Workshop 1 DeFT: Digital Futures in Teacher Education Anna Gruszczynska and Richard Pountney, Sheffield Hallam University
Introduction and background Local teachers and pupils, teacher educators and teacher education students involved in: sharing and developing good practice in teaching understanding more about digital literacy developing guidance on Open Educational Resources in the school context Project outputs will be shared via an open textbook (pulling together case studies and supporting resources) and the "Digital Bloom" installation For more information: Project website Project blog Slideshare Contact:
Activity no List your three favourite digital tools 2. Name a tool you're not very familiar with but would be interested in trying out
Research questions and framework Key questions What is the relationship between Open Educational Resources and digital literacy within professional development? What understandings of digital literacy and Open Educational Resources emerge through a reflexive approach to project methodology? Research framework Embedded within Bernstein's theory of pedagogic discourse Drawing on the principles of social sciences knowledge production (teacher education as its subset) Exploring tacit aspects of pedagogical practice Exploring the "why" (socio- cultural/institutional context) rather than solely the "how" (technical aspects) of OER/DL
Project methodology: Data collection Reflexive moments Five staged prompts sent out to team members; responses via or personal blogs Each moment is followed by a digest of emerging themes and issues, shared with project participants via project website Materials emerging from the case studies of digital practice: notes from project meetings and school visits notes from rich media content - photographs and videos comments from teachers/team members on project blog and Twitter focus groups with PGCE students
Project methodology: Principles The case study method (Stake, 1985) Schön's 'reflection-in- action' (1983) - sharing stories of "opening up" pedagogical practice Bernstein’s theory of pedagogic discourse (Bernstein, 1990, 1996, 2000) - exploration of (in)visible pedagogical practices. 1.The DeFT movie! 2. Alternative Forms of Recording for teaching and learning 3.Camp Cardboard 4. Reflections on Digital LiteracyReflections on Digital Literacy
Activity no. 2 Tell us a bit more about your digital profile 1. What is your digital superpower? 2. What is your digital kryptonite? Available from Dunechaser under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0Dunechaser
Frameworks for digital literacy Engagement with existing frameworks (JISC, 2011) Digital literacy as a continuum between the purely social and the purely technological Move from the singular ‘literacy’ to the plural ‘literacies’ to emphasise the sheer diversity of existing accounts (Lankshear and Knobel, 2008). Digital literacies as "the constantly changing practices through which people make traceable meanings using digital technologies" (Gillen and Barton, 2010). Critique of the concept of digital natives (Bennet et al. 2008)
Activity no.3 1.Find a partner 2. Pick a device - iPod, iPad, your smartphone or pen and paper 3. In pairs, take turns to answer the following question: How do you define digital literacy in personal and professional context? Capture the answers using your chosen technology - record the audio/video, Tweet it, write it down. Ideally, them to us 4. Reflect on the experience with the group
DL and the rules of regulative discourse ‘When it comes to e-safety, we seem to live in a culture of fear where we [might be] teaching road safety but never letting the child out’ (project meeting, teacher) Web2.0 filters Technological barriers Access to devices
DL and locus of control over selection of instructional discourse ‘In terms of teaching and digital literacy the ultimate question we constantly need to deal with is - is this going to help the students when they get to an exam? Because what I would like to see happening is the fostering of a community, personal growth etc. but most of the time it is about having to teach "for an exam“’ (focus group with PGCE students).
DL Tensions: sharing resources ‘You don’t know what reaction you would get… can you imagine if you put it on you tube and you got loads of thumbs down?’ ‘you have to be sharing with the kids anyway all the time’ (focus group with PGCE students) ‘polished performance’ vs. accounts of ‘real life’ ’
Locus of control over pacing: Stories of a digital divide ‘My pupils were shocked to discover that I didn’t have a mobile phone as a teenager and when you arranged to meet with your mates you just agreed on a meeting time and point and then waited. You would actually talk to each other, you know, rather than keep texting.’ (focus group with PGCE students)
DL investigations: new avenues Methodological approaches: exploring the ways in which understandings around DL are expressed and shared through reflection in action Re-examining DL in the context of the debate around ICT in the curriculum and the removal of the programmes of study Exploring the place of DL and OERs in professional development of teachers
References. Questions? Comments? Bennett, S, Maton, K, & Kervin, L. (2008). The ‘‘digital natives’’ debate: A critical review of evidence. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39, 775–786. Bernstein, B. (1990). The structuring of the pedagogic discourse: Class, codes and control. London: Routledge. Bernstein, B. (1996). Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity: Theory, Research, Critique. London: Taylor & Francis. Bernstein, B. (2000). Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity: Theory, Research, Critique. (Revised edition). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield publishers. Gillen, J. & Barton, D. (2010). Digital literacies. A research briefing by the technology enhanced learning phase of the teaching and learning research programme. London: London Knowledge Lab, Institute of Education, University of London. Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). (2011). Digital literacy anatomised: access, skills and practices. Available from (Last accessed 29 February 2012). Lankshear, C. & Knobel, M. (2010) New Literacies: Everyday Practices and Social Learning (3rd Edition). Maidenhead: Open University Press. Schön, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner. New York: Basic Books. Stake, R.E. (1995). The art of case study research. London: Sage.