Part 1: Introduction • Part 2: Objectives and Scope • Part 3: Methodology • Part 4: Findings • Part 5: Recommendations • Part 6: Appendices
14th June 200
In this report to date we have reported the findings of a research project which aimed to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of use of learning technologies in the enhancement of teaching and student learning. Findings of inadequate use and perceptions of learning technologies among the group of teachers at ESC have lead to recommendations for three audiences:
The recommendation here is for professional development in three areas:
a. Modern knowledge about student learning in particular the nature of enhanced learning is required. The understanding of enhanced learning displayed in the interview transcripts of the group of teachers at ESC was inadequate and unlikely to lead to the type of teaching approaches which encourage high quality learning outcomes. For instance in one interview transcript the following was written:
What about a photocopier; is it a learning technology?
Well it does enhance learning, we don't have to use that bloody old fordiograph where you had to spend hours and hours preparing.
How does the photocopier enhance learning?
Well it enables you to give much better quality reproduction of things to kids. It gives you enlargements and it gets the job done more quickly which gives you time for other things
Are you saying by speeding up the learning process you are going to enhance it?
No I am saying its speeding up our ability to get stuff to the kids. We are going to enhance their learning because we have more time for other things. We might put more time into their corrections.
The thrusts of this quote are common among the interview transcripts. Firstly, there is no evidence of enhanced learning meaning more complete conceptual understanding. The teaching approach underpinning this quote is teacher centred/information transfer (its speeding up our ability to get stuff to the kids). Research has shown that this type of teaching approach is unlikely to encourage the deep learning approaches required for conceptual understanding (Trigwell, Prosser and Lyons, 1999). Secondly, there is an emphasis throughout the quote on time - not enough of it (it gets the job done more quickly which gives you time for other things). Student centred/conceptual development teaching approaches require time in development and in implementation. Students need time to look for the links between areas of content which comprise understanding. Indeed one of the factors in a learning environment identified as encouraging surface learning approaches is the perception by students of a workload that is unmanageable (Ramsden, 1992). It is possible that a perception of an unmanageable workload by teachers is a factor encouraging a teacher/centred/information transfer teaching approach.
Professional development in the nature of enhanced learning is recommended for the group of teachers which participated in the research at ESC. Research into students' understandings of specific topics and concepts indicate that the topics or concepts can be understood in a limited number of qualitatively different ways (for example Johansson, Marton, & Svensson, 1995). Of considerable importance, the research has presented the different ways of understanding the topic or concept in a hierarchy of levels of complexity. Deeper understandings are more complex than more shallow understandings. For instance, a study of the different ways of understanding mathematics in the questionnaire responses of 300 VCE students beginning university studies about mathematics identified five different levels of understanding of mathematics within the questionnaire responses (Crawford et al., 1994). A hierarchical structure was identified in the levels of understanding. Those low in the hierarchy represented a fragmented view of mathematics as numbers, rules and formulae. Higher level understandings described a more complex view of mathematics as a means of solving complex problems and developing new insights used for understanding the world. Enhanced learning about mathematics embraces the more complex view of mathematics.
Experience with a professional development seminar at ESC which looked at the latest research findings about student learning indicated that teachers were not adverse to the ideas being promoted.
b. The teachers at ESC need continued professional development in the skills required to proficiently use and teach students to use the more complex learning technologies, that is the technologies other than word processing hardware and software. Without these skills and understandings of the capabilities of learning technologies teachers are not likely to devote the time necessary to incorporate the use of learning technologies into their professional and/or classroom activities.
c. Of vital importance, the teachers at ESC need to contemplate, in a structured way, how learning technologies can be used to encourage deep learning approaches in students. While the general nature of deep learning approaches and the teaching factors which encourage deep learning approaches are known, the research shows that the specific details of deep approaches to learning have been found to be discipline dependent (Ramsden, 1992; Gibbs, 1992). That is, a deep approach to learning about physics, for example, is different from a deep approach to learning about humanities or IT. Professional development is needed in which small groups of subject area teachers use their teaching experience and knowledge of learning technologies and enhanced learning to brainstorm ways in which the learning technologies can be used to encourage the factors which lead to deep learning approaches. Appendix 3 is an example of a worksheet which could be used as the basis for such a brainstorming session.
