EMT503 – Page 2 – EdTech Global

Module 5: Professional Development

10/04/2020 / claire.hazenberg / 0 Comments

This week I have been exploring teacher professional development (TPD). In this post I will examine the Who? The What? And How? Of TPD.

Who?

Who drives professional development? Who identifies the learning objectives? Who delivers and facilitates TPD?

It is commonly accepted that effective technology leadership relies on the presence of a champion who is an active and enthusiastic advocate for technology in education (Stuart, Mills & Remus, 2009; Shanks, 2000). In terms of coordinating and leading technology TPD, I believe teaching technology champions should be driving both informal and formal development experiences. Through identifying learning objectives, building communities of practice, facilitating professional discussion and modelling best practice. With the support and facilitation of school leadership, champions should be encouraged to showcase, model and deliver development experiences. Just as Avidov-Ungar & Hanin-Itzak (2019) suggested, change and growth can be achieved through empowering ICT Coordinators in schools.

What?

What does technology in education look like? What skills and knowledges do teachers need to develop?

TPD experiences need to be diverse and responsive to not just the needs of the learners and educators, but to the opportunities presented by continuing technological developments. These diverse TPD experiences should include exploring technology as a curriculum subject area, as a pedagogical tool and as an inventible part of the future of their learners lives and therefore the future of education. Technologies worth to education depends on more than just access, but rather how teachers use it (George & Sanders, 2017). I believe every community, school and learning institution is unique and therefore I cannot definitely say what skills and knowledge educators need in order to be effective integrators and users of technology-enhanced pedagogies. However, I do believe that across all education institutions there must be a minimum level of teacher digital literacy. I am very fond of using the UNESCO ICT Teacher competency framework (UNESCO, 2011), as a point of reference for such development.

How?

How can professional development be effectively and authentically delivered? How to promote teacher autonomy and engagement?

From the research and studies I have read and my first-hand experience receiving and delivering TPD experiences, I believe the most effective way to foster professional learning is to establish strong communities of practice (CoP). CoP is a widely accepted and celebrated practice to improve educator capacity (Patton & Parker, 2017). To help develop strong CoP, I believe in utilizing a learner-centered approach (Begg, 1993), where the teacher is positioned as a learner or researcher (Giroux, 1988) and is encouraged to identify their own learning needs not based on their self-identified “deficiencies” but on their interests. To compliment this approach, I also believe in championing and empowering grade leaders and ICT coordinators (Avidov-Ungar & Hanin-Itzak, 2019). To deepen development experiences, I suggest employing a range of different strategies some of which include supporting teachers to engage in reflective blogging or journaling (Prestridge, 2014), providing hands-on exploratory learning experiences others (Gallivan, Spitler, and Koufaris, 2005) and establishing peer-coaching models.

See illustrated diagram below.

References

Avidov-Ungar, O., & Hanin-Itzak, L. (2019). Sense of Empowerment Among School ICT Coordinators: Personal, Subject-Area and Leadership Empowerment. Technology, Knowledge and Learning, 24(3), 401-417.

Gallivan, M. J., Spitler, V. K., & Koufaris, M. (2005). Does information technology training really matter? A social information processing analysis of coworkers’ influence on IT usage in the workplace. Journal of Management Information Systems, 22(1), 153-192.

Giroux, H. (1988) Teachers as Intellectuals: towards a critical pedagogy of learning. South Hadley: Bergin & Garvey.

Howell, J. M., & Higgins, C. A. (1990). Champions of change: Identifying, understanding, and supporting champions of technological innovations. Organizational Dynamics, 19(1), 40-55.

Patton, K., & Parker, M. (2017). Teacher education communities of practice: More than a culture of collaboration. Teaching and Teacher Education, 67, 351-360.

Prestridge, S. J. (2014). Reflective blogging as part of ICT professional development to support pedagogical change. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 39(2), 6.

Shanks, G. (2000). A model of ERP project implementation. Journal of information Technology, 15(4), 289-303.

Stuart, L. H., Mills, A. M., & Remus, U. (2009). School leaders, ICT competence and championing innovations. Computers & Education, 53(3), 733-741.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2011). UNESCO ICT competency framework for teachers. Retrieved from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000213475

Waight, N., & Abd-El-Khalick, F. (2012). Nature of technology: Implications for design, development, and enactment of technological tools in school science classrooms. International Journal of Science Education, (34)18, 2875-2905.

