Education Commons^™

Understanding The Complexity Of Technology Acceptance By Higher Education Students, Sue Bennett, Karl A. Maton, Lisa Carrington

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

It is often claimed that all young people are highly adept with the digital technologies that infuse their lives, and that the way they think and behave has created a new gap between them and their teachers. It is suggested that to bridge this gap and ensure that young people are fully engaged, educators must incorporate digital technology more effectively into teaching and learning. This is problematic, however, because technology has had limited impact on education and has failed to be widely adopted as a learning support across many aspects of school and university education. More needs to be known …

Theorising Knowledge Practices: A Missing Piece Of The Educational Technology Puzzle, Sarah Howard, Karl A. Maton

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.

The Digital Technology In The Learning Of Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders (Asd) In Applied Classroom Settings, Kathleen Tanner, Roselyn M. Dixon, Irina Verenikina

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This paper describes a research study that is a stepping stone to further research on the affordances of digital technologies in the learning of students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The study is framed around the modern understanding of technologies as cognitive tools for learning based on the theory of social and cultural mediation of children’s development and learning (Vygotsky, 1978), together with Activity Theory (Engestrom, 2001). The study focuses on the day-to-day reality of the use of computer and other digital technologies to assist the classroom learning of children with ASD. A series of observations, semi-structured interviews with teachers …

Incorporating Technology Within Classroom Literacy Experiences, Lisa Kervin, Jessica Mantei

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Educators are challenged to consider ways that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can be included within classroom contexts. Such challenges often require the adoption of whole school, team and individual focus as technology is examined in connection with the needs of the learners within the school and the pedagogical understandings and beliefs of the educators. In this paper we describe an elementary school-based project that focuses on ways that computer-based technology and associated peripherals can be incorporated within classroom literacy experiences. As we examine the planning, implementation and our reflections upon this process some key findings emerged. The need for …

Supporting Educators With The Inclusion Of Technology Within Literacy Classrooms: A Framework For "Action", Lisa K. Kervin, Jessica Mantei

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Educators are challenged to consider ways that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can be included within classroom contexts. Such challenges often require the adoption of whole school, team or individual focus as technology is examined in connection with the needs of the learners within the school and the pedagogical understandings and beliefs of the educators. Each researcher has initiated, facilitated and reflected upon school-based projects focused on ways that technology can be incorporated within classroom literacy experiences. In this paper, we describe a “framework for action” that has emerged from our analysis of these. Examples from a range of projects …

Literacy Practitioners' Perspectives On Adult Learning Needs And Technology Approaches In Indigenous Communities, Michelle J. Eady, Anthony Herrington, Caroline Jones

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Current reports of literacy rates in Australia indicate an ongoing gap in literacy skills between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian adults, at a time when the literacy demands of work and life are increasing. There are many perspectives on what are the literacy needs of Indigenous adults,from the perspectives of community members themselves to the relatively under-researched perspective of literacy practitioners. This paper provides the insights, experiences and recommendations from adult literacy practitioners who work with adult Indigenous learners in communities across Australia. Focus group interviews, using an online synchronous platform, were used to elicit views about the literacy needs of …

Effective Literacy Pedagogy: Amplified By Technology?, Lisa K. Kervin, Pauline T. Jones, Irina M. Verenikina

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

For some time teachers have been identified and even vilified as impediments to technology uptake in classrooms. It has been demonstrated that the purchase and installation of modern (and often costly) technology is no guarantee that teachers will use it to facilitate and improve learning. We argue that it is no longer appropriate to blame teachers for their slow uptake of technology. Instead it is important that we investigate and understand the ways that technology innovations fit (or mismatch!) with the culture of schooling and established pedagogical practices of teachers. ICTs have made their way into classroom literacy sessions with …

Beyond The 'Digital Natives' Debate: Towards A More Nuanced Understanding Of Students' Technology Experiences, Susan J. Bennett, Karl A. Maton

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

The idea of the ‘digital natives’, a generation of tech-savvy young people immersed in digital technologies for which current education systems cannot cater, has gained widespread popularity on the basis of claims rather than evidence. Recent research has shown flaws in the argument that there is an identifiable generation or even a single type of highly adept technology user. For educators, the diversity revealed by these studies provides valuable insights into students’ experiences of technology inside and outside formal education. While this body of work provides a preliminary understanding, it also highlights subtleties and complexities that require further investigation. It …

One Teacher's Response To Literacy Learning And Teaching Using Technology, Lisa K. Kervin, Pauline T. Jones

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

The federal government’s pledge for increased access to computers for students has been held up as “groundbreaking reform” as “digital schools” become a reality for more students. However, access to technology remains uneven across schools, student competency levels differ and teacher expertise varies considerably. Incorporating new technologies such as laptops, wireless connectivity, smartboards and mobile communication devices into interactive practices frequently requires rethinking configurations of curriculum, bodies and space.

