Teaching and Learning
General
Sutherland, R., Armstrong, V. Barnes, S., Brawn, R., Gall, M., Matthewman, S., Olivero, F., Taylor, A., Triggs, P., Wishart, J., John, P. (2004).
Transforming Teaching and Learning: Embedding ICT into every-day classroom practices . Journal of Computer Assisted Learning Special Issue, Vol. 20, Issue 6, pp. 413-425.
Drawing on socio-cultural theory, this paper describes how teams of teachers and researchers have developed ways of embedding information and communications technology (ICT) into everyday classroom practices to enhance learning. The focus is on teaching and learning across a range of subjects: English, history, geography, mathematics, modern foreign languages, music and science. The influence of young people's out-of-school uses of ICT on in school learning is discussed. The creative tension between idiosyncratic and institutional knowledge construction is emphasised and we argue that this is exacerbated by the use of ICT in the classroom.
Sutherland, R., Robertson, S. & John, P. (2004)
InterActive Education: Teaching and Learning in the Information Age. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning Special Issue, Vol. 20, Issue 6, pp. 410-412
This paper presents an overview of the InterActive Education Project and an introduction to this special issue. At the heart of the project is a unique partnership between university researchers, teacher educators and teachers, working together to find out how ICT can be most effectively used to enhance learning. Ten schools and colleges from Bristol and South Gloucestershire and over 50 teachers were partners in the research. The project has five strands which as we weave them together are making a complex picture of ICT in education. Each strand looks at ICT in relation to a specific aspect: teaching and learning, policy and management, subject cultures, professional development, learners' out-of-school uses of ICT.
John, P. & Sutherland, R. (2004)
Teaching and Learning With ICT: New Technology, New Pedagogy Education, Communication & Information (ECi), Vol. 4, No. 1, March 2004, pp 102-107
This paper has two broad aims: first, to provide a brief introduction to the InterActive Education Project from which the papers in this special edition derive; and second, to draw out some of the overarching themes and threads that have emerged from the set of articles presented. The evidence suggests that a number of tensions surface when subject teachers engage with information communication technology (ICT) in their classrooms, for instance, the tension between teaching about and teaching through ICT; the tension between information accretion and information discernment; and the tension between subject and technological culture. The findings also suggest that the use of ICT by subject teachers is being embraced but not imposed. This is in part due to the collaborative nature of the InterActive Project but it is also due to a genuine desire by the participants to concentrate on the creation of rich ICT environments in which their students can engage their minds with the resources of their disciplines. The paper ends with some suggestions for taking the ICT and learning venture forward within the current curriculum context.
Sutherland, R. (2004)
Designs for learning: ICT and knowledge in the classroom. Computers and Education, Vol 43, Issues 1-2 pp. 5-16
This paper explores the relationship between Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and learning in schools. It draws on the preliminary results of the InterActive Education Project, which is concerned with learning within the subject areas of English, history, geography, mathematics, music, modern foreign languages and science. Within the project teachers, teacher educators and researchers work together to develop and evaluate learning initiatives (called Subject Design Initiatives). These SDIs are concerned with learning about particular areas of the curriculum which students might normally find difficult and where a particular use of ICT could enhance learning. The idea is to use ICT which is readily available in schools and yet under utilised, for example Word and drop-down menus in modern foreign languages, the Oxford English Dictionary on-line in English, and graph-plotting software in mathematics. One aspect of the project is to understand why, despite three decades of government initiatives and academic research, the use of ICT in teaching and learning remains only partially understood by educationalists and inconsistently practised in schools. The InterActive Education project is predicated on the view that ICT alone does not enhance learning. How ICT is incorporated into learning activities is what is important. Here the role of the teacher is crucial and a focus on design within the InterActive Education project foregrounds the teacher's responsibility to craft a learning situation. Feedback on student learning is provided by digital video recordings of classroom interactions, together with students' work and interviews with students.
Sutherland, R., Breeze, N. Gall, M., Matthewman, S. & Triggs, S. (2004)
It's About Interactive Learning, in Proccedings of 4 th Congress on Information and Communication Technologies in Education , Athens, p 89-99.
