Formative e-assessment: Practitioner cases

This paper reports on one aspect of the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)-funded project 'Scoping a vision of formative e-assessment', namely on cases of formative e-assessment developed iteratively with the UK education practitioner community. The project, which took place from June 2008 – January 2009, aimed to identify current theories and practices relating to formative assessment of learning where technologies play a key role. The project aimed to scope the 'domain' of formative e-assessment, by developing cases of practice and identifying key formative processes within them, which are affected by the use of technologies. From this analysis, patterns were extracted to inform future software design. A discussion of the key issues emerging from the review of the literature on formative e-assessment, a full account of the project methodology – the design pattern methodology – as well as a critical discussion of the findings – namely the patterns and the role of technology – are the focus of a separate paper (see Daly et al (forthcoming). This paper documents how cases of formative e-assessment were developed during the project by a collaborative methodology involving practitioners from a range of post-16 education contexts. The cases were analysed with reference to key theoretical perspectives on formative assessment, particularly the work of Black and Wiliam (2009). In addition, Laurillard's Conversational Framework (2002, 2007) was used to locate practices of formative assessment within a wider concept of learning and teaching involving technologies, although a detailed discussion of the latter is not within the scope of this paper1

Narrative and learning with Web 2.0 technologies: towards a research agenda

This paper investigates the impact of Web. 2.0 technologies on the ways learning can be conceived of as a narrative process within contemporary contexts, using blogs as an illustrative example. It is premised on the concept of narrative as a way in which individuals re-present and organize experience in order to learn from it and make it sharable with others within social contexts. The first part of the paper offers a theoretical analysis of the role of narrative in the social construction of knowledge by the ways it enables users of Web 2.0 technologies to participate meaningfully in the exchange of experiences and ideas. The second part of the paper offers a ‘situated’ analysis of the narrative practices engaged with by users of blogs. A ‘narrative trail’ is used to provide a contextualized instance of the narrative practices which are involved. The paper concludes by examining the research issues which are raised and suggests a research agenda which is needed to explore Web 2.0 technologies as social utilities affecting knowledge production, in which the adaptation of narrative theory is a central feature

Pedagogic approaches to using technology for learning: literature review

This literature review is intended to address and support teaching qualifications and CPD through identifying new and emerging pedagogies; "determining what constitutes effective use of technology in teaching and learning; looking at new developments in teacher training qualifications to ensure that they are at the cutting edge of learning theory and classroom practice and making suggestions as to how teachers can continually update their skills." - Page 4

Pedagogy and Information Technology Integration, As Strategies for Improving Academic Performance in Stem Subjects: A Critical Literature Review

Globally, the teaching of STEM subjects has been construed as a plausible solution to solving societal problems ranging from economic to social development issues. In order to realize these benefits, there is need to focus on the pedagogy in teaching of STEM subjects. Besides in 21st Century use of IT has become both enabler and a driver of every part of life including education. As such this study purposes to explore and synthesize major trends of research on stem subjects’ pedagogy and IT integration and academic performance. The systematic critical review methodology for this study included perusal of quality journal articles related to topic of study in the last three years. However, in cases of absence of more recent studies, collection of information from previous years was allowed. The main search key themes included: Pedagogical beliefs and attitudes, IT access and integration, Skills capacity interventions, Cloud digital content and academic and Performance in STEM Subjects The selected journals include but not limited to Emerald, Taylor and Francis, JSTOR, EBSCOhost and Wiley Online. Study findings show varying propositions regarding teacher pedagogy aspects and integration of IT in STEM subjects. Particularly teacher beliefs and attitudes seem to have implication on probability of IT integration in STEM teaching; while IT access, skills capacity interventions, access to cloud digital content pose a challenge in teachers’ pedagogical practices which in turn affect the learner performance. Despite the comprehensive literature search and review across geographical regions within limits of time and access, it is clear that the study findings prepare ground for further research and possibility of capacity building interventions. KEY WORDS: Pedagogical beliefs, IT access and integration, Skills capacity interventions, Cloud digital content and academic Performance in STEM Subjects DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-21-21 Publication date:July 31st 202

Changing teacher beliefs: moving towards constructionism

Open peer commentary on the article “Beyond Technocentrism: Supporting Constructionism in the Classroom” by Karen Brennan. Upshot: If we are to move beyond technocentricism, we need not only to equip teachers with pedagogical approaches but to support a change in their beliefs, values and assumptions. While factors such as assessment practices and institutional norms can limit the impact of professional development by considering the ways in which teachers form their teacher-identity and the factors that can motivate change, we can begin to develop approaches to professional development that can have lasting impact on teachers and their learners

Scoping a vision for formative e-assessment: a project report for JISC

Assessment is an integral part of teaching and learning. If the relationship between teaching and learning were causal, i. e. if students always mastered the intended learning outcomes of a particular sequence of instruction, assessment would be superfluous. Experience and research suggest this is not the case: what is learnt can often be quite different from what is taught. Formative assessment is motivated by a concern with the elicitation of relevant information about student understanding and / or achievement, its interpretation and an exploration of how it can lead to actions that result in better learning. In the context of a policy drive towards technology-enhanced approaches to teaching and learning, the question of the role of digital technologies is key and it is the latter on which this project particularly focuses. The project and its deliverables have been informed by recent and relevant literature, in particular recent work by Black andIn this work, they put forward a framework which suggests that assessment for learning their term for formative assessment can be conceptualised as consisting of a number of aspects and five keystrategies. The key aspects revolve around the where the learner is going, where the learner is right now and how she can get there and examines the role played by the teacher, peers and the learner. Language: English Keywords: assessments, case studies, design patterns, e-assessmen

