Teachers conversations during design of technology rich curriculum activities for early literacy

Boschman, F., McKenney, S. & Voogt (2013). Teachers conversations during design of technology rich curriculum activities for early literacy. Paper presentation at the European Association for Practitioner Research on Improving Learning (EAPRIL) Annual Conference. November 27-29, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland.Technology is steadily gaining more foothold in kindergarten practice and classrooms. As such, kindergarten teachers are challenged with how to integrate computers in such a way that they aid kindergartners in developing skills in various areas of development. Especially, technology may be used in a rich learning environment targeting the attainment of early literacy skills by kindergartners (Lankshear and Knobel, 2005; Van Scoter, 2008) TPACK has been conceptualized as the knowledge and skills related to technology integration in the classroom, which teachers develop when they collaborate on the design of learning material and instruction with technology (TPACK, Mishra and Koehler, 2005, 2008; Niess, 2011). Several studies found that teachers increased and gained TPACK by designing and implementing learning material (Mishra, Koehler and Yahya, 2007). TPACK represents a useful way of conceptualizing explicated reasoning during design of such beforementioned material, because it highlights how during such a task a teacher integrates knowledge and beliefs from pedagogy (p), early literacy (c) and technology (t) to shape knowledge and beliefs in any of the four compound domains (tp, tc, pc and tpck). Especially higher order inquiry processes such as analysis and planning are considered to aid a team in developing new knowledge and understanding, and thus might foster the development of TPACK in design teams

Assessing Teacher Beliefs about Early Literacy Curriculum Implementation

McKenney, S., Bradley, B., & Boschman, F. (2011, 8-12 April). Assessing Teacher Beliefs about Early Literacy Curriculum Implementation. Presentation at AERA annual meeting, New Orleans.Against the backdrop of growing international concern for a narrowing view of early literacy, this study was initiated to determine how teachers of four-year-olds view their task of fostering early literacy. This paper reports on the first steps to design and validate an instrument which captures teachers’ perceptions of: early literacy content goals; developmentally appropriate and effective pedagogical practices related to each content goal; and their own competencies to offer a suitable environment for developing early literacy. The content validity of the instrument was evaluated by an expert screening; the reliability and practicality of the instrument are being assessed through a pilot study involving 40 teachers from two countries; this paper reports on the findings from the first 20 teachers. Validation findings indicate that the instrument appears to be reliable. The findings from the pilot run show that teachers focus on decoding skills most; there is some attention to book orientation and understanding, and relatively little to the functions of written language