Teachers are experts in pedagogy, but not necessarily in technology. It is vital that teachers are acknowledged for the considerable knowledge they have about their profession – what constitutes ‘good’ pedagogy, …

Investigating Lecturers' Use Of Learning Designs To Support Technology Enhanced Course Design, Jennifer Jones, Susan J. Bennett, Lori Lockyer

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

The effective integration of technology into teaching and learning has been a focus of universities and governments for the past decade. Yet progress towards this goal has been limited to date. Knowledge of how to integrate technology has become a necessity for university lecturers and effective models of support are needed to facilitate this often challenging process. However, little is known about how the individual lecturer designs and what methods of support might best help his or her knowledge of how to integrate technology. One reason that this area has been under-researched may be the inherent challenges in investigating design …

Crocodiles And Polar Bears: Technology And Learning In Indigenous Australian And Canadian Communities, Michelle J. Eady, Alison Reedy

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Crocodile infisted, swollen rivers, Troop Carriers, light planes and red dirt typifY the landscape of remote tropical Northern Territory in Australia. In contrast, the remote landscape in for northwestern Ontario in Canada is characterised by rough terrain, snow and ice, sea planes and sometimes even polar bears. 1he traditional owners of the land in these two very dijferent locations foce similar issues in accessing adult learning and ongoing educational opportunities. 1his paper compares and contrasts the experiences of two groups of adult Indigenous students, one from the northern Australian tropics and one from for Northwestern Ontario, and examines the ways …

Physical Educators' Technology Competencies And Usage, Marianne L. Woods, Grace Goc Karp, Hui Miao, Dana Perlman

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

The purpose of this study was 10 examine K-12 physical education teachers' perceptions of ability and usage of technology. Physical educators (n=114) completed the Physical Education Technology Usage Survey assessing their perceived technology competency, how and why they utilize technology, challenges they face in implementing technology, and where they learned to use technology. Results indicated a high level of perceived competency with many forms of technology but differences based on gender, teaching level, and years of experience. Low competency levels were shown for website creation, FDAs, heart rate monitors, and body composition analyzers. The teachers reported that student learning can …

Constructivist-Based Learning Using Location-Aware Mobile Technology: An Exploratory Study, P. Anand, Anthony J. Herrington, Shirley Agostinho

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Mobile wireless technologies have the potential to exploit its location-awareness capabilities to engage learners in constructivist collaborative learning activities yet there is little research that explores this capability. This paper is a report of work-in-progress on an exploratory study that seeks to identify ways in which the location-awareness feature of mobile wireless devices could be used to create constructivist-based learning activities. A literature review of existing mobile learning applications suggests the potential of using location-awareness feature of mobile wireless devices for learning and teaching applications, however, little research has been done to implement such as system so far. This study …

Immersive Learning Technologies: Realism And Online Authentic Learning, J. Herrington, T. C. Reeves, R. Oliver

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

The development of immersive learning technologies in the form of virtual reality and advanced computer applications has meant that realistic creations of simulated environments are now possible. Such simulations have been used to great effect in training in the military, air force, and in medical training. But how realistic do problems need to be in education for effective learning to occur? Some authors and researchers argue that problems should be real, or that simulations should have ultra-realistic physical similarity to an actual context. This paper proposes that physical verisimilitude to real situations is of less importance in learning than ‘cognitive …

Technology Use, Technology Views: Anticipating Professional Use Of Ict For Beginning Physical And Health Education Teachers, Lori Lockyer, John W. Patterson

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

In Australia, the national initiative known as Learning in an Online World, focuses school jurisdictions across the country meet the challenge of achieving the national vision of all schools “…confidently using ICT in their everyday practices to improve learning, teaching and administration” (MCEETYA, 2005, p. 3). One strategy in reaching this goal is the effective preparation of pre-service teachers to use and integrate technology in their teaching and learning practices. This article reports on a research study that aimed to explore the issue preparation for use of technology in teaching by understanding the current and anticipated technology usage for Australian …

Authentic Learning Supported By Technology: 10 Suggestions And Cases Of Integration In Classrooms, J. Herrington, L. Kervin

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Technology use in classrooms is often employed for all the wrong reasons—such as convenience, pressure from school administrators, the belief that students need to be entertained, and so on. In this paper, we argue that technology presents the opportunity to employ powerful cognitive tools that can be used by students to solve complex and authentic problems. In order for this to occur, however, technology needs to be used in theoretically sound ways, and it needs to be used by students rather than teachers. We present ten practical ways for technology to be used effectively and meaningfully in school classrooms that …

Authentic E-Learning In Higher Education: Design Principles For Authentic Learning Environments And Tasks, J. Herrington

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

With many learners failing to engage with didactic and outmoded instructional methods, and unwilling to use technology that simply replicates the one-way transfer of information from teacher to student, authentic learning designs have the potential to improve student engagement and educational outcomes. This paper argues that online technologies afford the design and creation of truly innovative authentic learning environments. The theoretical foundations of this approach are strong, and they are also explored, together with discussion of the importance of tasks as the focus of authentic activities. Finally, the case is made for a more comprehensive approach to investigating the effectiveness …

Visions For Literacy Learning: The Quest For Meaningful Use Of Computer-Based Technology In Reading And Writing Experiences, Lisa K. Kervin, Jessica Mantei

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.

