title: Enhancing teachers’ technological pedagogical knowledge and practices: a professional development model for technology teachers in Malawi

authors: Chikasanda, Vanwyk Khobidi Mbubzi

subjects: professional development

abstract: This paper reports on a professional development that was designed and implemented in an attempt to broaden teachers’ knowledge of the nature of technology and also enhance their technological pedagogical practices. The professional development was organised in four phases with each phase providing themes for reflection and teacher learning in subsequent phases. On-going support, reflection and feedback underpinned the professional development processes to enhance teachers’ prospects of putting aside old traditions and culture to implement new practices in their classrooms. The teachers collaboratively explored new concepts through readings of selected scholarly papers, making presentations of their views generated from the readings and engaging with peers in discussing learning, curriculum issues and concepts related to the nature of technology and technology education. A qualitative analysis of the teachers’ journey through the phases of the professional development showed the teachers’ enhanced knowledge of technology and technology education. However, their classroom practices showed technological pedagogical techniques that reflected their traditional strategies for teaching technical subjects. It is argued that although the teachers’ conceptualisation of learning in technology was still fragile at this point, attempts to shift teachers’ beliefs and practices require deep theoretical grounding and transferring that into technological practices. A professional development built on existing ideas and context helps expand the teachers’ views about the nature of technology and technology education.

text: Enhancing teachers’ technological pedagogical knowledge and practices: a professional development model for technology teachers in Malawi This paper reports on a professional development that was designed and implemented in an attempt to broaden teachers’ knowledge of the nature of technology and also enhance their technological pedagogical practices. The professional development was organised in four phases with each phase providing themes for reflection and teacher learning in subsequent phases. On-going support, reflection and feedback underpinned the professional development processes to enhance teachers’ prospects of putting aside old traditions and culture to implement new practices in their classrooms. The teachers collaboratively explored new concepts through readings of selected scholarly papers, making presentations of their views generated from the readings and engaging with peers in discussing learning, curriculum issues and concepts related to the nature of technology and technology education. A qualitative analysis of the teachers’ journey through the phases of the professional development showed the teachers’ enhanced knowledge of technology and technology education. However, their classroom practices showed technological pedagogical techniques that reflected their traditional strategies for teaching technical subjects. It is argued that although the teachers’ conceptualisation of learning in technology was still fragile at this point, attempts to shift teachers’ beliefs and practices require deep theoretical grounding and transferring that into technological practices. A professional development built on existing ideas and context helps expand the teachers’ views about the nature of technology and technology education.

year: 2013

title: A survey of software requirements specification practices in the New Zealand software industry

authors: Groves, Lindsay

subjects: computer science

abstract: We report on the software development techniques used in the New Zealand software industry, paying particular attention to requirements gathering. We surveyed a selection of software companies with a general questionnaire and then conducted in-depth interviews with four companies. Our results show a wide variety in the kinds of companies undertaking software development, employing a wide range of software development techniques. Although our data are not sufficiently detailed to draw statistically significant conclusions, it appears that larger software development groups typically have more well-defined software development processes, spend proportionally more time on requirements gathering, and follow more rigorous testing regimes.

text: A survey of software requirements specification practices in the New Zealand software industry We report on the software development techniques used in the New Zealand software industry, paying particular attention to requirements gathering. We surveyed a selection of software companies with a general questionnaire and then conducted in-depth interviews with four companies. Our results show a wide variety in the kinds of companies undertaking software development, employing a wide range of software development techniques. Although our data are not sufficiently detailed to draw statistically significant conclusions, it appears that larger software development groups typically have more well-defined software development processes, spend proportionally more time on requirements gathering, and follow more rigorous testing regimes.

year: 1999-06

title: Words on Walls: Te reo Māori (loan)words in Aotearoa New Zealand primary school classrooms

authors: Burnette, Jessie

abstract: The unique language contact situation within Aotearoa New Zealand has informed a range of studies of the defining and increasingly salient feature of New Zealand English (NZE): the integration of loanwords from the indigenous, donor language, te reo Māori, into the dominant recipient language, English (Hay et al. 2008). As NZE is experiencing a state of great lexical flux, it is important to establish which (loan)words children are regularly exposed to and what social meanings they may be acquiring in relation to these. One relevant domain that can be examined for this purpose is that of the classroom. The classroom is educational in the traditional sense, but also in the developmental sense, in the acquisition of broader social meaning. Previous schoolscape research has highlighted not only the pedagogical importance of these spaces, but their influence in the construction and transmission of language ideologies (Pzymus and Huddleston 2021; Brown 2012). The present study aims to answer two questions: RQ1) Which (loan)words are children regularly exposed to through schoolscapes in Aotearoa (and do these words align with the loanwords identified as frequently appearing in previously collected corpora)? RQ2) What implicit language ideologies does the presentation of loanwords display (e.g. are loanwords presented as ‘flagged’/foreign (Levendis and Calude 2019))? This study brings together quantitative and qualitative analysis methods in an in-depth investigation of nine classrooms within three separate primary schools, and aims to provide a broad and perationalizable framework for conducting LL.

text: Words on Walls: Te reo Māori (loan)words in Aotearoa New Zealand primary school classrooms The unique language contact situation within Aotearoa New Zealand has informed a range of studies of the defining and increasingly salient feature of New Zealand English (NZE): the integration of loanwords from the indigenous, donor language, te reo Māori, into the dominant recipient language, English (Hay et al. 2008). As NZE is experiencing a state of great lexical flux, it is important to establish which (loan)words children are regularly exposed to and what social meanings they may be acquiring in relation to these. One relevant domain that can be examined for this purpose is that of the classroom. The classroom is educational in the traditional sense, but also in the developmental sense, in the acquisition of broader social meaning. Previous schoolscape research has highlighted not only the pedagogical importance of these spaces, but their influence in the construction and transmission of language ideologies (Pzymus and Huddleston 2021; Brown 2012). The present study aims to answer two questions: RQ1) Which (loan)words are children regularly exposed to through schoolscapes in Aotearoa (and do these words align with the loanwords identified as frequently appearing in previously collected corpora)? RQ2) What implicit language ideologies does the presentation of loanwords display (e.g. are loanwords presented as ‘flagged’/foreign (Levendis and Calude 2019))? This study brings together quantitative and qualitative analysis methods in an in-depth investigation of nine classrooms within three separate primary schools, and aims to provide a broad and perationalizable framework for conducting LL.

year: 2024