Effective integration of ICT in Singapore schools: pedagogical and policy implications

This paper examines and analyses where and how information and communication technologies (ICT) are integrated in Singapore schools to engage students in higher-order thinking activities. Taking the activity system as a unit of analysis, the study documents the actual processes and sociocultural elements that engage students in higher-order thinking. By employing methods such as observations, focus group discussions with students, and face-to-face interviews with teachers, ICT-coordinators and principals, an account of how the activity systems within and between classrooms, and the schools are generated. Based on the analysis of the data from 10 schools, issues in the learning environment are discussed: Necessary (classroom management and orienting activities) and sufficient conditions (scaffolding activities and supporting school policies) for effective ICT integration in the classroom. The account also highlights the constraints of time and lack of knowledge and experience in the contexts that the teachers are working under, and how these constraints are addressed by supporting school policies in the larger sociocultural setting of the school. This account provides a sample of pedagogical and sociocultural issues that are discussed over the course and at the end of the project. Like a good guidebook, the study sensitizes the audience to what is likely to happen given a particular objective, constraint, or design.     

Learning to teach with technology: authoring practised identities

Over the years there has been a strong urge to incorporate information and communications technology (ICT) in teaching practices; however, the pace of integration has been characterised as disappointing. Teachers’ lack of competence, their resistance and lack of availability and stability of computers and infrastructure have been offered as explanations. The paper advocates sociocultural theory as a fruitful approach in the research on developing teaching practices with ICT. Empirical evidence from the discourses of student teachers and mentors during internship is used to illustrate how practised identities for teaching with ICTs emerge in action through processes of positioning and authoring. An enhanced understanding of the situated interplay of personal and institutional horizons for meaning making could be crucial for the development of programmes for learning to teach with ICT.     

Time past: impacts of ICT on the pedagogic discourse in the Interactive project

The ‘pedagogic discourse’ can describe the power relations and fields of influence within schools. This article extends the approach to include ICT-mediated learning in schools by considering evidence from the InterActive project, undertaken by the University of Bristol, England, in 2000–04. The article also considers how the pedagogic discourse can complement post-Vygotskian sociocultural models of learning. ICT is presented as a ‘recontextualising field’ that exerts influence by weakening the classification and framing of the discourse. Successful uses of ICT tend to favour ‘invisible’ pedagogies: collaborative modes of active working with shared competences, in lessons containing elements of ‘discovery’. Tensions can arise if the dominant discourse is a ‘visible’ pedagogy that favours individual performance, with the teacher as the voice of authority and controller of the discourse. These tensions can lead to ICT being marginalised or discredited by teachers or lead to new modalities of pedagogy.     

Modelling the Sociocultural Contexts of Science Education: The Teachers’ Perspective

A growing body of research argues that teachers’ beliefs and practices should be studied within the sociocultural contexts of their work because the relationship between their beliefs and practices is both complex and context-dependent. There is a need for further research in this area in understudied contexts such as developing countries, in order to promote effective education in schools and the professional development of teachers. This paper argues that if this ‘black box’ of sociocultural contexts in which science teachers are embedded is better understood, it may be possible to identify specific aspects of these contexts related to educational organizations that act as either supports or barriers to pedagogical reform or to implementing innovations in science education. Consequently, the main purpose of this study is to explore the sociocultural contexts of ten Egyptian science teachers and to what extent these sociocultural contexts help in understanding teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and practices. This paper, by utilizing a multi-grounded theory approach and qualitative methods, reveals a variety of sociocultural contexts that are related to teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and practices.     

Learning Through Benchmarking: Developing a Relational, Prospective Approach to Benchmarking ICT in Learning and Teaching

This study discusses benchmarking the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in teaching and learning between two universities with different missions: one an Australian campus-based metropolitan university and the other a British distance-education provider. It argues that the differences notwithstanding, it is possible to develop a useful and rigorous benchmarking relationship between such institutions that draws on previous benchmarking research and improves the approach by benchmarking key processes, not just outcomes. By defining a process used to embed ICT in subjects and using this as a focus of the benchmarking, a relational and prospective approach to quality assurance for ICT can be clarified, one which promotes coherence amongst the benchmarks that can be used for the purposes of improvement.     

