markus mostert & lynn quinn rhodes university grahamstown south africa using icts in teaching...
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Markus Mostert & Lynn Quinn Rhodes University
GrahamstownSouth Africa
Using ICTs in Teaching and Learning:Reflections on Professional Development of Academic Staff
Introductions
Markus has a Masters Degree in Computer-Assisted Education from the University of Pretoria. As the Coordinator of Educational Technology in the Academic Development Centre at Rhodes, his primary responsibility is to assist academic staff with integrating Information Technology into teaching and learning.
Collage: Dina Belluigi
Introductions
Lynn has been involved in the field of Academic Development since 1995. Her first career was as a high school English teacher. When she first started working in the ADC her work mainly involved supporting students in terms of academic writing. Her MA research project focused on students' writing in HE. From 1999 the ADC at Rhodes began to focus more on academic staff development. 2000 saw the introduction of the first version of the Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education (PGDHE). The qualification has been designed and is taught by most of the staff in the ADC. Lynn has, for some years, been the co-ordinator of the PGDHE and the ADC MEd students. This year she will teach the Assessors' Course. Aside from the formal programmes, she does other work to support lecturers at Rhodes University, particularly in relation to the evaluation of teaching and courses. At the end of 2006 she completed her PhD which is entitled: 'A social realist account of the emergence of a formal academic staff development programme at a South African university'. (Collage: Dina Belluigi)
Overview
Context: HE / PGDHE
Focus: Using ICTs in teaching and learning Educational developers / Academic Development staff
Academic staff / PGDHE participants
Issue: Separateness
Lens: Technological Pedagogical Content
Knowledge
“Solution”: Professional Learning Communities
Context
Changing Higher Education
Impact of technology
Professional Development of Academic Staff
Communities of Practice
These professional communities have allowed a sense of belonging
and confidence in shared decision-making when (often)
external factors seemed to be working against us …
(in Unwin 2007:296)
Background
The PGDHE
Learning about ICTs in the PGDHE
ICTs and Higher Education
Separating practices
Separating discourses
What does this mean for
professional development?
C P
T
Reflections on our programme
Technological Pedagogical Content
Knowledge
Implications for staff developers
Implications for curriculum development
Technological Pedagogical Content
Knowledge
C P
T
TPCK represents a class of knowledge that is central to teachers’ work with technology. This knowledge would not typically be held by technologically proficient subject matter experts, or by technologist who know a little of the subject or of pedagogy, or by teachers who know little of that subject or about technology.
Content Knowledge
C P
T
• Subject matter
• Central facts, concepts,
theories, procedures
• Explanatory frameworks that
organize & connect ideas
• Roles of evidence & proof
• Nature of knowledge & inquiry
Pedagogical Knowledge
C P
T
• Processes & practices, methods
of teaching & learning
• Educational purposes, values,
aims
• Theories of learning
Pedagogical Content Knowledge
C P
T
Shulman (1986)• Pedagogy applicable to
teaching of specific content• Fitting approaches• Representation & formulation
of concepts, techniques, knowledge of difficult/easy concepts, ss’ prior knowledge, epistemology
• Appropriate conceptual representations
Technology Knowledge
C P
T
• Standard technologies
• Advanced technologies
• Skills to operate
• OSs, hardware, std software
• Install peripherals & software
• Backups
• Learn & adapt
Technological Content Knowledge
C P
T
• Reciprocal relationship
• Constraints & affordances
• Knowledge representations
• Content changed by
technology
• Nature of learning can also be
changed by technology
Technological Pedagogical Knowledge
C P
T
• Existence, components &
capabilities of ICTs
• How they are used in teaching
• How teaching might change
• Tools for a specific task,
fitness, affordances, strategies
Technological Pedagogical Content
Knowledge
C P
T
Quality teaching requires developing a nuanced understanding of the complex relationships between technology, content, and pedagogy, and using this understanding to develop appropriate, context-specific strategies and representations
Implications for educational developers
Content Knowledge
Pedagogical Knowledge
Pedagogical Content Knowledge
Technology Knowledge
Technological Content Knowledge
Technological Pedagogical Knowledge
Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge
C P
T
Implications for curriculum development
Team-based activity
Composition of the team
Role of the educational technologist
The ICT enthusiast “will be there to mediate … the
potential of the technologies with the desired
pedagogies. … they will be able to reduce anxieties
and allow the development of confidence within the
learning community with the technologies being
used” (Unwin 2007:302).
Discussion
This paper describes one strategy for promoting the use of ICTs in the teaching and learning practices of a higher education institution in South Africa. Integrating ICTs in a professional development course for lecturers simultaneously addresses the lack and skills of staff developers and that of academic staff who benefit from experiencing the use of ICTs as “students”. I wonder if it will be useful to start a discussion by relating our own experiences of staff development. Please tell us how your institution assists teachers in using ICTs in their teaching.
Discussion