Kathy Jordan

Academic domains as political battlegrounds : a global enquiry by 99 academics in the fields of education and technology

This article theorizes the functional relationship between the human components (i.e., scholars) and non-human components (i.e., structural configurations) of academic domains. It is organized around the following question: in what ways have scholars formed and been formed by the structural configurations of their academic domain? The article uses as a case study the academic domain of education and technology to examine this question. Its authorship approach is innovative, with a worldwide collection of academics (99 authors) collaborating to address the proposed question based on their reflections on daily social and academic practices. This collaboration followed a three-round process of contributions via email. Analysis of these scholars’ reflective accounts was carried out, and a theoretical proposition was established from this analysis. The proposition is of a mutual (yet not necessarily balanced) power (and therefore political) relationship between the human and non-human constituents of an academic realm, with the two shaping one another. One implication of this proposition is that these non-human elements exist as political ‘actors’, just like their human counterparts, having ‘agency’ – which they exercise over humans. This turns academic domains into political (functional or dysfunctional) ‘battlefields’ wherein both humans and non-humans engage in political activities and actions that form the identity of the academic domain.

Designing teacher education programs that produce ICT ready graduates

Teacher education providers have an important role to play in preparing the next generation of teachers to be able to use ICT in their future teaching practice. Government reports and research have consistently argued that graduates are ill-prepared in their use of ICT [1]. In Australia an increasing regulatory environment means that teacher education providers need to design programs that target the attainment of specific ICT professional standards. To contribute to the discussion of ICT challenges in teacher education, this small-scale study investigated where 69 pre-service teachers acquired the ICT skills/resources commonly used in primary and secondary schools. Findings suggest that many of the generalized skills/resources were learned in their everyday life prior to undertaking their teaching program, and that they acquired a lesser number through their university coursework and/or professional experience placements. A number of implications for teacher education conclude this paper.

Pre-service Teacher ICT Tool-kit - The Role of the Setting

For some time, Teacher Education policy and research has consistently argued that graduates are ill prepared to use ICT in their practice (TEMAG, 2015). In Australia, an increasing regulatory environment means that Teacher Education providers need to meet national accreditation demands as well as design programs that address professional standards for graduates where an effective ICT use is a requirement. In an effort to have greater understanding of how to design Teacher Education programs that meet these challenges, this small scale study investigated where 69 pre-service teachers learned how to use a number of ICT resources commonly used in primary and secondary schools. Findings suggest that they learned how to use many resources (particularly general-type resources) in their everyday life prior to undertaking their teaching qualification and that they learned how to use a lesser number in university coursework or practicum in schools. A number of implications for Teacher Education conclude this paper.

Reframing Professional Experience

This chapter describes a redesigned practicum course that interconnects theory and practice using a Distributed Open Collaborative Course (DOCC) pedagogical approach. Course design decisions were influenced from literature advocating for greater connection between universities and schools (Top of the Class, 2007, Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group [TEMAG], 2015), the use of effective work-integrated learning (WIL) features (Orrell, 2011), and forming productive partnerships (Top of the Class, 2007; TEMAG, 2015). This chapter outlines the theoretical underpinning and features of the course. Using the feedback from students/pre-service teachers’ pre and post survey data, it evaluates the various DOCC principles such as collaborative partnerships and shared responsibility for teacher education.

Innovating in First Year Pre-service Teacher Education: “Buddy Up”

In response to the changing regulatory climate of initial teacher education, coupled with first year students’ needs to effectively transition to higher education, the School of Education at RMIT University reconceptualised its first year Bachelor of Education program to incorporate paired (buddied) placements as an integral component of a site-based professional experience model. This chapter presents an overview of this innovation, grounded in current literature about innovations in the pre-service teacher (PST) practicum and literature about transition into higher education. It presents research that examines PSTs’ perceptions of being ‘buddied’ and highlights the complexity and sometimes uncomfortable nature of innovation and change within initial teacher education.

The Role of Educational Technology in Third Space Practicum

There are increasing calls to improve the quality of Teacher Education by creating closer links between universities and schools that will address the theory practice divide. In response, the School of Education at RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria redesigned its first year program, core courses and practicum to align with the conceptualisation of Third Space. This article draws upon data from a larger research project; however, the focus of this paper is to examine how educational technologies assisted in the development of a Third Space practicum. A post-evaluation survey was completed by pre-service teachers who participated in the redesigned course and practicum. This paper will argue that educational technology played an important role in the Third Space practicum as it fostered collaboration, shared knowledge among stakeholders and created expanded learning opportunities. It also highlighted the importance of relationships in the Third Space experience.

Through the Lens of Third Space Theory

Recently, there has been a call to reconceptualise the ways in which the field of education technology is researched and theorised (Graham, 2011). This article responds to this call, through discussing the potential of utilising Third Space theory as a research methodology in relation to the use, adoption and resistance to educational technologies. We begin by discussing the under-theorised and technocentric narrative that is dominant in current research approaches. We then outline the premise of Third Space theory and signal some of the possibilities this paradigm may offer to study the complexity of educational technology use in schools, professional learning and university contexts. The article then discusses findings from two different research projects which utilised Third Space to examine the ways in which beginning teachers and pre-service teachers navigated first and second space binaries and took up third spaces in order to destabilise and construct alternative knowledges and practices in relation to educational technology.