A Technology-Enhanced Multiliteracies Learning Design For Geography Education, Lori Lockyer, Barry Harper

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Educators are being challenged to prepare students to effectively participate in our increasingly globalised society. Contemporary views of pedagogy suggest supporting learners by providing scaffolds for their engagement in real world tasks - tasks that provide opportunities to both explore and apply their learning through multi-modal expressions' within their diverse contexts. This article describes a project that draws upon the emerging views of multiliteracies in the design of a K-12 education excursion program. The multiliteracies learning design developed for .the program is applied to specific discipline-focused learning objectives and implemented within a technology-enhanced environment, which provides learners with access to …

A Partnership For Ipod Pedagogy: Using The Technology Of Millennial Learners Across Educational Contexts, Lisa K. Kervin, Doug Reid, Jeff Vardy, Carroll Hindle

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This paper explores collaboration between researchers at the tertiary level, with primary school teachers and their students as iPods are integrated into learning experiences. Embarking on this partnership, it is our aim to weave value-added, mutually beneficial and collaborative relationships into our on-going professional interactions as we work towards the development of a pedagogical framework to support classroom teachers in using iPods and podcasting in their educational settings. Such collaborative relationships have been promoted as a way to foster professional relationships, provide learning opportunities for educators, encourage change and develop common understanding across contexts.

Appropriate pedagogy and procedures to assist …

Simulation Technology In Pre-Service Teacher Education: 'Pleasurable Learning' To Inspire 'Passionate Teaching', Lisa K. Kervin, Janice B. Turbill, Brian L. Cambourne, Brian Ferry

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Reviews of beginning teacher programs over the past eighty years within an Australian context continually identify a number of key skills that are not well developed by traditional pre-service teacher preparation programs. In more recent times the teaching of literacy has been targeted as needing specific attention, especially at the pre-service level. Advances in educational software have demonstrated that it is feasible to create a representation of a real situation through simulation. The authors believe that creating a virtual classroom environment for pre-service teachers to interact with is one way to support them with understanding the theory of literacy learning …

From Classroom Reality To Virtual Classroom: The Role Of Teacher-Created Scripts In The Development Of Classroom Simulation Technology, Lisa K. Kervin, Brian L. Cambourne, Janice B. Turbill, Brian Ferry, John Hedberg, David H. Jonassen, Sarah Puglisi

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This paper describes a specific kind of teacher narrative (the teacher created script) to support the design of a classroom simulation to be used in pre-service teacher education. We intend to share our experiences in exploring and developing the kind of narrative text which can be developed from a large reservoir of ethnographically generated data collected from the teachers and classrooms we have closely observed and documented over the last two decades. In particular, we explore the role which these narratives play within the development of the kind of classroom simulation we have produced.

Reflection has long been acknowledged as …

Students Talking About Home-School Communication: Can Technology Support This Process?, Lisa K. Kervin

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This paper explores the use of technology to support communication about student learning and classroom experiences between home and school contexts. An examination of literature addressing home-school partnerships along with current thinking about the integration of this with Learning Technologies is presented. Research centred on the use of a mobile telephone as a tool to facilitate this process will be discussed. The power this ‘new’ technology brings to the students is discussed with reference to subsequent constraints. However, it is argued that students overwhelmingly perceive this tool as a valuable resource in stimulating and encouraging dialogue between the contexts and …

From Surviving To Thriving: The Use Of Information And Communication Technology In An Induction Program For Early Career Teachers In Personal Development, Health And Physical Education, Douglas Hearne, Gregg S. Rowland, Amy L. Webb

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This paper is a discussion of a project with both face-to-face and online components designed to support early career teachers from the key learning area of Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE) across three teacher employing authorities in New South Wales, Australia. The project was initiated in 2004 by the Australian Council for Health Physical Education and Recreation, NSW (ACHPER) in conjunction with the Australian Government Quality Teacher Programme. Supporting all aspects of the project is the BEST:PDHPE (Beginning and Establishing Successful Teachers) website that has been developed to provide resources and communication tools. Research associated with the project …

Integrating Technology To Enhance Teaching And Learning In Physical And Health Education: An Activehealth Framework, Gregg S. Rowland, Douglas Hearne, Lori Lockyer, Philip J. Pearson

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

In an era of limited resources across educational sectors, academics associated with faculties of education are under increasing pressure to find innovative ways to support their teaching and research activities - activities with which collaboration and interaction with pre-service teachers, practicing teachers and fellow academics is crucial. As such, developing a sustained community that involves such representative members is paramount for academics. A team at the University of Wollongong has initiated this concept through research and development of the ActiveHealth learning community for physical and health educators. Whilst it is envisaged that such a project will take time to establish, …

An Instructional Design Framework For Authentic Learning Environments, J. Herrington, R. Oliver

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

The instructional technology community is in the midst of a philosophical shift from a behaviorist to a constructivist framework, a move that may begin to address the growing rift between formal school learning and real-life learning. One theory of learning that has the capacity to promote authentic learning is that of situated learning. The purpose of this three part study was firstly, to identify critical characteristics of a situated learning environment from the extensive literature base on the subject; secondly, to operationalise the critical characteristics of a situated learning environment by designing a multimedia program which incorporated the identified characteristics; …