Contextual issues of technology integration in teacher practice
Creators: name: COHEN, Deborah
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 390102
subject: Curriculum and pedagogy theory and development
classificationCode: 390307
subject: Teacher education and professional development of educators
classificationCode: 390405
subject: Educational technology and computing

description: AbsThis study was situated within the broader Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) field of research, particularly related to the question, why and how teachers integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Digital Learning Materials (DLMs) in their teaching. Classroom interactions between teachers, students and ICT do not happen in a vacuum; many extrinsic and intrinsic factors influence why and how teachers integrate (select and use) ICT and DLMs in their teaching, and this integration process is reflective of TPACK. The significance of this study was that it connected the micro-level, cognitive and behavioural choices of teachers to integrate ICT and DLMs, with meso-level school ICT implementation strategies, and macro-level government education policy and ICT resourcing initiatives. In particular, this study traces the legacy of school resourcing initiatives as part of the Digital Education Revolution (DER) to enhance ICT infrastructure, reduce computer to student ratios to 1:1, introduce a national curriculum, and focus on quality teaching through the development of professional standards. These initiatives were adopted and contextualised by the Victorian education system and schools at the meso level of implementation, which in turn had a significant bearing on why and how the teachers of this study integrated ICT and DLMs as part of their teaching program. In this study, a socio-constructivist approach is applied, using instrumental Case study. Semi-structured interviews, focus group, and analysis of Australian government education policy and resourcing initiatives (2008-2016), school ICT implementation processes, and pedagogical applications of DLMs are used as methods of data collection. Social-ecology theory (Holling, 2001) is referenced to analyse ICT innovation as a transformative agent in an education system. 

In response to why teachers integrated ICT and DLMs, the findings of this study showed that macro-level, meso-level and micro-level extrinsic and intrinsic factors can be both opportunities and constraints to teacher decision-making and adopted teaching approaches. Opportunities emanating from education policy and resourcing initiatives enhanced the supply of ICT infrastructure to schools that introduced localised 1:1 computer to student ICT programs. Technologically enriched learning environments and teaching and learning programs provided opportunities for teachers to adopt and integrate ICT and DLMs in their teaching. Constraints to effective integration were lack of time to prepare lessons inclusive of ICT and DLMs, inequity issues about ICT access and resourcing, lack of technical assistance, and limited ICT training and experience with using DLMs to support learning. In response to how teachers integrated ICT and DLMs, this study found that teachers mainly used DLMs as a substitute for other traditional resources or physical applications, such as `pen and paper', but that the DLMs they chose provided some functional advantages for students when learning new content independently. The participating teachers selected DLMs based on their relevance, accessibility with respect to ease of operation, cost, connectivity, perceived quality (tested and endorsed by peers) and applicability (that the inherent learning design and orientation allowed for independent use by students). The teachers mainly located DLMs through general Internet searches, or by recommendations from colleagues.