This paper draws on results of a research project InterActive Education: Teaching and Learning in the Information Age. The overall aim of the project is to examine the ways in which new technologies can be used in educational settings to enhance learning. To this end the project centres around the design and evaluation of teaching and learning initiatives for pupils from the age of eight to eighteen. Within this paper we report on our work with teachers and pupils, who have developed learning initiatives for English, mathematics and music.
John, P. & Sutherland, R. (2005)
Affordance, opportunity and the pedagogical implications of ICT. Educational Review Vol.57, No. 4, November 2005
This paper provides a brief overview of the InterActive Education project and an introduction to this special issue. At the heart of the project was a unique partnership between university researchers, teacher educators and teachers, who worked together to find out how ICT can be used in schools to enhance learning. Within this paper we argue that it is the relationship between the pedagogy within a subject area (the practice in the setting), the subject domain and its culture (the ecology of the setting) and the technology (the tool within the setting) that is crucial to engendering quality learning.
Mathematics
Godwin, S. & Sutherland, R. (2004)
Whole Class Technology for Learning Mathematics: the case of functions and graphs. Education, Communication & Information (ECi), Vol 4, No. 1 March 2004, pp 131-152
This paper draws on research being developed within the teaching and learning strand of the Economic and Social Research Council InterActive Education Project, which is examining how new technologies can be used in educational settings to enhance learning. It focuses on the ways in which mathematics teachers can use digital tools for enhancing the learning of functions and graphs within a classroom setting. It includes a comparison of two teachers working with information and communications technology within their own particular contexts and circumstances, and by comparing and contrasting the two situations gives an indication of the complexity of their learning environments. It emphasises the role of the teacher in bringing together the potential disparate possibilities of exploration that ICT might allow for students and concludes that thinking about the effective use of ICT for learning requires an holistic understanding of how ICT is integrated within the classroom milieu as determined by the teacher, environment, software, individual students and collective activity.
Sutherland, R., Olivero, F. & Weeden, M. (2004)
Orchestrating Mathematical Proof through the use of Digital Tools. Proceedings of the 28 th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, (PME) 2004 Vol 4, pp 265-272
This paper explores the role of the teacher in the orchestration of common knowledge and in the interplay between intuitive/empirical and formal aspects within the context of students learning mathematical proof using a dynamic geometry software. The case of a secondary school teacher is discussed through the analysis of her learning initiative which involved the introduction of proof in geometry by using a dynamic geometry software. The analysis shows Marnie's focus on the relationship between construction and mathematical properties and the difference between proof and demonstration, and the way she orchestrates the work of the whole class in the construction of mathematical proofs.
Weeden, M. (2002)
Proof, proof and more proof. Micromath , Autumn 2002, pp. 29-32
As an avid fan of ICT and with a view that computers are excellent facilitators for the learning of mathematics, I was delighted when asked to step on board the InterActive Education project, as part of the Mathematics Subject Design Initiative based at the University of Bristol. The overall aim of the initiative is to research ways in which ICT can be used within the Classroom environment to enhance the pupils learning and understanding of mathematics to form a framework for the subject design that may then be shared as best practice.
Mills, S. (2004)
Who's a Smartie?. Micromath , Autumn, 2004 Vol. 20/3 pp. 17-23
This article stems from work with my year four class, during the InterActive Education Research Project, based at the University of Bristol's Graduate School of Education, and has evolved from ongoing course work for my Masters Degree and Best Practice Research Scholarship. As a teacher I believe learning to be an emergent and ongoing social process and that the learning contexts we develop should be meaningful, relevant and purposeful, drawing on and building from the personal experiences our students bring to school with them. For me, integrating ICT into teaching and learning means engaging my students in learning to use a set of tools, which are constantly evolving, as users in the world around us find new ways of communicating, sharing and exploring ideas with them. If we are to make learning to use ICT relevant and meaningful, then we need to design situations, which enable students to see how this potential can be linked to the purpose of their activity and how ICT is used in real life contexts .
