Dianne Forbes

Voice over distance: a case of podcasting for learning in online teacher education

This paper reports on a case study of an online pre-service teacher education course in a New Zealand university aimed at exploring the potential of student-generated podcasts as a form of interactive formative assessment at a distance. The study was part of a wider two-year funded project with the overall goal of documenting, developing, and disseminating effective and innovative e-learning practice. Findings from lecturer and tutor interviews, student focus group (FG) discussion, and course evaluations indicate that the podcasting task provided opportunities for the course lecturer, tutors, and students to learn and share ideas with one another. The experience empowered students to develop the skills and confidence to initiate more independent inquiry into technologies to support their pedagogical purposes. The study contributes to a better understanding of the skills, dispositions, and knowledge needed to prepare teacher candidates for teaching-learning contexts where information and communication technologies are increasingly pivotal.

Cross-institutional peer observation by online tutors: Sharing practice ‘outside the family’

Abstract Whilst increasingly widespread, teaching online can be a solo endeavour. In this paper, we consider how peer exchange between online tutors from different institutions may offer a solution to this professional isolation. We report on a cross-institutional peer observation and mentoring programme between the Universities of York (UK) and Waikato (New Zealand), designed to support tutors’ personal development through online peer exchange. Our findings reveal that tutors’ use of synchronous conferencing tools was influential in shaping the relationship between participants on the programme. Exposure to diversity served to challenge institutional pedagogical norms. We review the engagement strategies and emergent learning outcomes for participants, and discuss the necessary conditions of openness and commitment for effective peer exchange between online tutors from different cultural and institutional contexts.

Sharing at Kaipaki School

For two years, we (the authors) have worked in partnership as a teacher educator and a principal of a small rural primary school. This chapter relates the story of our partnership, initiated by the school and based upon shared interests in innovative pedagogies and learning through digital technologies. In the course of our partnership we have discovered that ours is only one of a multitude of partnerships inherent in the school’s mode of operation, and that each of these partnerships is characterised by sharing.

Twitter in education

This special issue of e-Learning and Digital Media arose from a chance discussion at lunch one day, when one of us mentioned to the outgoing editors of this journal that she had just managed to connect with someone from the other side of the world (they must have been up late!) and share ideas of interest to us both, particularly through using the DM (direct message) function in Twitter as a private conversation. We then constructed the call for papers using GoogleDocs to enable easy sharing, drafting, and finalising and, once approved by the original editors Professors Tina Besley and Michael Peters, blogged about it: (http://interrogatingeducationz.blogspot.co.nz/2015/06/ call-for-papers-e-learning-and-digital.html). From there, we tweeted to spread the word, adding specific people’s Twitter handles to pique interest and disseminate the message. We also held two Tweetups to discuss potential ideas from authors as a way of stimulating discussion and encouraging contributions. And, since Twitter is now in its 10th year of existence, it is timely to examine its use in educational settings. The call for papers for the Special Issue sought contributions that promoted the following focus: