Building an accountability system for teacher education: An actor-network approach

With an increasing public concern about higher education's performance, teacher education programs must be able to prove that they generate high caliber teachers. To address this concern, a Web-based Accountability Model was established for a teacher education program. This model comprised of theories of constructive learning and performance assessment and had three integrative components: electronic portfolio, performance assessment, and accountability center. The model was designed to improve teacher candidates' learning and assessment, and program's performance. Based on this model, an Education Accountability System was implemented and evaluated. The system has proven useful in practice.;The iterative and interventionistic features of action research made it an appropriate method for this study. A theoretical framework for Information Systems Development was established to guide modeling and system development in two action research cycles. This framework used Actor-Network Theory and Structuration Theory. Action research was operationlized by applying actor-network analysis to identify stakeholders and implementing interventions. The action research study demonstrated the usefulness of this framework to develop complex information systems in unstructured problem situations where the objectives were unclear, while user acceptance was important.;The empirical results showed that the model and the system enabled teacher candidates to be more reflective, encouraged candidates to conduct effective self-assessment, and enabled the teacher education program to effectively conduct assessment for continual improvement. Major contributions of this action research study were three-fold: the new Web-based Accountability Model, the novel Education Accountability System, and a theoretical framework for Information Systems Development.