Godwin, S. & Beswitherick, R. (2003)
An Investigation into the Balance of Prescription, Experiment and Play when Learning about the Properties of Quadratic Functions with ICT. Research in Mathematics Education. Papers of The British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics , Vol. 5, pp.79 -96
This paper draws on research being developed within the Teaching and Learning strand of the ESRC InterActive Education: Learning in the Information Age project which is examining the ways in which new technologies can be used in educational settings to enhance learning. It will focus on the learning and understanding of quadratic functions using a graphical software package and includes a discussion of how the structuring of the activities influences the nature of the learning environment. The potential affordance that the software provides for experiment and play is highlighted in relation to the teacher's role in shaping the tasks to effectively make good use of this mode of learning.
Geography
Morgan, J. & Tidmarsh, C. (2004)
Re-Conceptualising ICT in Geography Teaching. Education, Communication & Information (ECi), Vol. 4, No. 1, March 2004, pp177-192
This paper is concerned with the ways in which ICT is conceptualised in geography education in England. Our argument is that the way ICT has been conceptualised in school geography is clearly linked to a particular view of geography as a subject, one based on ideas of positivist and empiricist science. Other views of geographical knowledge based on humanist and realist approaches to science have been neglected. In this paper we describe this dominant approach, and suggest how these features are present in the work of one geography teacher one of us has worked with as part of the ‘InterActive Education' Project. The second part of the paper uses Ron Johnston's typology of applied geographical knowledge to look at other ways of conceptualising the role of ICT in school geography .
Science
Baggott La Velle, L., Brawn, R.. McFarlane., A. & John P. (2004)
According to the Promises: the sub-culture of school science, teachers' pedagogical identity and the challenge of ICT. Education, Communication & Information (ECi), Vol. 4, No. 1, March 2004, pp 109-129
This paper reports findings from the Economic and Social Research Council-funded InterActive Education Project, in which teachers, researchers and teacher educators have worked together to develop, perform, and evaluate secondary school science department-based ‘Subject Design Initiatives'. Drawing on notions from sociocultural theory, we have focused on ‘cultural tools' as material and symbolic mediators of learning. In the Subject Design Initiatives teachers are seen as central to learning in the classroom, incorporating information and communications technology (ICT) into their designed learning situations in a naturalistic way. In this paper we draw upon science teacher interview data to attempt to define and characterise the subculture of school science. The research reported focuses on the problems, possibilities and reality ICT presents to established science subcultures as seen through the eyes of individual teachers. More particularly, we are interested in the ways in which teachers' subject epistemologies, their personal theories and espoused pedagogical styles interact with ICT in their science teaching.
Baggott la Velle, L., McFarlane, A. & Brawn, R. (2003)
Knowledge transformation through ICT in science education: A case study in teacher-driven curriculum development. British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET), Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 183-199
The papers in this volume of BJET relate to the over-riding concern about the role of information and communications technologies (ICT) in education: the extent to which the claims of policy makers, administrators, publicists, politicians and bureaucrats are borne out in the reality of teaching and learning inside and outside the classroom. One approach to providing the evidential base for judging the extent of and nature of the gap between rhetoric and reality and closing it are major research studies based upon statistically significant sampling like IMPACT2, another is to build up a body of in-depth case study evidence that can be used as the basis for generalisation. This paper falls into the latter category, looking at a case study of the initial stages of the development of effective ICT in Science Education. The research and development work involved is an element in the ICT strand of the Teaching and Learning in the Information Age Project. The paper first reviews the issues in the development of a design initiative for furthering our understanding of the problem of knowledge transformation in science education through ICT. A discussion of the development of ICT use in science education then leads to an illustration of current use in UK school science classrooms and laboratories. A theoretical framework of teacher's knowledge and pedagogical reasoning in science through ICT is presented as the basis for the curriculum research and redevelopment that the case study involves. The case study, findings and discussion then follow.
