Markus Mostert & Lynn Quinn Rhodes University

GrahamstownSouth Africa

Using ICTs in Teaching and Learning:Reflections on Professional Development of Academic Staff

Introductions

Markus has a Masters Degree in Computer-Assisted Education from the University of Pretoria. As the Coordinator of Educational Technology in the Academic Development Centre at Rhodes, his primary responsibility is to assist academic staff with integrating Information Technology into teaching and learning.

Collage: Dina Belluigi

Introductions

Lynn has been involved in the field of Academic Development since 1995. Her first career was as a high school English teacher. When she first started working in the ADC her work mainly involved supporting students in terms of academic writing. Her MA research project focused on students' writing in HE. From 1999 the ADC at Rhodes began to focus more on academic staff development. 2000 saw the introduction of the first version of the Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education (PGDHE). The qualification has been designed and is taught by most of the staff in the ADC. Lynn has, for some years, been the co-ordinator of the PGDHE and the ADC MEd students. This year she will teach the Assessors' Course. Aside from the formal programmes, she does other work to support lecturers at Rhodes University, particularly in relation to the evaluation of teaching and courses. At the end of 2006 she completed her PhD which is entitled: 'A social realist account of the emergence of a formal academic staff development programme at a South African university'. (Collage: Dina Belluigi)

Overview

Context: HE / PGDHE

Focus: Using ICTs in teaching and learning Educational developers / Academic Development staff

Academic staff / PGDHE participants

Issue: Separateness

Lens: Technological Pedagogical Content

Knowledge

“Solution”: Professional Learning Communities

Context

Changing Higher Education

Impact of technology

Professional Development of Academic Staff

Communities of Practice

These professional communities have allowed a sense of belonging

and confidence in shared decision-making when (often)

external factors seemed to be working against us …

(in Unwin 2007:296)

Background

The PGDHE

Learning about ICTs in the PGDHE

ICTs and Higher Education

Separating practices

Separating discourses

What does this mean for

professional development?

C P

T

Reflections on our programme

Technological Pedagogical Content

Knowledge

Implications for staff developers

Implications for curriculum development

Technological Pedagogical Content

Knowledge

C P

T

TPCK represents a class of knowledge that is central to teachers’ work with technology. This knowledge would not typically be held by technologically proficient subject matter experts, or by technologist who know a little of the subject or of pedagogy, or by teachers who know little of that subject or about technology.

Content Knowledge

C P

T

• Subject matter

• Central facts, concepts,

theories, procedures

• Explanatory frameworks that

organize & connect ideas

• Roles of evidence & proof

• Nature of knowledge & inquiry

Pedagogical Knowledge

C P

T

• Processes & practices, methods

of teaching & learning

• Educational purposes, values,

aims

• Theories of learning

Pedagogical Content Knowledge

C P

T

Shulman (1986)• Pedagogy applicable to

teaching of specific content• Fitting approaches• Representation & formulation

of concepts, techniques, knowledge of difficult/easy concepts, ss’ prior knowledge, epistemology

• Appropriate conceptual representations

Technology Knowledge

C P

T

• Standard technologies

• Advanced technologies

• Skills to operate

• OSs, hardware, std software

• Install peripherals & software

• Backups

• Learn & adapt

Technological Content Knowledge

C P

T

• Reciprocal relationship

• Constraints & affordances

• Knowledge representations

• Content changed by

technology

• Nature of learning can also be

changed by technology

Technological Pedagogical Knowledge

C P

T

• Existence, components &

capabilities of ICTs

• How they are used in teaching

• How teaching might change

• Tools for a specific task,

fitness, affordances, strategies

Technological Pedagogical Content

Knowledge

C P

T

Quality teaching requires developing a nuanced understanding of the complex relationships between technology, content, and pedagogy, and using this understanding to develop appropriate, context-specific strategies and representations

Implications for educational developers

Content Knowledge

Pedagogical Knowledge

Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Technology Knowledge

Technological Content Knowledge

Technological Pedagogical Knowledge

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge

C P

T

Implications for curriculum development

Team-based activity

Composition of the team

Role of the educational technologist

The ICT enthusiast “will be there to mediate … the

potential of the technologies with the desired

pedagogies. … they will be able to reduce anxieties

and allow the development of confidence within the

learning community with the technologies being

used” (Unwin 2007:302).

Discussion

This paper describes one strategy for promoting the use of ICTs in the teaching and learning practices of a higher education institution in South Africa. Integrating ICTs in a professional development course for lecturers simultaneously addresses the lack and skills of staff developers and that of academic staff who benefit from experiencing the use of ICTs as “students”. I wonder if it will be useful to start a discussion by relating our own experiences of staff development. Please tell us how your institution assists teachers in using ICTs in their teaching.

Discussion