Ina Blau

Technological, pedagogical and content knowledge in one-to-one classroom: teachers developing “digital wisdom”

One-to-one (1X1) laptop initiatives become prevalent in schools aiming to enhance active learning and assist students in developing twenty-first-century skills. This paper reports a qualitative investigation of all 7th graders and their 15 teachers in a junior high-school in Northern Israel gradually implementing 1X1 model. The research was conducted during a second year of 1X1 implementation at the school level, which was a first year of teaching and learning with laptops for all study participants. The study triangulates non-participant lessons’ observations and semi-structured interviews with 15 teachers. The data were collected twice: at the beginning and toward the end of the 2011–2012 academic year – in total, 30 observations and 30 interviews were conducted. The results were examined through phenomenological research techniques and discussed in terms of the technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) and “digital wisdom” approaches. The teachers showed significant increase of technological knowledge. However, only moderate connections between technology and pedagogy as well as between technology and content were found. Some of the teachers functioned as moderators, scaffolding students and supporting their individual or collaborative learning. However, many teachers struggled with effective management of 1X1 classroom. Neither conjunction of teacher TPACK nor facilitation of student digital skills was observed. The paper suggests an overlap of the TPACK framework and the digital wisdom approach and provides implications for curriculum developers and educational policy-makers.

Interacting for learning: Digital portfolios for a learning community in a university course

This study investigates student interactions in a blog-based learning community in a university course. In addition, this study explores the dynamics of group interactions in individual blog-based environments compared with collaborative wiki-based educational activities. A learning community of 56 graduate students wrote individual blogs and weekly group summaries using a wiki environment. The posts were analyzed by identifying a post content type and explicit feedback promotions, and by counting the number of the bloggers own comments and the number of others’ comments per post, received from peers studying in the same versus the other offline group. The results show that choosing the appropriate type of post content (i.e., sharing experiences rather than providing information, explicitly calling for feedback, and providing the bloggers own comments) augments peer interaction in a blog environment, thus explaining 51.4% of variance in peer comments. Group interactions through comments in individual blogs, without the possibility of changing one anothers content, seem to be non-intrusive and prompt interactions with offline as well as with online peers. In contrast, actual editing of texts through multi-authored collaborative wikis remained affected by student offline former acquaintance. The results are discussed in terms of social interactions and pedagogical beliefs.

Re-designed flipped learning model in an academic course: The role of co-creation and co-regulation

Abstract In traditional flipped classroom (FC), learning of new content mostly occurs through watching videos and transferring information from instructor to students utilizing technological tools. The present study devised and examined a novel extension of the FC model. This model adds components that acknowledge the roles of instructor, learners, peer assessment, and embedded evaluation. Moreover, it highlights the value of technology and digital tools in supporting and enhancing active individual and collaborative learning, and the development of self-regulated strategies in in-class and out-of-class settings. The model was investigated in a qualitative study, which was conducted in a blended academic course, including synchronous and asynchronous lessons. The participants were 36 graduate students who were studying towards a Master Degree in Education. The paper analyzed learning experiences and their interpretations by the students. In contrast to traditional FC model, the findings revealed active learning of students in both in- and out-of-class settings that took place before, during, and after the lesson. The instructor promoted extensive independent learning, learning regulation, continuous dialogue and collaborative interactions among peers. The re-designed model highlights co-creation of the course content and of digital learning outcomes by students, self-regulation and teamwork co-regulation, which are rare in higher education.

Studying Invisibly: Media Naturalness and Learning

This study examines differences between two learning environments : audio-written conferencing and traditional face-to-face instruction . We investigated whether medium richness [media richness theory ; Daft and Lengel (Research in organizational behavior. JAI, Greenwich, 1984)], medium naturalness [media naturalness theory ; Kock (IEEE Trans Prof Commun 48(2):117–130, 2005)], and invisibility influence students’ achievement, satisfaction , and behavior. In two research settings, a field study and a laboratory experiment, students were taught face-to-face and/or via an audio-written conferencing system; subject matter and teacher were constant. We found similar achievement in the two environments. Significant differences, in favor of face-to-face communication, were found regarding learner satisfaction. In addition, invisibility increased certain kinds of students’ behavior: participation, risk taking, immediacy feeling, and flaming. These findings were explained in terms of differences in media naturalness and as an effect of invisibility.

Developing Digital Wisdom by Students and Teachers: The Impact of Integrating Tablet Computers on Learning and Pedagogy in an Elementary School

This article investigates a pilot of integrating tablet computers in the elementary education. The research questions address the impact of tablet integration on learning and pedagogy. This qualitative case study crosschecks non-participated observations on students who work with tablet PCs, the school staff reflection on the integration as presented on the school blog, a focus group of fifth graders, interviews with the school principal and four teachers who are involved in the implementation, and three parents who assisted in a tablet-based extracurriculum project. The findings revealed that the most significant added value of tablet use is in mobile learning in out-of-class setting, while in in-class learning teacher would prefer using laptops because of tablet technical limitations. The findings are discussed in terms of technological pedagogical and content knowledge TPACK framework and “digital wisdom” of teachers and students. Pedagogical potential of tablet in developing digital wisdom is analyzed based on five metaphors of mobile learning: using a device as a “toolbox,” “creative mind,” “participation activator,” “shared mobile desktop,” and “connected world.” For massive implementation in the education system, we recommend that decision makers should integrate tablets only if mobile learning is a significant component in the instructional design.

Does 1:1 Computing in a Junior High-School Change the Pedagogical Perspectives of Teachers and Their Educational Discourse?.