English
Matthewman, S., Blight, A. & Davies, C. (2004)
What Does Multimodality Mean for English? Creative Tensions in Teaching New Texts and New Literacies. Education, Communication & Information (ECi), Vol. 4, No. 1, March 2004, pp 153 – 176
The argument for a pedagogy which embraces visual and multimodal representation is well established in academic circles (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 1996; New London Group, 1996; Cope & Kalantzis, 2000) and a plethora of literacies congregate around the ever-expanding subject English as the prime site for innovation and development. This paper will focus on one exploratory case study from the Economic and Social Research Council InterActive Education Project1 to examine how working with multimodal texts creates tensions for English teachers as well as creative opportunities for pupils. Questions around what might be an appropriate pedagogy and metalanguage for the new literacies involved were tested against the models put forward by the New London Group. The process has shown that the development of a viable metalanguage for teaching and assessing multimodal texts is highly problematic and is in need of further empirical study. This cultural work is constrained by the current assessment requirements for English in England and needs to be considered against discussions of what definition of English and literacy we need in the 21st century.
Matthewman, S. & Triggs, P. (2004)
'Obsessive compulsive font disorder': the challenge of supporting pupils writing with the computer. Computers and Education , Vol. 43, Issues 1-2, pp. 125-135
Writing with the computer provokes and enables pupils to engage with aspects of multimodal design [Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures, Routledge, London, 2000]. At the same time the traditional stages of the writing process become much more fluid and integrated [Aust. J. Language Literacy 17(3) (1994) 183]. These consequences of technology are not recognised within the curriculum, the assessment system or current models of teaching the writing process in the UK. Using examples from current classroom research this paper argues that the significance of pupils' uses of the ‘available designs' of digital experience [Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures, Routledge, London, 2000] is undervalued. Furthermore it suggests that this undervaluing leaves teachers without well-developed pedagogic models of literacy when computers are involved.
Faux, F. (2005)
Multimodality: how students with special eductional needs create multimedia stories. Education Communication & Information (ECi) (forthcoming)
This investigation into how students receiving special educational provision use an ICT multimedia environment to produce stories, took place within the special needs unit of a comprehensive, secondary school. The research aims were to investigate ways in which special education needs (SEN) students produce multimedia stories, analysing the role of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) with respect to literacy learning.
The research was framed by socio-cultural theory and a qualitative methodology underpinned the research activity, with consideration of interactions between students and computer, and between students and the researcher, taking the sociocultural environment into account. Research methods included interpretation, reflexivity, deconstruction, discourse and notions of multiplicity.
Students working within this software environment were encouraged to produce a number of high-quality presentations, and this contributed to an autonomous working style. However, whilst the role of the computer was important, so too were human agency, and other artefacts within the setting.
Modern Foreign Languages
Taylor, A.. Cole, R. & Lazarus, E. (2005)
Putting Languages on the (Drop Down) Menu. Educational Review, Vol.57, No. 4, November 2005
This paper examines the way in which teachers from a South Gloucestershire school have made a step change in encouraging their students to write more fluently and accurately in German. This has been achieved through the use of drop down menus within a new type of writing frame which scaffolds students' writing and helps them turn abstract grammatical concepts into something more concrete. Modern Foreign Language teachers at the Sir Bernard Lovell School have discovered that not only are their students using more complex language and writing at greater length but are also able to structure their GCSE coursework better and engage in humorous creative writing with confidence.
Music
Gall, M. (2004)
Music Composition in the Primary Classroom: Composition with Dance Ejay. Paper presented at BERA Conference , University of Exeter, September 2002
This paper describes the work of a group of teachers preparing to teach music with ICT within a subject design initiative. It will provide a brief description of each lesson and explain the ways in which the teachers structured the learning environment for the pupils in order to identify ‘crystallising moments'. These are seen as points at which musical learning has taken place directly as a result of the affordances of the software. A further description of the changes made to the design initiative will be outlined as will the second trial and future work at the school. The paper ends with an analysis of the role of the teacher and of the software in supporting pupils' learning.
