These "Tools for Transforming Learning" are designed to support individuals and groups in thinking about teaching and learning with new technologies.
The material included is drawn from the ESRC/TLRP research project: InterActive Education: Teaching and Learning in the Information Age.
One of the features of the InterActive project was to put a tight focus on classroom activity, in particular on how teachers and learners interacted with technology.
Using video data we were able to analyse in detail many different kinds of interactions: for example what happened when individuals, pairs or groups used a computer to write, investigate or problem solve; how teachers were using commonly available software like Word, Excel, PowerPoint or subject specific programmes such as dynamic geometry, music composition or science simulations; how teachers were orchestrating use of computers, interactive whiteboards and traditional materials like pencil and paper.
Tools for Transforming Learning include data collected during the InterActive project: video extracts, transcripts, examples of pupils’ work, extracts from interviews with the teachers and the pupils involved. In addition you will find analyses and reflections from the project team, which was made up of university researchers, teacher trainers and teachers.
Our hope is that these “Tools” will be used in initial teacher training and in continuing professional development. The liveliness and quality of the discussions about our research data were a feature of the InterActive project. We hope that sharing some of it with you will spark discussion, encourage you to make your own analyses, raise issues, identify aspects that interest you. In this process we will all be helping to develop effective practice and augment our knowledge of teaching and learning in this fascinating area.
The video extracts are taken from long sequences filmed in real classrooms. The aim was to capture the data with minimum intrusion, and sound and vision were never to be of broadcast quality. We would not claim that the presence of cameras and microphones had no effect on the participants; but, like other researchers, we think that, over time, they were largely ignored.
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