A case study of developing ICT-supported pedagogy through a collegial practice transfer process

Peer reviewe

A community of teachers: Using Activity Theory to investigate the implementation of ICTE in a remote Indigenous school

In 2001-2002, an innovative project entitled Reach In-Reach Out has been conducted in Far North Queensland. Its aim was to use telecommunications and Internet tools to facilitate communication between the children of Lockhart River who attend secondary school in such centres as Cairns, Townsville and Herberton and their families. This study was the first (of three) to investigate the impact of this project. Its focus is on the teachers of Lockart River State School and the changes made to their practice by the implementation of the project. The study described in this paper was conducted in Lockhart River which is situated on Kanthanumpu (Southern Kuuku Ya'u) land in Far North Queensland. The current population is estimated between 650 (Education Queensland, 2001a) and 800 (Lockhart River Land and Sea Management Agency, 2001) residents. The student population of Lockhart River State School in 2001was 26 (Kindy), 105 (Primary) and 30 (Alternate secondary/VET) programs) (Education Queensland, 2001a). At the end of 1999, the secondary school of Lockhart River was closed following a community decision to do so. This necessitated the majority of post-primary students having to leave Lockhart River to continue their education at boarding school. At the beginning of 2002, 38 students left the Lockhart River Community to attend boarding schools (and 8 remained to take part in the Alternate Secondary/VET program offered at the school). Table 1 details the secondary enrolments of Lockhart River students from 1998 to 2001, including the period covered by this study (2001)

Triads, third spaces and the activity of school-based mentoring

Traditionally pre-service and supervising teachers and tertiary educators have considered professional experience to be an invaluable component of teacher preparation. However, little has changed over the years in terms of the acknowledgement of, or provision of support structures for this process. Even though effective teaching has long been associated with effective mentoring, professional experience continues to be a highly variable event for its participants. Mentoring of pre-service teachers demands a specific skill set that must be developed over time and is best situated in a community of practice and this professional work of educative mentoring is both an opportunity and a challenge for supervising teachers. This case study examines the influence of a mentoring course which was concurrently delivered on-site during a professional experience placement. Activity theory with its focus on contradictions and tensions, has been used to analyse the mentoring practices, perceptions and attitudes of the supervising teachers. Carefully selected artefacts including a weekly reflective diary, the final professional experience report and a semi-structured post placement interview, have been examined and coded to identify key mentoring practices. Five key themes emerged from the data with the opportunity for collegial sharing and peer mentoring being the most significant overall

Teachers’ professional development for ICT integration: towards a reciprocal relationship between research and practice

Teachers in the 21st century are facing new challenges as a result of the expanding possibilities of ICT integration in every aspect of the school milieu. Studies have shown the potential of teacher professional development (TPD) that is tailored to local conditions as well as global components and takes advantage of mutual support among teachers, as well as modeling of effective practices. The goal of the paper is to consider the issue of TPD with reference to the usage of ICT as a lever for educational change in a systemic manner, based on the application of local as well as international research. This paper will synthesize some key issues and challenges for TPD in the ICT-saturated 21st century, illustrated in four cases presented herein, which synthesize elements of practice and theory. Based on the literature and the four case studies, we suggest a conceptual model for identifying and evaluating TPD practices using ICT as a lever for educational change and innovation, accompanied by research aimed to develop TPD models. We include suggestions for more effectively linking research to practice and will lay out possible research directions, as a means of facilitating evidence-based decisions and policies

TTA school-based research consortium initiative, the evaluation, final report

This is the final report of the evaluation of th School-Based Research Consortium Initiative which ran in England from 1998 to 2001. The initiative was sponsored via a public/private partnership between the Teacher Training Agency (TTA), a UK Government agency, and the Centre for British Teachers (CfBT), a private not-for-profit company. The aim of the initiative was to create local infrastructures of support and action for teachers to engage ‘in and with’ research. Those infrastructures were made up of consortia, consisting in each case of a small number of schools together with a university department of education and at least one local education authority (LEA). Over the three years that it ran, the initiative spawned a considerable range and volume of research activities, including peer observation of teaching, peer review of videos of teaching, interview-based study, surveys measuring such things as rewards and sanctions in the classroom. In addition to well-developed teacher-university collaborations and some joint work with local education authorities, there were many examples of teacher-teacher collaboration (some of it between different schools), and also times when teachers and pupils worked together to devise, carry out or interpret research activity. In practice, the initiative created an environment in which it was possible to develop new research relationships across a range of partners, rather than merely transfer the locus of research to schools. Three aspects of teacher experience of the initiative are important to highlight. The first was the overwhelming testimony of teachers that the value of the initiative for them was the rediscovery of their professional confidence in a climate of low trust accountability, characterised by constant monitoring, target setting and bureaucratic demands. The second was the growth of familiarity with research practices that teachers gained through working collaboratively with their peers, with pupils, and with colleagues from the university. The third was how the process of research itself was necessarily situated in teachers’ own practices

The relationship between policy-making processes and e-learning policy discourses in higher education institutions in South Africa