Transforming a school from traditional teaching and learning to a one-to-one (1:1) classroom, in which a teacher and students have personal digital devices, inevitably requires changes in the way the teacher addresses her role. This study examined the implications of integrating 1:1 computing on teachers’ pedagogical perceptions and the classroom’s educational discourse. A change in pedagogical perceptions during three years of teaching within this model was investigated. The research analyzed data from 14 teachers teaching in a junior high school in the north of Israel collected over the course of three years through interviews and lesson observations. The findings show that the 1:1 computing allows teachers to improve their teaching skills; however, it fails to change their fundamental attitudes in regard to teaching and learning processes. It was further found that the use of a laptop by each student does not significantly improve the classroom’s learning discourse. The computer is perceived as an individual or group learning technology rather than as a tool for conducting learning discourse. An analysis of the data collected shows a great contribution to collaboration among teachers in preparing technology-enhanced lessons. The findings are discussed in terms of Bruner’s (Olson & Bruner, 1996) “folk psychology” and “folk pedagogy” of teachers and “the new learning ecology” framework in 1:1 classroom (Lee, Spires, Wiebe, Hollebrands, & Young, 2015). One of the main recommendations of this research is to reflect on findings from the teaching staff and the school community emphasizing 1:1 technology as a tool for significant pedagogical change. It seems that the use of personal technology per se is not enough for pedagogical changes to take place; the change must begin with teachers’ perceptions and attitudes.

Ubiquitous mobile educational data management by teachers, students and parents: Does technology change school-family communication and parental involvement?

Digital educational data management has become an integral part of school practices. Accessing school database by teachers, students, and parents from mobile devices promotes data-driven educational interactions based on real-time information. This paper analyses mobile access of educational database in a large sample of 429 schools during an entire academic year. Using learning analytics approach, the study compares students, their mothers’ and fathers’ mobile logins onto the database between schools with frequent, occasional, and no mobile (i.e., computer only) teacher access. In addition, this paper explores gender differences in parental involvement through mobile monitoring of their children’ function in school. The results supported both study hypotheses. (1) Mobile accessing of the database by teachers promoted mobile accessing of the database by their students, mothers, and fathers. It seems that ubiquitous mobile data management is a modeling process in which students and parents learn from teachers. (2) Compared to fathers, significantly more mothers used the mobile school database. Moreover, among parents-uses, mothers accessed educational data of their children significantly more frequently than fathers. The results suggest that mothers are still more actively involved than fathers in mobile monitoring of how their children function in school. The results are discussed in terms of School Community of Innovation model and technological determinism approach.

The ethical dissonance in digital and non-digital learning environments

This paper explores the rapidly-expanding phenomenon of technology-based academic dishonesty (AD). One hundred and twenty seven 7th graders received scenarios of AD, based on Pavelas (1997) framework of AD types (i.e. cheating, plagiarism, fabrication, and facilitation), in digital and non-digital settings. Participants reported on the pervasiveness of AD types in their class and on the perception of their legitimacy. The Ethical Dissonance Index (EDI) is calculated as the difference between the pervasiveness and the legitimacy of AD types. The ethical dissonance that learners experience when conducting academic dishonesty behaviors is expressed by the consistent findings, that the pervasiveness of all dishonesty types was significantly higher than the perception of their legitimacy. These findings indicate that students conduct AD despite its perception as unethical. In the digital setting, plagiarism is the most common type of AD, perceived as the most legitimate, and characterized by the greatest EDI. In the non-digital setting, cheating and fabrication are the most common types of AD, perceived as the most legitimate, and characterized by the greatest EDI. Educational implications and suggestions for further research are discussed. We compare digital vs. non-digital cheating, plagiarism, fabrication, facilitation.Ethical Dissonance is found between the dishonesty pervasiveness and legitimacy.The pervasiveness of dishonesty is higher than the perception of its legitimacy.Plagiarism is the most common and legitimate type of digital academic dishonesty.Cheating and fabrication are the most common and legitimate non-digital dishonesty.

Cheating and Feeling Honest: Committing and Punishing Analog versus Digital Academic Dishonesty Behaviors in Higher Education.

Editor: Janice Whatley An earlier, shorter version of this paper was presented at the Chais conference 2016, in Raanana, Israel, and included in Y. Eshet-Alkalai, I. Blau, A. Caspi, N. Geri, Y. Kalman, & V. Silber-Varod (Eds.), Proceedings of the 11th Chais Conference for the Study of Innovation and Learning Technologies 2016: Learning in the Technological Era. Raanana: The Open University of Israel. Cheating and Feeling Honest: Committing and Punishing Analog versus Digital Academic Dishonesty Behaviors in Higher Education

Pedagogical Perspectives and Practices Reflected in Metaphors of Learning and Digital Learning of ICT Leaders.

ABSTRACT This study examines the meaning attributed to the contribution of technology to pedagogical practices from the perspective of school ICT leaders. While previous studies use metaphors for bottom-up exploration, this study employs an innovative combination of bottom-up and top-down metaphor analysis based on two frameworks: (a) metaphors of general learning (Paavola, Lipponen, & Hakkarainen, 2004)—acquisition, participation, and knowledge creation, and (b) metaphors of digital learning (Shamir-Inbal & Blau, 2016)—toolbox, active player, creative mind, shared desktop, and inter-connected world. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 ICT leaders, including eight elementary school ICT coordinators and five regional ICT coordinators. All three metaphors of general learning and five digital learning metaphors were found in perspectives and pedagogical practices reported by the interviewees. However, the prevalence of each metaphor and the intersections of general and digital learning metaphors were quite different. The analysis based on metaphors shed light on the perspectives of ICT leaders regarding the meaning and nature of learning processes and on pedagogical practices in their schools.