Project update

Research Study:

Project update

Investigating the impact of teachers’ educational beliefs, attitudes and pedagogy on the use of educational technology, innovation and e-learning in Maltese primary schools.

Research Research Title:Title:Research Research Title:Title:

Ethical procedures:Ethical procedures:Permission from the director of research and development in education was given for research to be carried out in primary government schools.

Permission was then obtained from the Educational Officer eLearning and the college Principal were the research is being carried out .

Heads of the schools involved were informed of the research and asked for permission as well.

Teachers who were to fill in the questionnaires were given the research information sheet and signed the consent form agreeing to participate.

Teachers who were to be observed, keep reflective journals or be interviewed were also given the information sheet and asked to sign the consent form.

Children in the classes being observed had a signed consent form from their parents as well. (Although the teacher was to be studied and not the pupils, it was still necessary to get permission from the parents.)

MethodologyMethodologyThis research is based on an ethnographic approach and qualitative methods are used although there is a small amount of quantitative data to provide triangulation.

Ethnography was chosen as this approach:…uncovers meaning which is inaccessible through other forms of enquiry, using interpretation, interaction, content, emotion and aesthetic experience. Unstructured data, including observations of behaviour and recorded speech, are analysed and interpreted by the researcher, resulting in an explanation of meaning in its situated context.

Singh and Dickson(2003)

Research Research Instruments:Instruments:

Questionnaires

Reflective Journals

Observations

Interviews

Pilot Pilot Study:Study:Questionnaires:Questionnaires: piloted with primary class

teachers from colleges which will not be participating in the research as well as colleagues who very recently were primary class teachers before moving on to joining the elearning support staff.

Results:Results: Questionnaire was amended and modified accordingly.

Observations/Reflective Observations/Reflective Journals/Interviews:Journals/Interviews: piloted with one class or volunteering teacher.

Results:Results: Guidelines for observations,journals and interviews revised and schedules modified accordingly.

The questionnaire was distributed in 5 primary schools – all part of St. Ignatius College namely:

Luqa, Qormi St. Sebastian, Qormi St. George, Siggiewi and Zebbug Primary schools.

Data Collection:Data Collection:

40 questionnaires have been collected to date from 3 schools.(In these schools there was a 100% return rate)

2 more schools remain with questionnaires to be still collected.

Around 6 teachers from various schools volunteered to keep reflective journals of using technology in the classroom. I provided them with guidelines to address my research questions and remind them each time I visit their class to continue with the journal.

LimitationsLimitationsI am keeping a reflective journal myself of the technology being used (or not used) as most were reluctant to continue with the journals due to lack of time.

Data CollectionData CollectionI have sent out emails reminding the teachers that were still interested that I will be collecting the journals as from this week. Hope to receive them by email or collect them when visiting.

5 Classes volunteered to have me observe sessions when they would be using some form of technology in the classroom.

LimitationsLimitations

Unfortunately each time I scheduled visits activities would crop up in schools and observations post-poned from week to week for one reason or another. I decided to be a participant observer in my own sessions.

3 interviews have been scheduled for this week.

I plan to use semi-structured interviews and probe accordingly.

Data CollectionData Collection

All interviews will be voice-recorded for transcribing later on.

The following slides show:The following slides show:

Examples of TEL used in some Maltese Examples of TEL used in some Maltese classroomsclassrooms

These were part of the observations or These were part of the observations or participant observations carried out.participant observations carried out.

Click on the pictures to see the videos they link toClick on the pictures to see the videos they link to

Technology Enhanced Technology Enhanced learninglearning

Video Conferencing Sessions:

http://www1.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=227087&title=Video_Conferencing&ref=Rocamtnor


Using StopMotion Animation

Children first created the scene and then built the animation step by step.


Using Bee Bots Bee Bot is an appealing programmable robot for young children. It is an easy way to introduce control technology into the classroom, for children as young as 3. However, its versatile nature also means it can be used with up to 10 year olds and help develop other areas of curriculum in addition to ICT. Many schools have found that Bee Bot can help children develop skills or reinforce concepts which other resources or methods don’t.


Using digital cameras to create a Photosynth:

AnalysisAnalysisQuestionnairesQuestionnaires

-Excel Spreadsheet will be used for the closed ended or likert type questions. This will facilitate eliciting descriptive statistics which will be presented through pie charts and similar graphs.

Open ended questions in Open ended questions in questionnaire, observations, questionnaire, observations, interviews, reflective journals:interviews, reflective journals:

- will be analysed thematically using content analysis. Categories will be created. Data reduction of categories will follow. A written narrative of the analysis and interpretation of the data will yield recommendations and lead to the conclusion.

SampleSampleQuestionnaires were distributed to all Questionnaires were distributed to all primary schools in one college – St. Ignatius primary schools in one college – St. Ignatius college. A maximum of 80 teachers were college. A maximum of 80 teachers were involved.involved.

The observations/reflective journals and The observations/reflective journals and interviews were restricted to one school due interviews were restricted to one school due to logistical and time problems. to logistical and time problems.

5 teachers opted to keeping a reflective 5 teachers opted to keeping a reflective journal, 5 to having observations carried out journal, 5 to having observations carried out in class and 5 to interviews.in class and 5 to interviews.

Most of these dropped out for one reason or Most of these dropped out for one reason or another and have fewer teachers another and have fewer teachers participatingparticipating

Validity of dataValidity of dataThe validity of the data presented is tested, as seen, by using various research methods and various research instruments. This triangulation allows data to be viewed from different angles and probed accordingly to elicit more meaning. In this way reliability will be tested as well.