Technology Integration and High Possibility Classrooms

Building from TPACK

Jane Hunter

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781134997176
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Technology Integration and High Possibility Classrooms provides a fresh vision for education in schools based on new research from in-depth studies of technology integration in exemplary teachers' classrooms. This timely book meets the demand for more examples of effective technology integration by providing a new conceptual understanding that builds on the popular and highly influential theoretical framework of technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK).

Technology Integration and High Possibility Classrooms details four rich case studies set in different contexts with students ranging from age 6 to 16. Each case study articulates in very practical terms what characterizes exemplary teachers' knowledge of technology integration and how that is applied in classrooms. This highly accessible book clearly demonstrates how theory informs practice and provides new possibilities for learning in twenty-first-century schools.

1
Global Policy and Education Trends in Technology Integration in Schools

It is the pedagogy that matters. Don’t get carried away with thinking that you have to know how every computer or every software program works.

School principal speaking to teachers at a staff development meeting in Sydney

This common axiom is echoed at staff meetings when school leaders reiterate to teachers that they must make more effort to integrate technology into learning for students. The classrooms featured in the case studies in this book were not ordinary spaces but places where extraordinary technology integration was taking place; the students loved learning in these classrooms and they didn’t want to leave when the bell rang. The teachers, both consciously and unconsciously, integrated the elements of technology, pedagogy and content effectively every time they taught. What these teachers did was flexibly navigate all three elements, and the complex interactions between them, in specific contexts. Often perceived as a complex, active problem, the teachers designed curricular solutions to fit their unique learners and their goals of creativity in particular teaching situations. Advancing knowledge of technology integration in the classroom where students are empowered just might be the lever for a fresh approach for teachers to consider when they integrate technology in learning.

It is useful to think about technology integration as an everyday activity for most teachers in schools, but for some it is not. Should this situation still be the case? Seymour Papert, pioneer of computing in education for children, identified more than two decades ago that schools must manage and provide access to technology—nonetheless, this is still not happening in all classrooms in all schools. You sense my impatience. Industrial models of schooling are not appropriate for learning in the 21st century. Context determines what happens or does not happen in education in schools. Framing education contexts in an international milieu is necessary prior to drilling down to the detail of individual teachers in individual schools. So, what are the competing contexts globally for technology integration in schools? And, how does context impact the kind of learning that occurs in classrooms? In this chapter, I visit the contexts of technology integration in school education in Australia, the USA, and the United Kingdom and in the East Asian countries of Singapore and South Korea. The discussion is shaped within the wider sociopolitical education contexts of key policies and education reports in those countries that lead to consideration of key technology issues and debates. In particular, I focus on technology integration approaches used by teachers in classrooms, how social networking tools are being conceived for learning and I scrutinize the popular catch cry of 21st-century learning and the role of technology integration in student achievement. The final issue I touch on in this chapter is some recent research on professional development in technology integration for pre-service and in-service teachers. Let’s begin with a brief examination of the education context of Australia.

In Australia

Education scholars argue that one of the central goals of public education is the transmission of knowledge (Dewey, 1938; Gudmundsdottir, 1990; Hirsch, 1996; Shulman, 1987). Within this mandate, schools in Australia are charged with responsibility for facilitating access to technology for learning, promoting technology awareness, improving students’ technology skills and understanding as well as fostering safe and sensible use of online environments for learning at home and at school (Garrett, 2012; NSW DET, 2009; Rudd, Smith & Conroy, 2007).

Each state and territory in Australia has its own education bureaucracy and all schools inside these structures are deemed either ‘government’ or ‘non-government.’ As such, education policy agendas are determined at the national level, but administered on a state or territory basis, giving rise quite frequently to different curriculum and distinctive classroom practices. A process of creating a common Australian curriculum commenced in 2008. However, after a change of government in late 2013, the content and emphasis of this national curriculum was called into question.

In January 2014, the new education Minister, The Hon. Christopher Pyne MP, requested a review of the curriculum by two education specialists. How this will unfold remains to be seen. Hundreds of educators, including classroom teachers, teacher educators, school principals and members of the public have raised concerns about the review in three distinct areas: first, is the review being framed only in terms of its ‘political or partisan bias?’; second, is such a review timely and appropriate given the work already commenced in most of the curriculum areas?, and third, is the ‘experience or lack thereof’ of the two people who constitute the review panel in education’s best interests? Following on from the review was an Issues Paper circulated by the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG, 2014) that sought feedback from those in the business of teacher preparation (mainly universities in this instance) on teacher quality, school autonomy, engaging parents in education and strengthening the curriculum.

This latest skirmish in Australia is a feature typical of politically-based tussles in the school education landscape just as it is in other countries, but how it has played out in regard to technology integration and the teaching of technology skills and knowledge acquisition for Australian students can be traced back over many years.

The Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs ICT in Schools Taskforce (MCEETYA, 2005, 2006, 2008b) published the first major reports on teaching and learning using technology in Australian schools. These sources quoted the National Goals of Schooling in the 21st Century (MCEETYA, 1999) as a key witness for schools to give priority to students learning with technology: “when students leave school they will be confident, creative and productive users of new technologies” (p. 8). It was the Melbourne Declaration on the Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA, 2008b) that first recognized the need, and that furthermore, “practical knowledge and skills development in areas such as ICT and design and technology are central to Australia’s skilled economy and will provide crucial pathways to post-school success” (p. 12).

