Degrees of Change: Understanding Academics Experiences with a Shift to Flexible Technology-Enhanced Learning in Initial Teacher Education

The implementation of technology enhanced learning in higher education is often associated with changes to academic work. This article reports on a study of staff experiences with curriculum development and teaching in multiple modes of blended and online learning in a Bachelor of Education degree. The findings indicate that the changes experienced by these teacher educators were significant but not wholesale. More specifically, the findings highlight three particular areas of change that impacted on their role as teacher educators: changed pedagogical practices, particularly in staff-student communication, interaction and relationship building with students; increasing workloads associated with flexible delivery; and changed needs for staff capacity building related to issues of quality in technology enhanced learning

Supporting New Academics’ Use of Student Centred Strategies in Traditional University Teaching

Despite the perceived advantages of student centred learning (SCL) in higher education, novice teaching academics’ attempts to implement such approaches may be thwarted by a lack of experience with teaching in general and with SCL in particular, difficulties locating suitable practical advice on SCL, and the demands of early career academic workloads. This article seeks to provide practical assistance to teaching academics seeking to implement SCL into traditional teaching environments. It synthesizes current literature to provide an overview of 3 broad SCL strategies: inquiry learning, concept checks and just-in-time teaching. Key considerations for implementing each of these strategies are identified and the authors discuss four observations about the implementation of SCL, in context

Wikis as open educational resources in higher education: Overcoming challenges, realizing potential

Open wikis such as WikiEducator (WE) (http://www.wikieducator.org/Main_Page) lie at the intersection of two significant applications of learning technology: open educational resources (OERs), which are freely available materials that can be shared, modified, adapted, and reused in diverse learning contexts; and collaborative authoring environments. This chapter presents a case study of the use of open wikis in a single online postgraduate course in the College of Education at Massey University (New Zealand). The case discussion includes an illustration of the use of open wiki technology at WikiEducator within the course from two different points of view: the use of wikis as a presentation tool by the course teaching staff; and as a production tool by learners seeking to create OERs as part of an instructional design project. The chapter also links the challenges and opportunities associated with these points of view to wider possibilities and pressures attending the terrain in which contemporary higher education is situated

Real-time coaching in initial teacher education: a design-based approach

This article reports on a design-based research investigation of Real-Time Coaching in an initial teacher education program. The findings highlight three broad themes in the data: positive learner experiences which confirm elements of the Real-Time Coaching design, beneficial learning outcomes which highlight the potential of Real-Time Coaching in teacher education and negative user experiences which inform ongoing improvement of the design. In particular, the findings confirm the value of Real-Time Coaching as a means to accelerate skills development and promote affective learning as part of professional learning in the teacher education course described herein