Good Practices in using IT in Teaching and Learning Research Introduction

Content Purposes of the Research Conceptual Framework Research Method Defining “Good Practices” Case Selection Case Analysis Case Categorization Table of Selected Cases

Purposes of the Research During the past decade there has been an exponential growth in the use of information and communication technology (ICT) and this has made pervasive impacts both on the society and on our daily lives. It is thus not surprising to find increasing interest, attention and investment put into the use of ICT on all around the world. In addition to this, the knowledge economy has also brought about in recent years a much greater emphasis on education and a number of masterplans in ICT in education has been produced in many countries. ICT in education has been experiencing its infant stage in Hong Kong in recent years, what impacts has ICT made on classroom practices? Now that most schools have access to computers and the Internet to support teaching and learning, how do teachers, and students make use of them? What changes, if any, has ICT made on the roles of teachers and students and the interactions between then? Has the introduction of ICT in schools brought about the desired education reforms envisaged in the ICT in education masterplans or are these wishful optimisms?At the school level how do various schools cope with the challenges brought by the information-based society? In conjunction with the SITES Module 1 study, we have conducted a study of good practices in the use of ICT for teaching and learning using the case studies approach. The main goal of the Study was to explore these questions in the context of instances of good practices as recognized by members of the education community as well as to develop ways of disseminating such good practices.

Conceptual Framework This study is by nature an exploratory qualitative study to investigate good practices of ICT use in the classrooms, with particular focus on the nature and characteristic of the pedagogical practices and the factors that affect the implementation process. Much of the existing literature on educational uses of ICT categorizes the modes of usage according to the function played by the technology, e.g. as tutor, tool or tutee (Taylor, 1980), as cognitive tools (Solomon, 1986) or mindtools (Jonassen, 2000). Such categorizations are very useful when one is conceptualizing the role that technology plays in the teaching and learning process or when designing or selecting technology tools for education. However, as Jonassen (1999) eloquently pointed out, educational uses of technology that strive to be “teacher- proof” or “learner-proof” do not exploit the capabilities of the technologies or the students. In designing effective learning experiences supported by technology, it is important not only to choose the appropriate technological tool, but also to have a clear understanding of the roles played by the teacher, the learner and the technology.

Conceptual Framework In fact, the fundamental assumption underlying the concept of “emerging pedagogical paradigm” is that with the introduction of technology into the teaching and learning process, the roles played by the teacher and the learner should and needs to change. Thus, we take the view that a study of ICT supported pedagogical practices should not focus on the functional characteristics of the technology used but rather the roles played by the three actors, the teacher, the learners and the technology used, as well as the interactions between them. The actual implemented curriculum will be affected by the idiosyncratic factors associated with each of the three actors present in any specific situation, for example the academic, professional and technological background and the pedagogical orientation of the teacher, the academic and technical competence of the learners as well as their family background and support, the technological infrastructure and technical support available.

Research Methods As the main aim of the study was to learn from the rich and complex experiences of schools in their efforts to integrate ICT in their teaching and learning activities in the school, description and interpretation are the main concern rather than measurement and prediction. As such, multiple-case qualitative study was considered by the team to be the most appropriate approach to employ. For this study, classroom observation, interview, video tapping of the lesson(s) and documentary information will be employed. The videos will then be analyzed and the cases are categorized according to different teaching approaches. It would be fruitful to compare and contrast different ways teachers and students make use of technology in curriculum contexts and the different

Definition of “Good Practices” As mentioned before, the main goal of this Research is to study the good practices in using IT in teaching and learning activities, and to promote these precious experiences. The most challenging question faced by the research team is about the definition of “Good Practices” and its standard. Upon the release of the Five year Strategy by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in November, 1998, local schools had started to develop teaching processes with ICT integrated into various subjects. This research took place from April, 1999 to March, 2000, this time period corresponds to the preliminary stage of the Five-year Strategy. Having considered that chosen schools are at their starting stages of this strategy, the Study has not set any framework or standards for the chosen cases to limit their teaching strategies or ICT application. The best way to learn from the cases at this stage is believed to be studying diversified teaching modes and ICT applications, understanding how teachers would apply IT in teaching under different situations, and how schools adapt to and cope with changes brought about by the ICT.

