Louise Starkey

Evaluating learning in the 21st century: a digital age learning matrix

If the purpose of secondary schooling is to educate the upcoming generation to become active participants in society, evaluation of teaching and learning in the information‐rich digital age should be underpinned by relevant theories and models. This article describes an evaluation tool developed using emerging ideas about knowledge creation and learning in a connected society. The digital age learning matrix was successfully trialled and applied in a study of six digitally able beginning teachers during their first year of teaching to identify aspects of learning occurring as digital technologies were integrated into their teaching practice. An implication of this study is that teachers, even the digitally able, will be limited in their ability to teach the upcoming generation to be active participants in a digitally enhanced society without understanding how to apply theories of learning that are relevant to a digital age into their practice.

Teachers' Pedagogical Reasoning and Action in the Digital Age

Beginning teachers are entering the profession with increasing confidence in their ability to use digital technologies which has the potential to change the way teachers of the future make pedagogical decisions. This paper explores how pedagogical reasoning and action might occur in the digital age, comparing Schulman’s 1987 model with the reality for a small sample of digitally able beginning teachers as part of the emerging generation of teachers. The latter were examined through a multiple case study during their first year of teaching as they made decisions about using digital technologies within their teaching practice which gave an insight into pedagogical reasoning and action through the use of open‐ended interviews and observation. The conclusion drawn is that while the pedagogical reasoning and action model remains relevant, it was based on an assumption that teaching involves knowledge being passed from a teacher to their students, which was found to restrict innovation by digitally able teachers. A broader interpretation of knowledge and teaching within this model building on emerging learning theory could help reform practice once again, providing a framework for teachers in the digital age.

Perceptions of Higher Education Quality at Three Universities in Vietnam.

Purpose Vietnam is experiencing rapid expansion in the provision of higher education that requires quality assurance appropriate for the Vietnamese-centralised Confucian cultural context. This paper aims to examine the concept of quality from the perspectives of academic leaders, quality assurance members and academics at three higher education institutions in Vietnam. Design/methodology/approach Based on an interpretative study, semi-structured interviews were used as a major research instrument augmented with document analysis across three case studies. Interviews were conducted with 35 participants from three groups of stakeholders. Findings The concept of quality was found to be under-conceptualised in this Vietnamese context. Quality was conceptualised as meeting societal needs across the case studies underpinned by the belief that the purpose of higher education is to prepare graduates for employment. Research limitations/implications The study was conducted in similar disciplines at three state-owned universities in Vietnam in 2011. This provides insight within this context and timeframe that may not be generalised. It is suggested to extend this research to other disciplines, the private sector and other groups of stakeholders. Practical implications The paper discusses the necessity of revisiting the philosophy of higher education and re-conceptualising quality in Vietnam that informs quality assurance processes that are relevant to the cultural context. Originality/value This paper provides a centralised Confucian perspective to the literature on quality assurance in higher education. How quality is perceived by academic leaders, quality assurance members and, in particular, academic staff can be used to inform policy. In a centralised country such as Vietnam, academic leaders and quality assurance members may indicate their “obedient” attitudes to policies, leading to the same view with what is centrally enacted, while the academic staff have a different perception of quality.

Negotiating Digital Divides: Perspectives from the New Zealand Schooling System.

Abstract This article explores digital divides identified in research literature and considers educational policy directions that may mitigate or enhance future inequities. A review of literature identified three categories of digital divides in society; access, capability, and participation. To explore the strategic focus in schooling, data were gathered from a national survey of New Zealand school board chairs and the interviews of eight school principals. The focus in schooling was found to be on the access divide for students with variation across socioeconomic contexts. Developing capability was centered on teacher rather than student capability, which may reflect the notion of the teacher as a “digital immigrant” and students as “digital natives.” To bridge future digital divides, schooling policy needs to focus on developing student digital capability and preparing all future citizens to be able to participate in a digital world. (Keywords: BYOD, digital, divide, equity, inclusion, New Zealand, policy)

Three dimensions of student-centred education: a framework for policy and practice

ABSTRACT While the terms student-centred and learner-centred are used to describe a range of neo-liberal educational policies and practices around the world, the meaning is not clearly defined. This limits its utility as a concept in policy, research and practice. This article applies abductive reasoning to explore how student-centred education is theorised in academic literature and articulated within a sample of New Zealand school principals’ visions for their schools. The findings suggest that student-centred education can be synthesised into a conceptual framework that includes three overlapping dimensions; humanist, agentic and cognitive. The humanist dimension encompasses getting to know students as unique human beings, the agentic focuses on empowering students and the cognitive dimension considers each student’s learning progress. There was diverse understanding of what it meant to be student-centred by the principals with the humanist and agentic dimensions dominating. It is anticipated that educational outcomes for disadvantaged students would improve when the three dimensions are applied together. The proposed framework could be applied by policymakers, practitioners and researchers to enhance clarity of student-centred education policies and practices.

Digital data in New Zealand schools: Policy reform and school leadership

In 1989, New Zealand started to follow an international trend of reforming education policy according to the neoliberal principles of competition, choice and self-managing schools. Since then, the increasing availability of digital data in schools has corresponded with the development of student achievement measurement tools and benchmarking of standards that enable comparison of schools and cohorts of students. More recently, national policy targets for student achievement have been introduced and form the basis of accountability measures. The article uses Hargreaves and Shirley’s ‘Four Ways’ characterisation of education policy change as a framework to examine the influence that national policy has had on the use of data, on power relations between schools and the national policymakers, and on the challenges faced by school leaders. Interviews in 16 schools explored the types of data available in each school, how they are used and how principals, as leaders in these self-managing schools, would like to be able to use the data. Two systemic influences explain the patterns found in the research. The first is the tension principals face between data required for accountability reporting and data needed for school-based decision-making. The second is the issue with regard to economies of scale and marketisation of education that affects equitable access to the knowledge, tools and expertise that enable effective data usage.