Constructivist,emergent, and sociocultural perspectives in the context of developmental research

Our overall intent is to clarify relations between the psychological constructivist, sociocultural, and emergent perspectives. We provide a grounding for the comparisons in the first part of the article by outlining an interpretive framework that we developed in the course of a classroom-based research project. At this level of classroom processes, the framework involves an emergent approach in which psychological constructivist analyses of individual activity are coordinated with interactionist analyses of classroom interactions and discourse. In the second part of the article, we describe an elaboration of the framework that locates classroom processes in school and societal contexts. The perspective taken at this level is broadly sociocultural and focuses on the influence of indlividuals' participation in culturally organized practices. In the third part of the article, we use the discussion of the framework as a backdrop against which to compare and contrast the three theoretical perspectives. We discuss how the emergent approach augments the psychological constructivist perspective by making it possible to locate analyses of individual students' constructive activities in social context. In addition, we consider the purposes for which the emergent and sociocultural perspectives might be particularly appropriate and observe that they together offer characterizations of individual students' activities, the classroom community, and broader communities of practice.     

Social Justice,Democratic Education and the Silencing of Words that Wound

In recent years, research within the sociocultural perspective on moral learning has contributed important knowledge about how individuals develop their moral ability by participating in sociocultural activities. To a lesser extent, sociocultural research has focused on the role of individual continuity in these processes. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the progress of the sociocultural perspective by suggesting an approach that allows for an in situ analysis of how individuals' prior experiences take part in the processes of moral meaning‐making, which also takes sociocultural activity into consideration. The philosophical and methodological basis for this approach consists of a combination of Dewey's transactional perspective on meaning‐making and Wittgenstein's first‐person perspective on language use. The article contains an empirical example that illustrates this approach. This analysis shows how prior experiences are re‐actualised in an event and thus participate in the process of moral meaning‐making, as well as contributing to the substance of the meanings made.     

How does principal e-leadership affect ICT transformation across different school stages in K-12 education: Perspectives from teachers in Shanghai

With the continuous deployment of ICT in K-12 education, strong access but weak uptake has become the greatest challenge for ICT implementation in schools. As the pioneer of China’s K-12 educational reform, Shanghai draws our attention in terms of the critical factors and the underlying mechanism of ICT transformation in K-12 schools. The study used questionnaire survey data collected from 2894 Shanghai teachers (971 primary, 990 middle and 933 high school teachers) to investigate the relationships between government ICT policy, school principal e-leadership, ICT implementation in schools, teacher attitudes towards ICT and pedagogical change and changes in student learning. The structural equation modelling results revealed a significant influence of e-leadership by school principals on ICT transformation in schools, confirming the critical role of e-leadership in ICT transformation model. In addition, the higher the school stage, the more personal rather than organisational factors affected the changes in teaching and learning. The findings imply a profound sociocultural and technological dilemma due to the pressure of getting into college and risk-taking in ICT-related educational transformation. The study contributes to our knowledge in terms of a more nuanced ICT transformation mechanism between school stages.     

Methodological issues in identifying and describing the way knowledge is constructed with and without information and communications technology

Abstract

The methods a researcher uses to identify and describe any element of human activity are dependent upon epistemological and culturalpolitical factors. In order to contribute to the improvement of education, researchers who adopt sociocultural methods need to recognise that policy makers are an integral part of the cultural-historical context of education, and adopt a stance of interactive engagement with them. It is clear that the context of learning is critically important, and educational institutions are not normally good environments for learning. Participatory research methods are suggested as the most appropriate way of researching the hidden, private and personally unique process of knowledge construction. A range of methods for data collection and analysis are described, including the use of texts retrieved from electronic communications. Activity theory is suggested as a good framework for intervention studies to explore how the structures of educational institutions could be radically changed to enable information and communications technology (ICT) to transform learning. Such studies would involve researchers working cooperatively with teachers, pupils, parents, the local community, and local and national policy makers in schools where all teachers and students have access any time, any place to ICT. The process of change would be informed by parallel studies of self-directed learning in innovative web-based learning communities, which would be fed back to participants in intervention workshops.     

What is an ecological approach and how can it assist in understanding ICT take-up?

This paper argues that ecological frameworks offer a powerful way of explaining the take-up of information and communication technology (ICT) in schools. Past research has focused on teachers and their willingness and readiness to use ICT but this has not satisfactorily explained the use (or non-use) of ICT. Gaps in this research can be addressed by an ecological approach which shifts attention from the teacher to the context in which ICT is expected to be used. Such an approach, following Bronfenbrenner and others, looks at the relationship of individuals to the system in which they act, a relationship which is seen as interdependent. An ecological perspective explains how take-up of ICT is influenced by the degree to which different levels of a system, eg, micro, meso, exo and macro levels, are aligned. It is recommended that researchers and policy makers should pay greater attention to context when advocating the use of ICT.     