Definition of “Good Practices” Hence the research team would collect opinions from various parties, and the selection of cases is made through the nomination by experienced education sector fellows, including staff of the Education Department, principals and teachers of schools, and experienced members of educational organizations. The schools selected to be cases are those which have actively participated in IT teaching and have shown their generous willingness to allow observation and video tapping of the lessons by the research team.

Case selection Owing to the support of the principals and teachers from various schools, the research team has successfully observed more than forty lessons, which exceeds the original plans of 15 lessons. The research team devoted considerable effort to choosing cases that would provide a range of worthwhile examples reflecting the widest range of teaching approaches we came across as well as providing examples across different grade levels and school subject areas. Since the type of school would affects the design, implementation and impact of technology application, we made an effort to include primary, secondary pilot and non-pilot schools, grammar and prevocational schools, Chinese medium and English medium schools as well as special schools. As the focus of this study is on the implemented curriculum, it was decided that the key unit of observation and analysis should appropriately be defined as the enactment of a small intact curriculum theme/topic at the classroom level (a pedagogical practice), which may be one or a small number of lessons with clearly stated lesson objectives. Here, the “classroom” is interpreted in a loose sense such that it defines a group of students learning the topic together, but may involve activities that go beyond the physical classroom as well as individuals/groups outside of the school.

Case Analysis For the classroom analysis, each lesson will be divided into certain episodes. Such division is defined as a change in teaching activities or focus and each episode is a unit of analysis of the main point of the episode, the roles of teacher, student and technology and their interactions and inter-relationships. We discover that regardless of the pedagogical approach adopted, the teacher is the central part in implementing innovation in the classroom. Hence the definition of episodes takes place at the same time as the analysis of the role of teacher. Then the role of student and technology in each episode is analyzed and finally, the interactions among the three elements would be examined. For the purpose of clearer analysis of the results of the lessons, the Centre for Information Technology in School and Teacher Education (CITE) of the University of Hong Kong has developed a Video Analyzer for organizing and expressing the details of the whole teaching process.

Categorization of cases Based on the conceptual framework and research methods which have been mentioned before, we discover that teachers would select the types and use of ICT in lessons according to their own teaching methods and beliefs, in other words, teachers would choose appropriate ICT support subject to their preference of pedagogical approach. In SITES data set, five categories of pedagogical approaches of teachers are found. There are five categories in terms of the key pedagogical approaches applied by the teachers are identified. Each category reflects the belief of the teacher on learning and this induces its patterns and functions of teacher’s talk, learning activities and levels of demands and learning outcome of students.

Categorization of cases These five categories of are (1) Expository Approach, (2) Inductive Approach, (3) Task-based Learning Approach, (4) Problem-based Learning Approach and (5) Social-Constructivist Approach. Cases of these five categories of pedagogical approaches would be introduced through various real lessons cases. CDROM 1 consists of the introduction of the cases of Expository and Inductive Approach and CDROM 2 includes the introduction of cases of Task-based Learning Approach, Problem-based Learning Approach and Social-construtivist Approach

Expository Approach Inductive Approach Task-based Learning Approach Problem-based Learning Approach 9. Primary Three - Chinese 10. Primary Four - Art 11. Secondary One - English 12. Secondary Two - Chinese 14. Secondary Five - English 15. Secondary Four and Five - Government and Public Affairs 6. Primary Two - Mathematics 7. Secondary Six - Geography 8. Secondary Six - Chemistry 13. Secondary Three - Mathematics Social-constructivist Approach 1. Primary Four - Music 2. Primary Four - Chinese Tutorial 3. Primary Six - Chinese 4. Secondary Five - Physics 5. Secondary Six - Chemistry Table of selected cases