Professional development of technology integration into teaching:the perceptions of the providers of in-service education

Abstract. Using technology in teaching has been increasing and teachers’ challenge is to maintain their professional competencies in digital pedagogy. The providers of in-service education facilitate teachers to develop in technological as well as in pedagogical skills. In Finland, continuing professional education is a part of teachers’ work, but research literature shows that a great part of teachers never participates to in-service education programmes. Therefore, it is imperative to study how to make continuing professional development efficient in order for the teachers to gain from it as much as they can. The aim of this master’s Thesis is to find out how the providers of in-service education perceive the use of technology in education. This entails the perception of what ICT skills and technologies are beneficial in teaching. The other central aim is to find out how they perceive teachers’ continuing professional development in technological skills and how quality in-service education can promote them. The theoretical framework used in the present thesis focusses on the theories and literature concerning professional development, both in the general respect as well as from the viewpoint of technological competencies. In addition, the research uses the Technological-pedagogical content knowledge framework (TPACK) as an analytical tool. The analysis of this study will be carried by theory directed content analysis. The research material has been collected by electric questionnaire and an interview. The material consists of 7 participants’ responses. Technology was seen in conflicting light. On one hand, technology offers many possibilities in diversifying teaching and the development of technology was perceived to drastically change teachers’ profession. On the other hand, the results corroborated findings about the increased demands of teachers’ to be experts of digital pedagogy. They are expected to be motivated and to take responsibility in developing their competencies as well as learning on their own time. Teachers were perceived to be slow in responding to changes caused by rapidly developing technology, yet they were expected to keep up with it. The participants are themselves experts in digital pedagogies, with backgrounds in the field of education as well as deep personal interest towards technology, which may benefit in focussing the training to pedagogies rather than specific technological skills. They provide both short and long-term programmes, the latter of which offers the most advantages.Tiivistelmä. Tietotekniikan käyttö opetuksessa on lisääntynyt ja opettajien haasteena on pitää huolta ammatillisesta osaamisestaan tieto- ja viestintäteknologian hyödyntämisessä opetuskäytössä. Täydennyskouluttajat auttavat opettajia kehittymään pedagogiikan ja tietotekniikan keinoin. Suomessa täydennyskouluttautuminen on osa opettajan työtä, mutta tutkimukset osoittavat, että osa opettajista ei osallistu lainkaan täydennyskoulutukseen. Tämän vuoksi on tärkeää tutkia, kuinka täydennyskoulutuksesta saadaan tehokasta, jotta opettajat saavat täydennyskoulutuksesta mahdollisimman paljon hyötyä. Tämän pro gradu -tutkielman tarkoituksena on selvittää täydennyskouluttajien näkemyksiä siitä, miten tietotekniikkaa hyödynnetään opetuksessa. Tämä pitää sisällään käsitykset siitä, miten tietotekniset taidot ja tietotekniset laitteet auttavat opetuksessa. Toinen keskeinen tutkimuksen tavoite on selvittää, kuinka he näkevät opettajien ammatillisen kehityksen tietotekniikan opetuskäytössä ja kuinka laadukas täydennyskoulutus voi tätä edistää. Teoreettisessa viitekehyksessä tarkastellaan opettajien ammatillisen kehittymisen teoriaa ja tutkimuksia sekä yleisesti että TVT-taitojen kehittymisen kannalta. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa perehdytään teknologian opetuskäytön teoriaan käyttämällä apuna teknologispedagogisen sisältötiedon viitekehystä, eli TPACK-mallia. Tämän tutkimuksen analyysi toteutetaan laadullisen teoriaohjaavan sisällönanalyysin keinoin. Tutkimuksen aineistonkeruu on toteutettu sähköisellä kyselylomakkeella ja yhdellä puolistrukturoidulla haastattelulla. Aineisto koostuu 7 täydennyskouluttajan vastauksista. Teknologia nähtiin tuloksissa ristiriitaisessa valossa. Teknologia tarjoaa monia mahdollisuuksia monipuolistaa opetusta ja teknologian kehitys katsottiin mullistavan opettajan tehtävät tulevaisuudessa. Toisaalta tutkimuksen tuloksissa näkyy opettajien lisääntyneet vaatimukset olla digitaalisen pedagogiikan osaajia. Heidän odotetaan olevan motivoituneita ja ottavan vastuuta oman ammattitaitonsa kehittämisessä sekä heidän odotettiin oppivan omalla ajallaan. Opettajia pidettiin ammattikuntana hitaana reagoimaan teknologian aiheuttamiin muutoksiin, mutta samalla heitä odotettiin pysyvän teknologian kehityksen tahdissa. Vastaajat itse ovat digitaalisen pedagogiikan asiantuntijoita, joilla on sekä kasvatustieteellinen tausta että syvä kiinnostus teknologiaa kohtaan, mistä saattaa olla etua täydennyskoulutuksen kohdistamisessa pedagogiikkaan irtonaisten digitaitojen sijaan. He tarjoavat sekä lyhyt- että pitkäaikaisia koulutuksia, joista tutkimustiedon valossa pitkäaikaiset koulutukset tarjoavat eniten hyötyä