The Use of ICT Tools in Mathematics: A Case-control Study of Best Practice in 9th Grade Classrooms

Results are reported from a study in which teachers' views of highly achieving ninth grade classes in Norway (KappAbel national competition winners) were compared with teachers' views of average achievement classes with regard to the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and pedagogical practices. The main purpose of the study was to answer the following questions: What differential role does ICT play in the two kinds of classes as it relates to learning performance in mathematics, and how does the use of ICT relate to teachers' reported views and pedagogical practices? The key findings of the study are the following: First, KappAbel teachers were more likely to have studied math at universities whereas the control teachers were more likely to have studied at colleges. Second, KappAbel teachers were more likely to emphasize reasoning-oriented as compared with instrumental- or rule-oriented teaching of mathematics. Third, KappAbel teachers do perceive weaker general effects of ICT in relation to learning than control teachers; however subject specific ICT tools like spreadsheets are more used for purposes of exploration and research than in control classes. It is the teacher-guided student activity that makes the difference.     

Two viewpoints on the challenges of ICT in education: knowledge-building theory vs. a pragmatist conception of learning in social action

The paper contrasts two different approaches to the educational challenges of the ubiquitous, rapidly developing information and communication technologies (ICT). The first is the constructivist ‘knowledge building’ theory spearheaded by Carl Bereiter and Marlene Scardamalia and recently further developed by Kai Hakkarainen and Sami Paavola; the second is a pragmatist standpoint drawing in particular from John Dewey’s ideas about learning as a natural part of human social actions and transactions. The knowledge builders have set their approach out as a suitable answer to the challenges of the present-day, ICT-characterised ‘Knowledge Age’. But here it is argued that a pragmatist approach can be advanced that avoids the over-intellectualisation of education characteristic of knowledge builders and thereby offers a viable alternative for improving present-day educational practices in ways that promote appropriate utilisation of ICT in schools in particular.     

Reconsidering change and ICT: Perspectives of a human and democratic education

Has ICT changed education? Has the reformative, humanistic and emancipatory role that many educators have envisaged for ICT in education been realized in the reality of classrooms? Bearing in mind these two critical questions, the present paper attempts to approach the visionary narrative of the so-called information society (in recent times also referred to as knowledge society) and the rhetoric underlying the role of ICT as an agent for change and a substitute for education. Latest international facts and figures are examined with the purpose of assessing the realization of this role and raising critical arguments against the idea of perceiving ICT as the totem of educational change. From this evidence, it is argued that educational media and tools cannot revolutionize, but can only strengthen, further and reinforce established educational goals, curriculum contents, teaching and learning methods. This leads us to conclude that, as the educational use of ICT becomes assimilated, it mirrors and to a certain degree broadens or exacerbates prevailing socio-economic problems and current educational conditions. Thus the main focus of the paper is to attempt to redefine and re-approach the role of ICT from a human and democratic standpoint. It concentrates on ICT success stories, which seem to whisper the critical pedagogy tale. These stories serve as an avenue for reflecting upon the liberating possibilities of ICT, which can flourish when they are embedded in an alternative and progressive educational setting. In such an educational context, ICT represents an interesting, challenging and essential educational theme, one of the necessary keys for unlocking, understanding and participating in a competitive, demanding and insecure world. On the other hand, critical use of ICT tools enhances, promotes and extends democratic curriculum practices, processes and structures by offering students and teachers a multiple set of media and tools for expression, interaction, creation, reflection, analysis, construction, communication and meaning making. Focusing on students’ participation in common life as critical, knowledgeable, conscious and able citizens appears to bring about a new conception of ICT, namely a critical pedagogy and pedagogy of praxis perspective towards ICT. Yet, for such a focus to prevail we need to change our view of what it means to educate and what it means to be educated.     

The intertextuality of children's explanations in a technology-enriched early years science classroom

This study examines the sociocultural trajectories of children's conceptual thinking in a technology-enriched early years science classroom (N=22). Of specific analytic interest is the intertextuality of children's science-related explanations constructed during adult–child dialogic interviews and peer-centred inquiry around a multimedia science-learning tool, PICCO. Following the sociocultural and discursive approach to conceptual thinking and learning, the study conceptualizes explanations as interactional achievements shaped by the sociocultural context of activity. Qualitative, micro-level analysis of video-taped and transcribed data covering a 5-month period shows that inquiry-based science learning activities, based on child-initiation and the application of technological tools, created a fruitful setting for the children's explanation construction around scientific phenomena. The children's explanations were found to draw on textual and material links, hands-on explorations, i.e. activity links, as well as on recounting events. These intertextual linkages functioned as tools for the children (a) to share and validate previous experiences as sources of knowledge, (b) to establish reciprocity with each other in meaning-making, (c) to define themselves as learners of science and as individuals with specific experiences and background, and (d) to construct, maintain and contest the cultural practices of what it means to do and learn science in the classroom. In all, the study illuminates the potential of intertextual analysis to reveal contextual insights into children's conceptual thinking mediated by the sociocultural context.     