The recommendation is for other schools to undertake similar professional development programs to those proposed for ESC.
We believe the research results at ESC are generalisable to a majority of other Victorian secondary schools. The demands on secondary teachers and the conditions of work are consistent across Victorian schools. On average, teachers at ESC are of similar age and experience to other secondary schools in the State and face similar challenges. There is no apparent reason why perceptions and use of learning technologies are not likely to be similar, unless particular schools have taken the necessary steps to focus on each teacherŐs perceptions of learning technologies and how the technologies can be employed to enhance learning in particular learning areas.
While the DOE support for and publications about learning technologies are admirable endeavours, the findings of the research at ESC cast doubt on the likely success of the efforts to incorporate learning technologies across the curriculums of Victorian secondary schools. Behind the support and publications, we believe, are an assumed perception of learning technologies and enhanced learning. Our research indicates that teachers are not likely to be perceiving learning technologies and enhanced learning in a manner intended by the Department. For instance, a teacher at ESC said:
The Government proposes that learning technologies bring about enhanced learning. What do you think the government means by enhanced learning?
I would have very little clue what the government thinks enhanced learning is. I don't think the government have spent a lot of time informing me what they think. Basically I think they are on about learning more relevant, more useful, making teaching easier, and learning quicker, more retained because they enjoy it more.
While it might be politically expedient to be seen to be promoting the use of learning technologies in schools, we believe the support to teachers has been misplaced in two areas:
1. The term "learning technologies" is a relatively new one and is at the forefront of promotion and support for enhanced learning in schools. Unfortunately professional development in the incorporation of learning technologies into the curriculum has focussed on teachers gaining skills in using the technologies. We recommend, on the basis of the findings of the research at ESC, that more DOE support is required for professional development programs which addresses teachers' perceptions of learning technologies, in particular the nature of enhanced learning and how learning technologies can be used in the classroom to enhance student learning.
2. Teachers need more time to integrate learning technologies into their curricula. The evidence from the interviews at ESC and the decrease in professional and classroom use of learning technologies by the teachers over the research period indicates that teachers have initially embraced learning technologies but then found the effort too much in addition to their normal teaching activities. Teachers at ESC faced a considerable challenge to incorporate learning technologies into their teaching practices. On average they taught a load of 24 periods per week, leaving 6 periods for correction, preparation and other duties. As a result, many teachers embraced learning technologies as a means to be more efficient in their personal professional life, but unfortunately this enthusiasm has not always translating into use in the classroom.
3. To use the technology in class teachers need to be proficient and confident users and be able to diagnose minor problems that may arise. Backup lessons and activities need to be in place in case of equipment failure. Technical support needs to be available when necessary. Many staff at ESC gave the Internet a try in class after the LWTI training program, but soon fell back to traditional teacher centred approaches as they required far less preparation and organisation.
Teachers at ESC are also aware of the increasing amounts of course content that they are required to deliver in a given semester. For example, mathematics teachers simply cannot teach all the required outcomes of the Curriculum Standards Framework II in any one year. Teachers must decide what must be omitted from a very full curriculum.
In general, at ESC and other secondary schools in the State, teachers are facing an unmanageable workload. Under this pressure teacher-centred/information transfer teaching approaches with a minimum of learning technologies involvement are likely. As has been explained previously in the report enhanced learning outcomes are unlikely under these teaching conditions and approaches.
More time release needs to be made available to teachers in schools to learn about learning technologies, enhanced learning and how learning technologies can be used to encourage enhanced learning outcomes.
Learning technologies will never be the panacea to all teaching problems but when adequate skill in using the technologies is combined with a contemporary understanding of teaching and student learning they can be used to support teaching approaches likely to encourage enhanced learning in students. The research at ESC indicates that current DOE initiatives to introduce learning technologies in secondary schools in Victoria are unlikely to have been generally and significantly successful. Future success is only likely if more time release is made available to teachers to engage in professional development programs concerning the nature of enhanced learning, skills in using learning technologies and how learning technologies can be used in the classroom to enhance student learning.
Research into the effect and impact of learning technologies on secondary school curricula needs to continue. To be of value the research needs to focus on the quality of students' learning outcomes in response to the use of learning technologies.