Web-enhanced distance teaching in early childhood education : Lecturer professional development

New Zealand’s tertiary education sector is making increasing use of e-learning (Suddaby & Milne, 2008). In addition, changes in the New Zealand early childhood context have spawned the use of online technologies in delivering teacher education programs. One early childhood teacher provider, New Zealand Tertiary College, is piloting a web-enhanced distance learning project. This paper sees a brief review of the New Zealand early childhood context, online learning, and online teaching. Following an introduction to the web-enhanced distance learning pilot project, findings from the project with regards to the three lecturers who participated in the project, and their experiences of web-enhanced teaching, are illustrated using thematic analysis. Recommendations for improving the web-enhanced project are noted, and finally, the importance of a dedicated professional development program in readying lecturers to teach in a web-enhanced learning environment is discussed. The key to success in an online course for early childhood professionals is to create a sense of community that encourages active participation, meaningful contributions, and an open exchange of ideas and resources (Donohue, 2003, p. 81) Early childhood teacher education in New Zealand The early childhood sector, as well as early childhood teacher education, in New Zealand has undergone significant changes over the last few years. One driving factor has been the New Zealand Government’s requirement (Pathways to the Future: Nga Huarahi Arataki) that all early childhood teachers hold at minimum a Diploma of Teaching by 2012 (Ministry of Education, 2002). This has meant that not only has there been a rapid growth in education providers (from six colleges being the sole providers of teacher education in the 1990’s, to twenty providers today), but teacher education providers are also beginning to Web-enhanced teaching: Lecturer professional development Paper submitted to the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) Conference 2008. Submitted 15/5/2008 Page 2 offer alternative modes of course delivery, in what still is a field dominated by classroom-based courses (Kane, 2005). Early childhood teacher education providers, such as New Zealand Tertiary College, have now begun to implement new ways to deliver their programs, for example, courses via online technologies. Learning in an online environment The Education Commission of the States noted several years ago (2002) that distance learning is a mode of educational delivery that could increase educational opportunities for early childhood student-teachers. Technological advances in the last decade (Nicholls & McLachlan, 2006) have meant that distance learning, in the traditional paper-and-pencil based mode, can now be enhanced by web-technologies. Few researchers have made comparisons between online and traditional classrooms (Sunal, Sunal, Odell, & Sundberg, 2003), however, in studies where comparisons were made few differences emerged (e.g., Davies & Mendenhall, 1998). One of the main advantages of web-enhanced learning is the flexibility and convenience it offers students in that they participate in their studies at a time and location suitable them: “as the fastest growing form of information exchange within our society, the Internet allows multimedia technologies to be available to anyone – virtually anywhere” (Hosie, Schibeci, & Backhaus, 2005, p. 540). Traditional distance learning does present a unique set of challenges, for example, isolation from lectures (Nichols & McLachlan, 2006). However, many courses presented in an online learning environment are different from traditional distance learning modes in that students can participate in, and develop, a learning community, for example via online discussion forums (Fox & Donohue, 2006). Similar to face-to-face relationships in classroom-based courses, these online learning communities will only be established if the lecturers facilitate the development of these relationships (Levine, 2005), and if students are willing to engage in interaction, including peer learning experiences. Teaching in an online environment Whilst many lecturers new to the online teaching arena are excited about the idea of teaching online, others are hesitant about the impact online teaching with have on their current roles and workloads, as well as whether they possess the necessary skills (technical and pedagogical) to teach in an online environment. Price and Oliver (2007) identify a paucity of research around the gap between the hype of implementing online learning, and the impact of these technologyfocused practices on lecturers (e.g., the changing conception of what a lecturer is; the emergence of new roles; and the manner in which technologybased practices disrupt current or more traditional practices). In conjunction with this, a recent study focusing on early childhood teacher educators at Web-enhanced teaching: Lecturer professional development Paper submitted to the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) Conference 2008. Submitted 15/5/2008 Page 3 Queensland University of Technology in Australia (Davis, Lennox, Walker, & Walsh, 2007) identify that a large proportion of lecturers “do not believe that online teaching and learning can ever be a full replacement for effective faceto-face teaching and learning in pre-service teacher education” (p. 8). Coupled, these ideas indicate that some lecturers are confused about their changing roles, and many are not convinced that teaching in an online environment is preferable to teaching face-to-face. In addition, many lecturers new to the idea of teaching in an online environment are grappling with technical issues and computer skills. Shea (2007) in a study of 386 faculty teaching in 36 American Colleges found that computer skill level was potentially a demotivating factor for new staff teaching online: “It seems likely that the struggle associated with mastering the technical aspects of line teaching may be a sufficient challenge without adding new subject matter into the mix” (p. 83). Not only could teaching new course material be a potential challenge, but pedagogies which best support the development of online learning communities also need to be considered. For the early childhood context the pedagogical principles underlying the development of online learning communities could become particularly pertinent when considering how we teach the “art and science of caregiving and relational care” (Donohue, 2002, p. 21). This implies that content and instructional design need to create a learning environment which appropriately conveys the course intent and meets course outcomes. Underscoring this, Richards (2006) notes that: any educator wanting to effectively integrate and use ICT’s for teaching and learning purposes needs to understand and apply basic pedagogical as well as technological principles of interaction design in order to develop ICT-supported learning environments relevant to their particular educational purposes and contexts (p. 239).