Gall, M. & Breeze, N. (2005)
Music composition lessons: the multimodal affordances of technology. Educational Review, Vol 57, No. 4 November 2005
This article investigates the multimodal affordances presented by music software and how it can provide new opportunities for students to engage with composition work in the classroom. It seeks to broaden the scope of current research into classroom composition using technology, through a study of students' environments and compositional processes as seen from these new perspectives. The authors suggest that there is a need to reconsider the scope of multimodal enquiry in the field of creative music.
Teachers and Professional Development
Triggs, P. & John, P. (2004)
From Transaction to Transformation: ICT, Professional development and the formation of communities of practice. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning Special Issue, Vol. 20, Issue 6, pp. 426-439 .
Using the concept of ‘layers of community', this paper describes and explains the ways in which teams of teachers, teacher educators and researchers worked together on the research project InterActive Education: teaching and learning in the information age. The focus is on the development and dissemination of professional knowledge as it relates to teaching and learning that incorporates information and communications technology (ICT) as a tool. Drawing on a range of data, we illustrate how ‘micro-', ‘meso-' and ‘macro'-communities inter-connect to create the settings for improved professional growth. The purpose is to challenge the linearity embedded in much of the professional development processes associated with ICT and to re-model the relationship between practice and research.
Learners' Out-of-School Uses of Computers
Kent, N. & Facer, K. (2004)
Different Worlds? a comparison of young people's home and school ICT use. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning Special Issue, Vol. 20, Issue 6pp. 440-455
This paper explores young people's access to and use of computers in the home and at school. Drawing on a questionnaire survey, conducted in 2001 and 2003 with over 1800 children in the South-West of England, on group interviews in school with over 190 children and with visits to 11 families, the paper discusses: (1) children's current use of computers in the home and in school; 2) changing patterns of computer use in home and school between 2001 and 2003; (3) the impact of age, gender and socio-economic area on young people's computer use in home and school. The paper then goes on to discuss young people's perceptions of the differences between home and school use of computers and to address the question of whether young people's home and school use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) are really ‘different worlds'. Through analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data, the paper proposes that the boundaries between home and school are less distinct in terms of young people's ICT use than has previously been proposed, in particular through young people's production of virtual social networks through the use of instant messenger that seem to mirror young people's social school contexts. The paper concludes by suggesting that effective home–school link strategies might be adopted through the exploration of the permeability of home/school boundaries.
Facer, K., Furlong, J. and Furlong, R. Sutherland, R., (2003)
Screenplay: Children's Computing in the Home, London, Routledge Falmer
In homes today across much of the developed world, young people are growing up with computers. In living rooms, bedrooms, hallways and landings, computers are an increasingly familiar sight in the public and private spaces of the home. This phenomenon raises important questions for educators, for policy makers, for parents and for children, and it is in response to these questions that this book has been written. In it, we explore the implications of young people growing up with, living with and learning with computers as a familiar part of their day to day lives.
Educational Policy and Management of ICT in Schools
Dale, R., Robertson, S., Shortis, T., (2004)
‘You Can't Not Go with the Technological Flow, Can You?'. Constructing ‘ICT' and ‘Teaching and Learning': The Interaction of Policy, Management and Technology. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning Special Issue, Vol. 20, Issue 6, pp.456-470.
This paper seeks to show how ‘policy', ‘management' and ‘information and communications technology' (ICT) were constructed for schools in England between 2000 and 2003 and to discuss some effects of these constructions on teaching and learning in the institutions involved in the InterActive Education Project. It argues that their contribution collectively constituted ‘ICT' as a particular kind and form of challenge for schools, and that recognising the nature of this constitution is crucial to understanding the relationship between ICT and teaching and learning. Informed by an abductive methodology, this paper draws on analyses of policy documents and interviews with the head teachers of the educational institutions taking part in the InterActive Education Project to show how the possibilities and opportunities of using ICT were shaped by those constructions. It suggests that the main policy framing ICT in education over the period in question, the National Grid for Learning, had the provision of hardware and infrastructure as its main target, but offered little advice on how they might be used. This constituted the core of the management problem of ICT for schools. The final section of the paper outlines some of the mechanisms through which schools addressed these issues and discusses some possible implications for what counts as ‘teaching and learning' with ‘ICT' .