Bypassing the Incumbent: Leadership Tenure and Foreign Aid Channels

The traditional perception is that foreign aid provides leaders in recipient states access to nontax revenue, which incumbents may be able to manipulate in order to provide public or private goods as is required to maintain office. Recognizing this possibility, donors have been shifting away from direct government-to-government aid and toward bypass aid, administered by NGOs and civil society groups rather than the regime directly. Receiving aid through alternative channels is designed to increase aid’s effectiveness, yet it has potential implications for incumbent leaders who may have less ability to manipulate aid receipts to their benefit. In this paper, we argue that bypass aid should negatively affect leaders’ tenure, conditional on the political institutions in place. Using data on bypass aid from 2004 to 2017, we find evidence of a punishing effect and conclude that bypass aid is a particularly acute problem for leaders in authoritarian regimes. The findings imply that efficiency and stability may present a tradeoff for potential donors and that bypass aid may not be the panacea of the aid effectiveness movement. Traditionnellement, on considère les aides étrangères comme des recettes non fiscales, que les dirigeants des Ètats bénéficiaires peuvent employer pour fournir des biens publics ou privés, selon leurs besoins pour se maintenir au pouvoir. Admettant cette possibilité, les donateurs aident de moins en moins les gouvernements directement. Ils préfèrent contourner les régimes en place, en donnant plutôt aux ONG et aux groupes de la société civile. La réception d’aides par des canaux alternatifs vise à en accroître l’efficacité. Néanmoins, les dirigeants en fonction pourraient aussi avoir par conséquent moins de possibilités de manipulation des aides reçues à leur avantage. Dans cet article, nous affirmons que les aides qui contournent les régimes ont un effet négatif sur l’exercice des fonctions d’un dirigeant, selon les institutions politiques en place. Entre 2004 et 2017, les données sur ces aides révèlent un effet de punition. Aussi, nous concluons qu’elles constituent un problème particulièrement important pour les dirigeants des régimes autoritaires. Les conclusions suggèrent que l’efficacité et la stabilité pourraient représenter une contrepartie pour les donateurs potentiels. Les aides qui contournent les gouvernements ne seraient donc peut-vˆtre pas la panacée du mouvement prônant l’efficacité des aides. Tradicionalmente, se percibe que la ayuda exterior proporciona a los lideres de los estados receptores acceso a ingresos no tributarios, los cuales pueden ser manipulados por los dirigentes en el poder con el fin de proveer bienes públicos o privados según sea necesario para mantener el cargo. Los donantes, siendo conscientes de esta posibilidad, se han ido alejando de la ayuda directa entre gobiernos y se han ido inclinando más hacia la ayuda indirecta, administrada por las ONG y por grupos de la sociedad civil en lugar de directamente por el régimen. La recepción de las ayudas a través de canales alternativos está diseñada para aumentar la efectividad de la ayuda, sin embargo, tiene algunas implicaciones potenciales para dirigentes en el poder que podrían tener una menor capacidad para manipular las ayudas recibidas para su propio beneficio. En este artículo, argumentamos que la ayuda indirecta debería afectar negativamente a la permanencia de los dirigentes en el poder, condicionada por las instituciones políticas existentes. Usando datos de las ayudas indirectas entre 2004-2017, encontramos evidencias de un efecto de castigo y concluimos que la ayuda indirecta es un problema particularmente grave para los lideres de los regímenes autoritarios. Las conclusiones implican que la eficiencia y la estabilidad obtenidas pueden producir una compensación para los potenciales donantes, y que la ayuda indirecta podría no ser la panacea del movimiento a favor de la efectividad de la ayuda

Teacher design knowledge and beliefs for technology enhanced learning materials in early literacy: Four portraits

Teacher engagement in the design of technology-rich learning material is beneficial to teacher learning and may create a sense of ownership, both of which are conducive to bringing about innovation with technology. During collaborative design, teachers draw on various types of knowledge and beliefs: know-what (facts, information); know-why (principles, beliefs) and know-how (ways to shape learning materials and activities). The goal of the present study was to understand the nature of individual teacher contributions during the collaborative design of learning materials and activities for early literacy. Through interviews, teacher knowledge and beliefs related to use of technology for early literacy were investigated. Thereafter, teachers collaboratively designed learning materials and activities for use with PictoPal (a technology-rich environment for early literacy). Analysis of design talk that occurred during the design of PictoPal resources showed that teachers differ in the kinds of design knowledge they explicate during design. Of the four teachers, two teachers were inclined mostly to express know-how, one teacher proportionally expressed more know-what, and one teacher more know-why. Given the variety in knowledge and beliefs among teachers, practical implications for supporting such diversity during collaborative design are discussed

Collaborative design of technology-enhanced learning:What can we learn from teacher talk?

The collaborative design of technology-enhanced learning is seen as a practical and effective professional development strategy, especially because teachers learn from each other as they share and apply knowledge. But how teacher design team participants draw on and develop their knowledge has not yet been investigated. This qualitative investigation explored the nature and content of teacher conversations while designing technology-enhanced learning for early literacy. To do so, four sub-studies were undertaken, each focusing on different aspects of design talk within six teams of teachers. Findings indicate that non-supported design team engagement is unlikely to yield professional development; basic process support can enable in-depth conversations; subject matter support is used and affects design-decisions; visualization of classroom enactment triggers the use of teachers’ existing integrated technological pedagogical content knowledge; and individual teacher contributions vary in type. Implications for teacher design team members and facilitators are discussed