Comparing pedagogical innovations at the classroom level: teacher roles and role of technology Dimensions 2, 4, 5

Role of the teacher At this school, the principal’s role was strong but collaborative where he shared the leadership with other teaching staff members. Teachers at this school explicitly focussed on a constructivist teaching approach. Teacher requirements for PBL implementation: ●Complete a weekly plan - concepts, skills, questions and assessment strategies ●Participate in ICT PDs ●Gather evidence of students ICT work (ie. spreadsheets, databases, word processing, multimedia, communications tools) ●Share their weekly plans with principal & colleagues ●Develop rubrics to assess PBL

Teachers’ roles during PBL: ●Act as a coach to the students and provide guidance & support ●Provide ongoing guidance and feedback to help organise students’ ideas and data gathered ●Model how to use ICT tools ●Once students had a developed questions to explore, teachers planned how to address the Standards of Learning through student work ●Teachers themselves collaborated with grade level teams regularly to share the teaching load (eg. 2 teachers either divide the content area - 1 teaches math & science, the other teaches language arts & social studies) Role of the teacher (cont.)

This case study can be said to be ‘innovative’ based on the 2nd dimension of the teachers’ roles identified by Law et.al. (2011) as the teacher's’ main role was to guide and support the students’ learning process and allow the students to direct their own learning. Teachers modelled the use of ICT tools which could benefit the students projects, encouraged collaboration in and out of the classroom among team members throughout the project, and encouraged fieldwork outside of school relevant to their learning enabling students to make connections with the ‘real world’. Role of the teacher (cont.)

ICT infrastructure: ●The ICT infrastructure at Newsome Park includes 25 stationary iMac computers installed in the technology lab and each classroom with three laptops (2 iBooks and the teacher’ s PowerBook); there are 12 additional iBooks available for checkout in the technology lab. ●Each classroom also has a colour printer and a telephone. A wide range of peripheral equipment is available from the technology lab. ●Software includes integrated applications(containing spreadsheets, database, and word- processing tools), multimedia software (e.g. PowerPoint), and communications software (e.g. Netscape). Role of Technology

●ICT is used as a tool in a variety of ways to support these projects.(e.g.various software & applications) ●ICT aids the teacher to provide guidance and feedback regularly to students and model how ICT could be used in completing projects. ● ICT aids students to generate ideas for their projects and manage their own learning and group activities. ●ICT has contributed improvement in a range of student competencies. ●ICT is viewed as essential to administion and support the Project Learning Base pedagogy. Role of Technology

Connectedness of the classroom In the process of Project-based Learning: Students worked collaboratively in and outside the classroom to manage their project, to collect, analyze, and synthesize information, and to present their results. However, we assigned a low connectedness score because the students had no contact with parties outside of the school during the learning process.

● Principal’s leadership was directed in order to involve staff members in different schools areas (technology integration specialist, resources teachers, librarians, etc.) ● Teachers and staff worked together by sharing leadership in different manners. Especially for the implementation of new ICT at school and new methodology. ● Creating inside the school different teams to achieve school’s objective, improve the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs). ● Different student’s projects were need to develop outside school, such as making surveys. ● School’s field trips Connectedness of the classroom

● Teachers share and develop knowledge between themselves ● Collaborative work through different volunteer teachers by participating in outside contents in order to obtain a grant.) ● The school has two technology support staff that provide software integration support and technical support. ● Teachers and staff members receive constant training from outside Connectedness of the classroom

Innovation Profile for PBL

● Because the school receive openly support from outside experts ● ICT practices are innovative by using different software to implement Project Based Learning. ● Students’ projects need to be developed outside the school. ● Principal and teachers liaise with parties outside school, such as receiving training from FutureKids, ● Teachers use ICT to provide feedback, monitor, and provide guidance to student’s project. ● Teachers and staff worked together by sharing leadership in different manners. Especially for the implementation of new ICT. Innovation Profile for PBL

● ICT aligned with the school’s instructional goals ● The school has two technology support staff that provide software integration support and technical support ● FutureKids training, from outside vendor. ● To use different software to work in teams or to learn specific subjects ● Teachers use different type of software to register and then analyze student’s learning outcomes. ● ICT is viewed as essential to administer and support the Project Learning Base pedagogy Innovation Profile for PBL