Framing my Issue… harder than I thought!

Now I have got to wondering about ‘blended learning’ and the potential impact it can have on the effective use of technology in the maths and science classroom.  I just can’t narrow my issue down!  Back to CiteULike I go…

How can teachers ‘know what they don’t know’ about technology?

It seems that a lot of teachers refrain from integrating technology because they don’t know how or what to do.  Is this due to lack of teacher training pre-service, lack of training in-service or is it because there’s not suitable software/hardware available or because the teachers just don’t want to?  Maybe integration of technology is in the ‘too hard’ basket for a lot of teachers given that they having increasingly diverse needs in their student demographics, stagnant salary scales and increasing responsibilities with less non-contact time.  Maybe technology integration really does take too much time to learn and use effectively to enhance learning.  Do we really need it?  If so is there an easier way to get more teachers on board?  I’m finding it hard to narrow my research!  Do I want to look at the impact of having a shared school vision for integrating technology?  The impact of good pre-service training regarding technology integration? Or do I want to investigate the various ways to target PD at teachers to identify the ‘better’ways?  EEK!  Or do I want to investigate how to most effectively marry good pedagogical practices with technology integration?  Or what about differentiation opportunities or VAK learning preferences….

Framing Issues proposal: Can technology facilitate differentiated learning (in Science and Maths) effectively?

After my interviews I was disheartened because I was left with answers that didn’t elicit many issues other than ‘no equipment’ and ‘not enough training’ as my current context involves schools with very little technology.   However, my interviewees both felt that there was potential for technology to ‘level the playing field’ in the classroom.  In addition, in one of the case study videos (LE4) an experienced teacher emphasized how technology “equalizes the playing field”.  Consequently, I posted this question “Does technology have the potential to be the great equalizer in education?”  This unfolded into a very divergent set of opinions:  those who strongly believed the potential is there (as I do) and those who aren’t ‘buying into the hype’ and think it may be a case of ‘throwing the baby out with the bath water’. 

I was further intrigued by the possibilities of researching in this area to further justify the need for technology in my current context, especially in the maths and science classrooms. 

The following are resources I am investigating for use in my paper (ranked in order of most likely use for evidence).  I used http://www.citeulike.org along with the UBC library and a general search on the web to obtain my articles.  I believe that the range of articles that I have selected will provide me with a critical perspective with which to analyse and frame my issue of the potential for and connection between differentiation and technology.

1. Stanford, P., Crowe, M. W., and Flice, H. (2010). Differentiating with technology. TEACHING Exceptional Children Plus, 6(4).
2.  Chen, C. J., Toh, S. C., and Ismail, W. M. (2005). Are learning styles relevant to virtual reality? Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 38(2):123-141.
3. WeCan@: exploring the implication of young people with learning disabilities engaging in their own research.  European Journal of Special Needs Education, Vol 25, No 1. (1February, 2010), pp.31-44.
4. Sherman, T. M. and Kurshan, B. L. (2005). Constructing learning: Using technology to support teaching for understanding. Learning & Leading with Technology, 32(5):10-13.
5.  Best Practices for the Knowledge Society. Knowledge, Learning, Development and Technology for All In Best Practices for the Knowledge Society. Knowledge, Learning, Development and Technology for All, Vol. 49 (2009), pp. 33-40.
6.  Elen, E. and Bulut, O. (2011). The relationship between students’ exposure to technology and their achievement in science and math. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – TOJET, 10(3):311-317.
7.  Lee, M.J.W. & McLoughlin, C. (2008). Harnessing the affordances of Web 2.0 and social software tools: Can we finally make “student-centred” learning a reality?. In J. Luca & E. Weippl (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2008 (pp. 3825-3834). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Retrieved February 11, 2011from http://www.editlib.org/p/28915.
8.  Herro, D. (2010). Web 2.0 in the Classroom: Student Practices, Teacher Perspectives. In D. Gibson & B. Dodge (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2010 (pp. 2737-2742). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.  Retrieved February 10, 2011 from http://www.editlib.org/p/33784.
9.  Chew, E., Jones, N., and Turner, D. (2008). Critical review of the blended learning models based on maslow’s and vygotsky’s educational theory. In Fong, J., Kwan, R., and Wang, F., editors, Hybrid Learning and Education, volume 5169 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, chapter 4, pages 40-53. Springer Berlin / Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg.

 
DWilkes Framing Issues Paper