This study offered an explanatory critique of the implications of policy-making processes on policy discourses. Its objective was to understand how policy-making processes affect institutional e-learning policy outcomes in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in South Africa. The study analysed the conceptualisation and design of institutional e-learning policies in three universities.The case-by-case analysis for this study used a qualitative post-structuralist research methodology associated with case study research. This method provided deep insights and intimate knowledge of the individual cases which formed an important basis for cross-comparisons to be made within and across cases, to draw a relationship between policy-making processes and e-learning policy discourses. Interviews were held with stakeholders who formulated e-learning policies at the three universities. The aim of interviews was to understand how the policies were formulated; to explore the factors impacting policy formulation; the composition of actors; and how policy issues were framed. The methodological and analytical lens of the study was based on the Stakeholder theory and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The Stakeholder theory was used to analyse the policy-making processes, whilst CDA was used to analyse the policies. The analysis focused on the assumptions inherent in the views of policymakers on the nature and role of technology in education. Considering power relations that are implicit in policy-making processes, the study examined the competing discourses found in the policy texts and the different frames used by policy actors in framing the policy problem. The aim was to understand the socio-cultural, political and pedagogical implications of these discourses on teaching and learning with technologies in HEIs. This was achieved by comparing the views of policymakers with the discourses found in e-learning policy texts. The study revealed that institutional policies are the products of complex inter-temporal exchanges among stakeholders who participate in the policy-making process. The features of the resultant policies depend on the interaction, interests and power of agents who are involved in the policy-making process. The interaction of agents is also hampered or facilitated by institutional structures, procedures and processes in place, including the institutional culture. Therefore, the ability of the stakeholders involved in the policy-making process to achieve cooperative outcomes plays a central role. An institution that facilitates interaction among policy-making agents is likely to generate policies that are adaptable to the environment, and that are less subject to changes. Contrary to this, an institution that does not encourage cooperation will produce a policy which results in few changes in practice. Whether the policy-making process facilitates or hinders cooperation will depend on some key features of this process, such as the number of actors involved, the level of involvement in the process, how they engage in dialogue and their ideological beliefs on the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in this context

Education Workforce Initiative: Initial Research

The purpose of this initial research is to offer evidenced possibilities in the key areas of education workforce roles, recruitment, training, deployment and leadership, along with suggested areas for further research to inform innovation in the design and strengthening of the public sector education workforce. The examples described were identified through the process outlined in the methodology section of this report, whilst we recognise that separation of examples from their context is problematic – effective innovations are highly sensitive to context and uncritical transfer of initiatives is rarely successful. The research aims to support the Education Workforce Initiative (EWI) in moving forward with engaging education leaders and other key actors in radical thinking around the design and strengthening of the education workforce to meet the demands of the 21st century. EWI policy recommendations will be drawn from a number of country level workforce reform activities and research activity associated with the production of an Education Workforce Report (EWR). This research has informed the key questions, approach and structure of the EWR as outlined in the Education Workforce Report Proposal. Issues pertaining to teaching and learning in primary and secondary education are at the centre of the research reported here; the focus is on moving towards schools as safe places where all children/ young people are able to engage in meaningful activity. The majority of the evidence shared here relates to teachers and school leaders; evidence on learning support staff, district officials and the wider education workforce is scant. Many of the issues examined are also pertinent to the early childhood care and education sector but these are being examined in depth by the Early Childhood Workforce Initiative. Resourcing for the Education Workforce was out of scope of this initial research but the EC recognises, as outlined in the Learning Generation Report, that provision of additional finance is a critical factor in achieving a sustainable, strong and well-motivated education workforce, particularly but not exclusively, in low and middle income countries. The next stage of EWI work will consider the relative costs of current initiatives and modelling of the cost implications of proposed reforms. EWI aims to complement the work on teacher policy design and teacher career frameworks (including salary structures) being undertaken by other bodies and institutions such as Education International, the International Task Force on Teachers for 2030 and the Teachers’ Alliance, most particularly by bringing a focus on school and district leadership, the role of Education Support Professionals (ESPs) and inter-agency working

Development of techno-pedagogy approach learning model to improve digital literation of UPN "Veteran" Jawa Timur’s students

The study objectives were 1) to describe the level of digital literacy of UPN "Veteran" Jawa Timur's  students; and 2) Developing a techno-pedagogy approach to improve digital literacy of UPN "Veteran" Jawa Timur's students. This research innovation is developing of a techno-pedagogy approach model and arranging a techno-pedagogy approach to improve students' digital literacy. This innovation is based on the idea of a pedagogical model which is an important aspect in achieving learning goals in the world of education. In the first study objective, quantitative methods are used, the second research objective uses qualitative methods. Research location at UPN "Veteran" Jawa Timur. This option is to provide insight, knowledge, and solutions to integrated pedagogical problems in learning amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Data were collected from questionnaires and in-depth interviews. Among the data needed are online skills; motivation; online video/audio; internet discussion; supporting elements;  ict abilities; blended learning models; teaching contents; frequencies of face-to-face meeting; regulation; culture