Quality teaching and learning in the educational context: Teacher pedagogy to support learners of a modern digital society

National and international research has been undertaken on the effects of oneto- one (1:1) laptop programs in education, however, there is minimal literature available on the impacts of such a program on students’ achievements of learning outcomes in the Australian primary school setting. Therefore, this paper reports on the findings of an honours inquiry, which investigated whether a 1:1 laptop program could allow students to engage in higher-order thinking when participating in the laptop-based tasks designed by their teachers during a COGS unit of work. Through exploring the findings of this research study, an understanding can develop about the use of laptops as tools for learning in the educational context and allow an insight into whether laptops can enable quality teaching and learning to occur in Australian primary school classrooms. It is imperative that teachers develop quality teaching and learning experiences that allow their students to actively participate in their learning and engage in higher-order thinking. Thus, this paper draws on a number of sources such as the New South Wales Quality Teaching Model and the New South Wales Professional Teaching Standards to highlight the complexity of teachers’ work and the importance of planning for learning in a 21st century digital society

Exploring the influences on university teachers’ decisions to integrate technology in teaching

The rapid growth of technologies in modern society has brought significant changes to teaching and learning. In higher education, there is an expectation that university teachers will integrate technologies into their teaching to enhance student learning and study. Technologies in higher education have provided teachers with many choices in how to design and implement their teaching practice. Whilst university teachers can use technologies in varying ways in online and face-to-face environments, little empirical evidence has explored in depth how and why teachers integrate technologies into their teaching. Previous research has identified factors that influence university teachers’ technology integration, such as teacher knowledge, self-efficacy and ‘technology value’ (Benson & Ward, 2013, Chen, Liao, Chang, Hung & Chang, 2019; Khan, 2011; Mishra & Yahya, 2007; Horvitz, Beach, Anderson & Xia, 2015; Robinia & Anderson, 2010; Ajjan & Hartshorne, 2008); however, these studies have mainly examined these factors in isolation. The purpose of this study was to explore university teachers’ integration of technology in teaching by investigating the influences of knowledge, self-efficacy and technology value in a single study addressing how and why university teachers integrate technologies in different academic contexts. A qualitative case study was conducted within one Australian university. Seven university teachers across different academic contexts in Education, Psychology, Information Technologies and Arts were interviewed and observed for one teaching semester. The research was guided by the question: In what ways does a university teacher’s TPCK, self-efficacy, and value of technology integration influence their use of technology in their teaching? The theoretical framework underpinning this research drew on three constructs to account for various factors that influence technology integration that have been identified in the literature: Mishra and Koehler’s (2006) Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) Framework, Bandura’s (1977) Theory of Self-Efficacy and Eccles et al.’s (1983) Expectancy-Value Theory. The TPCK Framework was used to conceptualise the technological, pedagogical and content knowledge teachers possess and how these forms of knowledge interact to enable the effective integration of technology in teaching. Bandura\u27s Theory of Self-Efficacy framed teachers’ levels of selfefficacy when completing specific technology-based tasks. Eccles et al.’s Expectancy-Value Theory helped to account for the value that university teachers place on the use of technology in their teaching

Having a go: Looking at teachers\u27 experience of risk-taking in technology integration

Risk is an integral part of change. Technology-related change in teachers\u27 practice is guided by confidence engaging in and beliefs about integration. However, it is also affected by how teachers feel about taking risks, experimenting and change. This paper presents a theoretical framework of affect and emotion to understand how teachers experience and take risks in technology integration. The emphasis of this approach is on how individual teachers cope with risk and how it relates to learning. To illustrate the use of this approach, one teachers\u27 experience with technology integration over 3 years in an Australian one-to-one laptop program is presented. Analysis of their experience using technology and experimenting through emotions of anxiety and happiness reveals the development of specific coping strategies to support integration. Successful coping strategies resulted in decreased concern about using new technologies in teaching and increasingly positive beliefs about student learning through technologies. Implications for supporting change and experimentation are discussed