Rethinking Teaching using ICT and Action Research

1
Rethinking Teaching using ICT and Action Research

• Margaret Farren
• Computer Applications
• February 28th, 2002

2
Setanta Overview

• Collaborative Project C.A., DCU and Schools
• Teachers and pupils, C.A. Teacher and students
• Schools need real, usable applications of ICT
  pupils learn context based ICT skills
• C.A. need real world projects for undergraduates
  students develop technical skills and team work

3
Key challenges of ICT

• More than basic computing skills
• Development of appropriate software
• Appropriate content difficult to find on Internet
• Access speed to Internet - schools

4
Setanta Aims

• To develop courseware for School curriculum and
  store on school intranet
• To make the Intranet available in the classroom,
  tailored to needs of the curriculum
• To target particular subject areas to test the
  viability of project

5
Setanta Courseware Projects

• Virtual Art Gallery
• Multimedia Environments for Specific Learning
  Difficulties
• Interactive Maths Tutorial
• See http//www.compapp.dcu.ie/mfarren/research.ht
  ml

6
Masters in Computer Applications for Education

• Two year part-time course
• Teachers from different subject disciplines
• Teachers - different levels e.g. primary,
  secondary, higher education
• Linked modules Multimedia, Computer Applications
  in Education, Network Information Management

7
Action Research

• Practitioner based research
• Systematic enquiry made public
• Improving student learning
• Developing teacher as learner
• Through action research I
• Understand what I did not know before
• Show improvement in practice

8
Action Research

• Living our values/criteria in our professional
  practice you need to be clear about what you
  are doing and why your are doing it
• Empowering us as teachers to bring about
  improvement (Praxis versus techne)
• Teaching as a form of enquiry, leading to
  knowledge and understanding of practice
• Developing awareness of practice by being
  critical of practice
• Helping to bring about a more participatory/collab
  orative view of teaching and learning

9
Educational Values/Standards of Practice

• Teachers should be engaged in the learning
  process
• Teachers as designers of curriculum artefacts and
  not passive users of technology
• Teachers as knowledge creators and not users of
  anothers body of knowledge
• Modules should impact on educational practice
• Integrate technology into my own teaching and
  learning

10
Scholarship of Teaching

• We should think about practice as the setting for
  not only the application of knowledge but for the
  generation of knowledge. We should ask not only
  how practitioners can better apply the results of
  academic research, but what kinds of knowing are
  already embedded in competent practice.
  Schon (1995)

11
Action Research process

• Review current practice
• Identify aspect worth investigating
• Imagine a way forward
• Try it out
• Take stock
• Modify in light of what we find
• Monitor
• Review
• Evaluate

12
Living Educational Theory

• Whitehead (1989) formulated action reflections
  cycles into these statements
• What am I concerned about/what do I want to
  improve
• What am I going to do about it
• What data will I need to collect to enable me to
  make a judgement on effectiveness in terms of
  student learning
• Act and gather data
• Modify concerns, ideas and actions in light of
  evaluation
• Submission of descriptions and explanation of my
  learning in the educational enquiry, How do I
  improve my practice? to a validation group.

13
Learning with and through technology

• Presentation of curriculum/multimedia artefacts
  to teachers in Community College, North Carolina
  using Netmeeting videoconferencing - paper
• Link to International experts to share action
  research and ICT work in progress using iVisit
  videoconferencing
• Educational development on WebCT (online learning
  environment)
• Curriculum artefacts/Action Research - See Website