Esther Loong

Transformations of teaching and learning through digital technologies

This chapter is a critical synthesis of research related to the transformations that take place when digital technologies are incorporated into teaching and learning practices. In developing this synthesis, research from all levels of education was reviewed with a focus on the opportunities digital technologies offer for cognitive, pedagogical, affective and professional change. The chapter is structured in alignment with Pierce and Stacey’s (Pierce and Stacey, Int J Comput Math Learn 15(1):1–20 2010) map of pedagogical opportunities in which three dimensions for educational transformation were identified: tasks, classroom, and subject. A discussion of future directions for research into technology enhanced mathematics education concludes the review.

INCREASING LEARNER ENGAGEMENT OF LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES AND SCIENCE TPACK THROUGH REPRESENTATIONAL CHALLENGES

There have been calls to embed Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into pre-service teacher courses in preference to technology only courses as a means to provide graduate pre-service teachers with the necessary skills to integrate ICT into their teaching practice. This chapter describes a case study of a pre-service science education curriculum course that was designed to embed ICT into its curriculum, assessment and delivery. The tutor modelled best teaching practice in the use of learning technologies. The theoretical framework is Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) viewed through a representation construction approach. This approach involved the students undertaking a series of representational challenges where they constructed and critiqued representations. The study found increased student engagement with learning technologies and an enhanced TPACK over the period of the course. Several factors that may have led to these findings are discussed.