In the state of New South Wales (NSW), where the study of this book was conducted, the Department of Education and Communities (NSW DEC) has implemented various strategic plans for technology integration in schools. These plans included technology projects, professional development for teachers and the first rollout of computers into schools. Intertwined with significant technology hardware investment, in 2006, the NSW Board of Studies authorized a computer skills test for all students in Year 10 (two years before their final year of high school). Furthermore, the 2007 NSW election commitment—$158 million—for Connected Classrooms was the largest budget allocation for an education program in technology in Australian education history. The program increased available bandwidth to schools, installed 2,400 interactive classrooms (classrooms with interactive whiteboard and video conference facilities) and teachers and students gained access to new Web 2.0 applications.

In 2008, the Digital Education Revolution (DER) and the National Secondary Schools Computer Fund distributed 200,000 laptops to students in Years 9–12 at 500 secondary school sites. The project, valued at $446 million, concluded in December 2012 and no further funding was provided. Many schools both ‘private’ and ‘public’ are pursing bring your own device (BYOD) options. Historically, the technology focus for public schools was on hardware implementation, complimented by large-scale curriculum resource production and some technology skills-based professional development (Howard, Thurtell & Gigliotti, 2012; Hunter, 2011). The role of pedagogy and content in student learning combined with the teacher’s technology skill and ability has gradually become more important.

In the Melbourne Declaration goals, there was a policy concentration on school partnerships, quality teaching, school leadership and world-class curriculum, improving outcomes for disadvantaged young people including transparency and accountability (MCEETYA, 2008a, 2008b). No specific mention of the role of technology or technology integration was made, although it could be assumed technology integration was wrapped up in delivery of key education strategies and initiatives identified and developed at the same time. The shift in education policy to focus on issues of performativity was noticeable during this time and reflected international, education policy trends (Ball, 2008; DfE, 2010; Lingard, Creagh & Vass, 2012; US Department of Education, 2010b; Ward & Parr, 2011). Research on the effects of technology integration on learners in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries was identified as scant, and hesitation about emerging technology environments was evident in New Millennium Learners (OECD, 2008). The report found gaps in empirical findings of the value of technology in learning:

There is an urgent need to know more about these effects, but it would be misused if it only served to draw attention to a fictitious image of empowering effects of technologies on all children and youngsters equally.

(p. 20)

The view reflected findings from a review of literature commissioned by the Australian Information and Communications Technology in Education Committee around that time that identified how teachers rarely changed the way they taught when they used technology.

Technology in schools was not being used to foster higher order thinking, analysis, synthesis or creativity in learning. In a framework released later in 2008, ten elements of quality schooling were identified. Among those elements that targeted technology were “personalizing and extending learning; connecting learning beyond the school; developing, measuring and monitoring digital literacies; providing, accessing and managing teaching and learning resources; and the provision of reliable infrastructure” (MCEETYA, 2008b, p. 4). Scattered among the elements were others that focused on “enabling leadership, professional learning, improving assessment and reporting, accessing and utilising student information and business processes” (p. 4). The list of elements suggested that perhaps technology integration in Australia was not as important in schools, although it was being given equal attention in policy documentation.

Not long afterwards, the need for a stronger role for technology integration was cited in a new education policy. The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (2008) turned the focus on schools to provide “sustainable and meaningful changes to teaching and learning in Australian schools that are vital for education, training and work in a digital world” (p. 1). Since this new policy, building technology capacity for teachers and students in Australian schools has continued to gather momentum:

The Federal government has invested over $2.4 billion to support effective integration of information and communication technology (ICT) in Australian schools in line with broader education initiatives, including the new Australian Curriculum.

(ACARA, 2012, p. 45)

Technology competence has emerged as an important focus in documentation for the new Australian Curriculum and includes an overarching concern for the development of technology capabilities in students. The rollout of hardware into schools across Australia had a flow-on effect, with importance being placed on the growth of students’ technology capabilities through the curriculum. This action was most visible in national curriculum documentation from ACARA (2013), which was found in the General Capabilities in the Australian Curriculum, when the following definition was presented: “capability involves students learning to make the most of digital technologies available to them, adapting to new ways of doing things as technologies evolve and limiting the risks to themselves and others in a digital environment” (p. 49).

Notions of safety and risk to students from technology were seen as important. More urgent were significant variations in students’ technology literacy found in numeracy assessments across the country where poorer results were associated with “socioeconomic background, Indigenous status and geographic location” (COAG, 2008, p. 45). This was a pivotal moment, with all states and territories in Australia accepting more responsibility for technology integration in schools, and this move was reflected in education reports, research and teaching standards frameworks.

Central to state priorities in these jurisdictions was $16 million from the ICT Innovation Fund that supported four initiatives: the first was Teaching Teachers for the Future (TTF) project, aimed at building technology capacity among pre-service teachers in universities; the second was a development of ICT in everyday learning in an online teachers’ toolkit; the third was pathways for learning anywhere, anytime involving a network for educators; and the fourth was leading technology learning in technology-enabled schools ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• CONTENTS
• List of Illustrations
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Why Another Book on Technology Integration Now?
• 1 Global Policy and Education Trends in Technology Integration in Schools
• 2 Models of Technology Integration: TPACK, SAMR and HPC
• 3 Gabby’s Classroom: The Early Years
• 4 Gina’s Classroom: The Elementary Space
• 5 Nina’s Classroom: The Middle Years
• 6 Kitty’s Classroom: The High School
• 7 Creating High Possibility Classrooms: Using the Model
• 8 Where to From Here: Can All Schools Create High Possibility Classrooms?
• Index