WHOSE DEVELOPMENT? SALVAGING THE CONCEPT OF DEVELOPMENT WITHIN A SOCIOCULTURAL APPROACH TO EDUCATION

A bstract .  The concept of development is currently under revision in education and psychology. In this essay, Eugene Matusov, Renée DePalma, and Stephanie Drye examine a traditional notion of development and provide an alternative sociocultural view. As educators working within a sociocultural approach to learning, development, and education, the authors see psychological phenomena as rooted in participation in sociocultural activities, practices, and communities. They critique how the traditional notion of development essentializes this process, assuming development to be independent of the observer. Using a case where a child of color develops a "sitting disability" within the institutional context of schooling, they illustrate the need for introducing a sociocultural notion of development, arguing that development is a social construction emerging in communities of practice and that it is necessary to consider the role of the observer in both defining and guiding this process in a professional discourse of cases.     

Collaboration, creativity and the co-construction of oral and written texts

In this paper we explore how primary school children ‘learn to collaborate’ and ‘collaborate to learn’ on creative writing projects by using diverse cultural artefacts—including oracy, literacy and ICT. We begin by reviewing some key sociocultural concepts which serve as a theoretical framework for the research reported. Secondly, we describe the context in which the children talked and worked together to create their projects. This context is a ‘learning community’ developed as part of an innovative educational programme with the aim of promoting the social construction of knowledge among all participants. We then present microgenetic analyses of the quality of the interaction and dialogues taking place as peers worked together on their projects, and how these collaborative processes and uses of the mediational artefacts were taken up by the children. In order to exemplify these processes, our analyses centre on a selection of examples of dialogues, texts and multimedia products of stories created by groups of fourth grade (9-10 years old) children. Overall, the work reveals the dynamic functioning in educational settings of some central sociocultural concepts. These include: co-construction; intertextuality and intercontextuality amongst oracy, literacy and uses of ICT; collaborative creativity; development of dialogical and text production strategies and appropriation of diverse cultural artefacts for knowledge construction.     

Turning Vygotsky on His Head: Vygotsky' `Scientifically Based Method' and the Socioculturalist's `Social Other'

Vygotsky has become an authority, but the authority has more to do with justifying a sociocultural relativism than it has with his Marxist objectivist approach to psychology and pedagogy. This paper is an attempt to understand Vygotsky's perspective in relation to Marxist epistemology, and will critically examine the sociocultural interpretation of Vygotsky but within the light of his own perspective. It will be shown that the relativism of the sociocultural school not only takes Vygotsky's zone of proximal development out of its social and historical context, but as a consequence downplays the zone of proximal development as a dynamic research methodology. As an extension of the discussion of the zone of proximal development, this paper will also examine the sociocultural interpretation of Vygotsky's relation between scientific and everyday concepts, and the pedagogical consequences of such an interpretation.     

Training teachers to use new technologies impacts multiple ecologies: Evidence from a national initiative

A pair of papers re-examined the evidence from a national initiative to train all teachers in England to bring them up to the level of newly qualified teachers, who are required to know when to use and when not to use information and communication technologies (ICT) in their professional practice. The first paper confirmed that multilevel evaluation of professional development was robust for ICT teacher training. This second paper contrasts the highest and lowest rated designs for ICT teacher training: an 'organic' approach that provided training in schools was highly rated, whereas a centralised computer-assisted learning approach with online access to trainers was the lowest rated design. The study supports an ecological view of the diffusion of ICT innovations in education and recommends that ICT teacher training be designed to support evolution of each teacher's classroom, school and region, as well as the training of the ICT teacher trainers.     

Teacher perspectives on integrating ICT into subject teaching: commitment,constraints, caution,and change

This paper examines how secondary teachers of the core subjects of English, mathematics, and science have begun to integrate information and communication technology (ICT) into mainstream classroom practice in English schools. It draws on an analysis of 18 focus‐group interviews with subject departments in these fields. Evident commitment to incorporating ICT was tempered by a cautious, critical approach, and by the influence of external constraints. Teacher accounts emphasized both the use of ICT to enhance and extend existing classroom practice, and change in terms of emerging forms of activity which complemented or modified practice. A gradual process of pedagogical evolution was apparent; teachers were developing and trialling new strategies specifically for mediating ICT‐supported learning. In particular, these overcame the potentially obstructive role of some forms of ICT by focusing pupils’ attention onto underlying learning objectives.