State of ICT in Education Malawi by Claire Hazenberg

Module 4: TPACK in Context

29/03/2020 / claire.hazenberg / 0 Comments

In my context (Malawi state school system), in order for technology to be used as a meaningful pedagogical tool teachers, leaders and school administration need to urgently develop their own knowledge and understanding of technology and necessary digital literacy skills. I particularly like the UNESCO ICT competency framework and could see this model being used to inform pre and in-service teacher training.

This framework has been designed to be used by countries with different social and economic conditions and growth strategies. It acknowledges that while countries may share similar goals they may take different paths to achieve those goals. One of my favourite aspects on this framework is that it is designed to value and use the current strengths of countries rather than looking at its deficits.

The diagram below is an illustrated example of how countries can use the framework to localise and tailor teacher competency programmes based on their policies and current educational conditions.

UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers p.17

Based on my first hand experience and observation of education in Malawi, I used the framework to create the diagram below. I believe some of Malawi’s strengths exist within their school organisation and national curriculum. Areas I believe that would make the greatest impact would be to focus on developing policies and teacher training programmes.

State of ICT in Education Malawi by Claire Hazenberg

References

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2011). UNESCO ICT competency framework for teachers. Retrieved from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000213475

UNESCO. (2019, September 30). Competency Framework for Teachers (long version) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG284HgGRvg

Module 4: First steps with TPACK

27/03/2020 / claire.hazenberg / 0 Comments

I first encountered TPACK as part of my undergraduate degree in primary education. Like many other frameworks introduced in an undergraduate teaching degree, it is easy to develop a thorough theoretical understanding however much more difficult to understand its application and practicality in a classroom setting.

One of my first ever classroom positions was working as a Prep teacher in an international school. The unique challenges of teaching in the early years and in an ESL environment resulted in me pretty much forgetting about the model completely. I was more focused on developing my understanding of literacy and language development and early learning theories.

It wasn’t until I felt more confident as an early years teacher (stronger understanding of early years pedagogical content knowledge) that I began to introduce technology into my teaching. I wanted to leverage the technology available to create a 21^st century learning environment. I had access to a smartboard and projector and 8 iPads.As I began to plan and explore how I could use these resources I immediately recalled the TPACK framework and its counterpart SAMR by Ruben Puentedura. After doing some quick re-reading, I used the framework as a reflective tool and created a professional goal to develop my Technological content (TCK) and Technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK).

How can I leverage technology in the classroom to engage learners, make learning accessible and enhance learners understanding of concepts and content?

Using self-motivated exploration and inquiry I started to explore how I could achieve this goal. I watched YouTube tutorials, engaged in professional dialogue with colleagues and worked collaboratively with students to explore the technologies together. These were some of the results.

Smartboard & Projector
- Handwriting demonstrations and shared writing experiences
- Model drawing tasks
- Use in conjunction with behaviour management platforms like Class Dojo.
- Interactive games for introducing content and shared learning experiences (abcya.com)
- Instructional/educational videos with enhanced quiz features (edPuzzle).
iPads
- Incorporate as part literacy rotations for speaking and listening activities (use with headphones)
- Use differentiated apps for teaching literacy and numeracy concepts to a range of students with different abilities.
- Use SAMR model to find suitable apps that enhance learning, rather than just act a substitution. (AR/VR alphabet app)
- Students using video recording to document learning experiences.

These were just some of the many ways I integrated technology into the classroom with intention of engaging students, enhancing learning and making learning accessible. In addition to building rapport with my students as we worked together to explore the technology, I developed a stronger understanding of TCK and TPK. I also found that the TPACK framework very useful in equipping me with the language needed to explain to my colleagues and line manager what I was doing in the classroom. Ideally, this language and knowledge exchange could have gone on to form the basis of developing stronger communities of practice.

References:

Chai, C. S., Koh, E., Lim, C. P., & Tsai, C. C. (2014). Deepening ICT integration through multilevel design of technological pedagogical content knowledge. Journal of Computers in Education, 1(1), 1-17.

Hunter, J. (2015). Technology integration and high possibility classrooms: Building from TPACK. Routledge.

Puentedura, R. (2010). SAMR and TPCK: Intro to advanced practice. Retrieved February, 12, 2013.

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Developing a global understanding of educational technology

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