1. USING E-PORTFOLIOS TO DEVELOP TEACHING COMPETENCE ACROSS INITIAL AND INDUCTION PHASES OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Dr Kevin Marshall Microsoft Ireland
Dr Victor McNair University of Ulster

2. Introduction Context / Issues
PiL in Ireland covers two educational jurisdictions
Policy
Infrastructure
Issues / Practice on the ground remains the same
Teacher Education
Pre-Service vs. Experienced Teachers

3. Education in Northern Ireland: An Overview
1245 schools
20,700 teachers
40,000 networked computers
344,881 pupils (all ages)
300,000 online users (Sept 05)
One NI-Wide MLE for all pre-16s
Broadband connectivity
All teachers NOF – ICT Accredited
Growing online population
emPowering Schools Strategy

4. Teacher Education in Northern Ireland
PGCE - One year Postgraduate Certificate c. 400
BEd Four-year Undergraduate
UU (PGCE) PGCE students (9 subjects)
Subject Workshops and Professional Issues
School Experience
Christmas
Subject Workshops and Professional Issues
School Experience
Easter
Easter
School-based Project

5. ITN: Online teaching and learning
Jointly explore one issue in their teaching and relate it to the classroom
Share project with one PGCE partner
Establish a body of knowledge and develop an action plan
Implement in the classroom
Evaluate with partner
Share experiences on line
Embed in students’ teaching strategies.

6. ITN: Rationale Innovative Teachers Traditional Support
Received
Knowledge and
Understanding
Experiences
in schools
Professional
Dialogues
ITN Environment
Innovative Teachers
Received Knowledge
Understanding
Implementation in schools
Professional dialogue (SCH)
Observation
Reflection
Professional Dialogue (tutor)

7. ITN: Structure of online interaction

8. ITN: Geography: Teaching in a divided Society

9. “It’s teaching, Jim, but not as we know it”
ITN: Gains
Linking UU with schools, essential
Additional – ‘on-demand’ support for students
Immediacy of classroom interaction and evaluation
Promoting dialogue between teachers, students and UU Tutors
Transferable skills for teaching
Promotion of reflection in and on action as it happens
“It’s teaching, Jim, but not as we know it”

10. Learning teaching concepts Evaluating-validating
ITN: A model for online reflection
Learning teaching concepts
(Received Knowledge)
Evaluating-validating
Judgement criteria
(Observation)
Building skills &
understanding
(practice)
Evaluating the
effectiveness
of practice
Re-building and
restructuring
knowledge
Re-applying
Sharing Successes
and challenges
Re-validating

11. Rationale: Reflective ICT-Based Teaching Purpose of the Pilot was to:
VCT: Purpose of the e-portfolio
Rationale: Reflective ICT-Based Teaching
Purpose of the Pilot was to:
Review Teaching and Learning
Identify Areas of Strength and Weakness
Show Evidence of Reflection
Plot Professional Development Directions

12. Developing ICT skills: E-portfolio structure

13. Findings: Student confidence in…
Teaching …
“Well [compiling the e-portfolio] opened up my eyes to the ways in which ICT can be used in an art classroom …. The children give me good feedback and they seemed to be very pleased with themselves, thinking they had achieved something that looked good…”.
Beliefs…
“[compiling the e-portfolio] made me totally rethink my attitudes to teaching. I realized that every pupil is an individual and they have their own needs, they all have to be reached on different levels”.
Resource building…
“...it is good to have it all on disk and bring the information if and when you need it, its like having your own teaching file.”.

14. Findings: Student confidence in…
ICT Repertoire…
“… you know that when it comes to teaching a topic you have the resources you need to recap on how it is done.”.
Seeing the Bigger Picture
“I have been developing my e-portfolio as part of my induction…. The actual practice of putting together the e-portfolio made me push myself further than I would have…”.
Developing professional dialogue…
“[the process of compiling the e-portfolio] did make me ask for more help in ICT”.

15. Findings: Schools’ views
Seeing former students as more rounded…
“the e-portfolio has an intrinsic value to the induction teacher… it summarizes what they can do”.
Supporting a changing culture in the school…
“I explained that I had completed an e-portfolio and the interview panel seemed very interested, it was from here that the Head asked to see the work when I got the job and asked me to become involved in the whole school’s e-learning programme.”
Integration into teaching and learning…
“ [the] beginning teacher’s competence in ICT was such that they could integrate it into their lesson with ease”.

16. But………. School-based Priorities “ we have other things to talk about”
Confidence as NQTs…
“I have mentioned it to [the staff in school], but I felt like they quickly skimmed over it
Lack of Professional Dialogue…
“I don’t think anyone else has asked about it because they just assume I know about ICT”.
Rocking the Boat…
“I will discuss [the ICT portfolio] when I get established”
The reality shock…
“[I am just concentrating on] survival… getting established… and coping with the workload”
Uptake uncertain…
“I feel that if the schools examined it (the e-portfolio) more they would realize that it is an untapped resource, that would be useful for the whole school, teachers and pupils”.

17. Pragmatic Application
Embedding Issues: Pragmatic application
Pragmatic Application
Personal Confidence
Resource Bank
Individual Use

18. Strategic Application
Embedding Issues: Strategic application
Strategic Application
Initiating Dialogue
Planning Pathways
Developing Partners

19. Pragmatic Application Strategic Application
Embedding Issues: Strategic application
Pragmatic Application
Personal Confidence
Resource bank
Individual use
Strategic Application
Initiating Dialogue
Planning Pathways
Developing Partners
Effective
Professional
Development

20. Development of the concept
Better use of data capturing
Broader constituency involved in Professional Development
Further development of peer support
Coherent and consistent approach byHEIs and schools
Broadening of the ICT theme to all areas of competence
The development of standards including:
Protocols for access
Ownership issues
The development of a culture of asynchronous support for Beginning teachers