Robertson, S. & Dale, R. (2003)
Designed Dialogues: The Real Politics of Evidence-based Practice and Education Policy Research in England, in M.B. Ginsburg & J.M. Gorostiaga (eds) Limitations and Possibilities of Dialogue among Researchers, Policy-Makers and Practitioners: International Perspectives on the Field of Education. New York: Routledge Falmer.
While it is widely acknowledged that the ideological and structural conditions under which researcher-practitioner-policy maker relationships take place—their form, content, site and scope—shape the nature of the agency of the researcher-practitioner-policy maker, it is rarely possible to discover exactly how the various elements of those conditions combine and with what outcome. Our aim in this chapter is to focus on an instance where the nature of these relationships is more visible—because it is deliberately ‘designed' by a particular subgroup of policy makers. The notion of the possibility of this relationship being the result of explicit intention rather than wholly contingent (albeit within a relatively narrow range of possibilities) does, though, require us to examine—at a theoretical level—how these contingencies are narrowed and ‘design' made possible.
Robertson, S., Shortis, T. & John, P. (2003)
ICT in the Classroom: The Pedagogical Challenge of Respatialisation and Reregulation. Forthcoming in M. Olssen (ed): Culture and Learning: Access and Opportunity in the Curriculum. The Greenwood Press, Wesport, Conneticut.
This paper seeks to instantiate the claims referred to by Dale (2002) that a new functional and scalar division of labour is emerging in education through an analysis of a key mechanism of governance proposed by the European Commission—the development of public-private partnerships (PPPs) as the means to develop the eEurope/eSociety/eLearning strategy. In the view of the Commission, a viable education strategy must involve the business sector if it is to respond to the demands of a knowledge economy. In this paper I argue that the Commission and key economic actors are engaged in promoting public-private-partnerships, discursively and materially, as a means to embed a particular configuration of interests in the development of a European education space to accelerate the European knowledge economy. The Commission's interest is in generating an economic and political space that can be governed legitimately. For key economic actors, like the large transnational firms IBM, Cisco and Nokia, among others, participating in the creation a European educational space means generating the conditions for their investment in the lucrative education market without the impediments of existing institutional arrangements. This claim is explored through, in the first instance an analysis of the eLearning policy documents, and in the second instance Career Space - an embryonic PPP in the eEurope/eSociety/eLearning strategy, and PPPs in education in England. It will be argued that the mechanisms for regulating private interests in the investment of education at the European level are not sufficiently developed to be able to protect social equality, despite the weight given to it by the EU. It is, therefore, unlikely that the eLearning strategy will generate outcomes that will contribute to the Lisbon goals of social cohesion.
The Role of Subject Cultures in Mediating ICT Use
John, P., Baggott la Velle, L. (2004)
Devices and Desires: subject subcultures, pedagogical identity and the challenge of information and communications technology. Technology, Pedagogy & Education Journal , Vol. 13, No. 3. pp 307-327
This paper reports some findings from the United Kingdom Economic and Social Research Council-funded InterActive Education project, in which teachers, researchers, and teacher educators have worked together to develop, perform, and evaluate classroom based ‘Subject Design Initiatives' (SDIs). Drawing on notions from socio-cultural theory, we have focused on ‘cultural tools' as material and symbolic mediators of learning. In the SDIs teachers are seen as central to learning in the classroom, incorporating information and communications technology (ICT) into their designed learning situations in a naturalistic way. The research reported in this article focuses on the promise and challenge ICT presents to established subject sub-cultures as seen through the eyes of individual teachers. More particularly, we are interested in the ways in which teachers' subject identities, their personal theories and espoused pedagogical styles interact with ICT, and whether teachers from various subject areas differ in the way they perceive the role of ICT in their teaching .
John, P. (2005)
The sacred and the profane: subject sub-culture, pedagogical practice and teachers’ perceptions of the classroom uses of ICT. Educational Review, Vol. 57, No. 4, November 2005.
