Beginning teachers' understanding performances of technology integration

As part of a two-year, mixed methods study, the focus of this paper reports the qualitative findings that are related to nine beginning teachers' learning to teach with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) during their first year of teaching. It aims to explore how these teachers deepen their understanding performances of technology integration in their first year. They demonstrated consistent, varied perceptions, frequency and ways of using ICT for classroom teaching and learning from their initial teacher education to their first year teaching. They developed diverse understandings of technology integration from their own practice, and chose to play different roles, such as, follower, doer and emerging teacher leader for technology integration. Suggestions to schools on providing beginning teachers with ongoing technical and pedagogical support and capitalizing on their tech-savvy strengths are discussed.     

Reaching beyond an online/offline divide: invoking the rhizome in higher education course design

In the rush to digitise aspects of higher education to cater to an increasingly diverse and wide-ranging university market, there is a concern that best-practice teaching and learning based on sound pedagogy may be left behind. This article addresses this concern by offering a conceptual reimagining of the learning space that reaches beyond a digital/non-digital divide. The authors’ argument posits that imagining online and offline as different learning spaces confuses a necessary pedagogical correlation between learning delivery and learning objective that allows questions of digital (or non-digital) delivery primacy over questions of pedagogical quality. To reassert the significance of pedagogically driven course structure and design, the authors invoke Deleuze and Guattari’s image of the non-hierarchical rhizome to deconstruct binary thinking and to recognise online and offline as elements of the same pedagogical space. They then use Wenger, White, and Smith’s Digital Habitat metaphor to reimagine course design as the creation of context-sensitive learning habitats that cater to the differing needs of blended and online-only students, within a single pedagogical ecosystem.     

A case example of one state's efforts to measure and address the critical shortage of school psychologists

Despite persistent calls for school psychologists to provide comprehensive and integrated services, school psychologists may have difficulty providing these services because of critical shortages in the profession. This practical action research study involved surveying district supervisors of school psychologists and training program directors in the state to identify the current and projected shortages in Florida. This multimethod, multi‐informant case example also focused on facilitators of and barriers to addressing the critical shortage. How the data have been used to inform recruitment, retention, and advocacy efforts to identify school psychology as a critical shortage legislatively are provided as well as recommendations for future research.     

Evaluating a screening and support system for early intervention in Wales

The concept of early screening and response to intervention has been recognised as key to success in literacy. In this article, an implementation model, which combined a published screening test with a free open access short‐term intervention, was piloted and evaluated over several years. Significant improvements in risk levels for literacy difficulties were identified following a series of 12‐week interventions for 1 hour weekly, split into three small group sessions. In phase 1a, 54% of 224 children were no longer ‘at risk’, and in Phase 1b, 51% of 151 children were no longer ‘at risk’, with evidence for transfer to reading over time. In phase 2a, the approach included whole class screening, (670 children, 25% risk at pre‐test reduced to ‘no‐risk’ in 17.4%). In Phase 2b, targeted support was provided for 306 children in reception, year 1 and year 2. After the intervention, 57% of these children were no longer ‘at‐risk’, with reception children making greatest progress. The model has successfully impacted on greater awareness of ALN and approaches to intervention in the teachers involved. Interviews with users indicated a high level of satisfaction and the approach has been recommended for wider application, following further research.