Section archive - ICT & Teaching

In an initiative to improve learning experiences and outcomes for students, the leaders of a school located in a hospital in Australia implemented a new digital strategy with mobile technologies and relevant digital pedagogies. This study examines the outcomes of a professional development program introduced to effect transformational change by enabling integrated use of mobile technologies in the hospital school. The study examines teachers’ views following completion of this customized professional development program, using a mixed methods investigation situated within the unique learning environment of the hospital school. A key finding is that identifying and addressing teacher needs through customized professional development, supported with individualized coaching, can increase the participating teachers’ technological pedagogical knowledge to enable the improved use of mobile technology in a hospital school setting. Additionally, hospital school teachers responded to opportunities to collaborate as a professional learning community to implement, support, and enhance mobile learning for hospitalized students. The findings from this study have significant implications for leaders in all schools and systems embarking on similar initiatives to transform pedagogical practices through professional development supporting mobile technology integration in a digital world.

This study examines the experiences of teachers enrolled in an online certificate program for K–12 online teaching. Participants blogged weekly regarding their experiences developing and facilitating an online course. Qualitative analysis of the data shows that teachers face many challenges in developing and facilitating an online course; however, they found support from their colleagues enrolled in the program. Additionally, teachers found value in the authentic experience afforded them in the virtual field experience in that it gave them exposure to online learning theory coupled with the opportunity to design and facilitate their own online courses.

This study explored the relationship between English as foreign language (EFL) teachers’ content-specific pedagogical beliefs and their technology integration practices. Using a multiple-case-study research design, the authors examined 12 secondary-level EFL teachers’ beliefs using Johnson’s (1992) framework of skill-based, rule-based, or function-based. The findings suggested an overall alignment between EFL teachers’ content-specific pedagogical beliefs and technology integration practices. While EFL teachers used similar technology tools, the same tools were used to support different types of teaching practices depending on teachers’ content-specific pedagogical beliefs.

Using a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) approach a research model is developed to predict teachers’ behavioural intention to use educational video games in their courses. The research model is tested via structural equation modelling (SEM) on a sample of 312 Higher Education teachers. Main results suggest that perceived usefulness influences in a direct and positive way teachers’ behavioural intention while perceived ease of use indirectly influences intention through perceived usefulness. Gender and age were not found to moderate teachers’ attitude and behavioural intention. Regarding managerial implications, the authors’ findings suggest that Teacher Training Programmes aiming to encourage the use of educational video games should focus in increasing teachers’ perceived usefulness of educational video games.