Drawing on extensive interview data with 37 participants across six subject areas (maths, science, English, music, modern foreign languages and geography) this paper explores and explains the extent to which subject teachers and their various epistemic communities or subject sub-cultures negotiate the relationship between ICT and learning in their subject contexts. The study uses Bernstein's (1996) conception of ‘the sacred and the profane' as a heuristic to guide the dynamics of the process. Using a content analysis based on grounded themes, the findings show that with extended and supported use ‘transaction spaces' emerge where subject teachers begin to negotiate with new technologies thus creating new meanings and accommodations. These changes are evolutionary rather than transformatory with the evidence pointing to a ‘new' blend of technology and subject taking place; a trend that highlights the centrality of pragmatic pedagogy and the importance of the ‘pedagogic dependent ICT resource'.
Digital Video as a Tool for Transforming Practice
Beardsley, L., Cogan-Drew, D. & Olivero, F. (forthcoming).
Videopaper: Bridging Research and Practice for Pre-Service and Experienced Teachers. . In R. Goldman & R.D. Pea & B. Barron & S.J. Derry (Eds), Video Research in the Learning Sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
Professional preparation and continuing professional development for classroom teachers are fields that are challenged by their reliance on two distinct traditions: the tradition of academic research, which seeks to provide scholarly and theoretical foundations for effective pedagogy; and the tradition of clinical practice, which supports practitioners to value their classroom experiences and use those experiences as a text to study and analyze in order to better understand their craft. Each of these two distinct traditions relies upon a distinct Discourse for articulating the schemas, scholarship, and terminology for communicating its values and perspectives. Many of the professionals whom these discourse traditions seek to engage find each of the traditions somewhat lacking. For some, academic Discourse lacks the vitality and engagement of the classroom. For others, classroom based research provides little opportunity to explore broad themes that inspire intellectual growth. In an effort to bridge the gulf between these two Discourses, educators have been exploring the potential of new technologies and software. This chapter will discuss one of these innovative products, VideoPaper technology. VideoPaper offers opportunities for integrating educational theory and academic research with the excitement of classroom practice and, thereby, transforming teacher education and professional development.
Olivero, F., John, P. & Sutherland, R. (2004)
Seeing is believing: using videopapers to transform teachers' professional knowledge and practice. Cambridge Journal of Education , Vol. 34, No. 2, pp 169-176. June 2004
Gaps, barriers, boundaries and walls are words often used to describe the separation between educational research and practice. They account for the differences that are said to exist between the ‘two cultures'; the members of which appear to occupy different worlds, have different mindsets and express themselves in different discourses. The purpose of this paper is to suggest ways of overcoming this divide by presenting a new genre of publication, videopaper, that integrates and synchronizes different forms of representation, such as text, video and images, in one cohesive document. We argue that this has the potential to end the elision in the educational community which sees researchers as knowledge generators and teachers as knowledge translators. We contend that videopaper has a range of affordances that can help the professional and academic communities to find new ways of seeing, creating and using educational research.
Armstrong, V., Barnes, S., Sutherland, R., Curran, S., Mills, S. & Thompson, I.
Collaborative research methodology for investigating teaching and learning: the use of interactive whiteboard technology. Educational Review, Vol. 57, No. 4., November 2005.
This paper discusses the results of a research project which aimed to capture, analyse and communicate the complex interactions between students, teachers and technology that occur in the classroom. Teachers and researchers used an innovative research design developed through the Interactive Education Project (Sutherland et al ., 2003). Video case studies were carried out in four classrooms, focusing on the use of interactive whiteboard technology for teaching and learning. The case studies were analysed using StudioCode, an analytic tool which allows researchers to mark and code segments of video data into categories and themes. Teachers developed coding systems drawing on the learning aims and objectives of their particular lessons. The case studies illustrate that the introduction of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) into the classroom involves much more than the physical installation of the board and software. Teachers are the critical agents in mediating the software, the integration of the software into the subject aims of the lesson and appropriate use of the IWB to promote quality interactions and interactivity.
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