Learning how to engage students online in hard times

In a context of financial restraint and enterprising university managers, teacher-researchers have reason to be sceptical about the trend towards online teaching and away from learning for its own sake. This article departs from both economic and technological determinism and turns instead to ideas about technology embedded in social and political institutions. Activity theory offers a useful means of analysing such embeddedness. Its Marxian assumptions about human nature specify a non-deterministic approach to technology. Its dynamic model of the subjects, tools, and objects of activity within a context of rules, a community, and a division of labour helps to specify aspects of the authors process of learning how to use electronic conferencing effectively. A full deployment of activity theory would also analyse the activity of students. Here the evidence comes mainly from the activity of researcher-teachers engaging greater activity among students. The numbers of students involved precludes reliable quantitative analysis but qualitative evidence from students does support conclusions about researcher-teachers learning how to make best use of electronic conferencing.

Enabling electronic medicine at Kiwicare : the case of video conferencing adoption for psychiatry in New Zealand

Telemedicine emerges as a viable solution to New Zealand health providers in reaching out to rural patients, in offering medical services and conducting administrative meetings and training. No research exists about adoption of telemedicine in New Zealand. The purpose of this case study was to explain factors influencing adoption of telemedicine utilizing video conferencing technology (TMVC) within a New Zealand hospital known as KiwiCare. Since TMVC is part of IT, tackling it from within technological innovation literature may assist in providing an insight into its adoption within KiwiCare and into the literature. Findings indicate weak presence of critical assessment into technological innovation factors prior to the adoption decision, thereby leading to its weak utilization. Factors like complexity, compatibility and trialability were not assessed extensively by KiwiCare and would have hindered TMVC adoption. TMVC was mainly assessed according to its relative advantage and to its cost effectiveness along with other facilitating and accelerating factors. This is essential but should be alongside technological and other influencing factors highlighted in the literature.

Case study of electronic networking in an initial teacher education course

Electronic networking ('computer-mediated communication1), considered to be ‘unique domain for educational activity’ (Harasim, 1989:50) and ‘new educational paradigm’ (Mason & Kaye, 1989:23), has been widely used and researched in K-12 schooling, place-based undergraduate subjects and distance education courses. However, only a limited number of reports of usage with experienced teachers (professional development), beginning teachers (induction support) and trainee teachers (initial training) have been published. Hence, little is known about the ways in which this new medium might contribute to the acquisition and maintenance of professional knowledge in the field of teacher education. The purpose of this study was to document an application of electronic networking in an initial 'school-based1 teacher education course. Three factors which were considered to be important in the adoption of electronic networking were specifically addressed: (a) the potential of the medium to attract and maintain a representative and comprehensive audience', (b) the willingness of participants to use the medium for the notation of ideas about teaching; and, (c) the extent to which reflection on practice was evident in network messages. This study also identified and investigated other effects which emerged as participants attempted to negotiate personal relationships with new technology. A case study was selected to investigate audience, notation, reflection, and other effects, in a particular application. Data were collected using participant observation, software-generated statistics, printed documentation, university records, questionnaires, interviews and content analysis of messages. These data were used to describe and analyse network participation by trainee teachers, classroom teachers and university staff. The data revealed that an audience did exist on the electronic network but that this was not comprehensive. Teachers had difficulty accessing the network because of other school commitments, access to equipment and personal competence with microcomputers. These difficulties indicated that developing and maintaining the teacher audience may be a major problem with electronic networking in initial teacher education. This case study revealed that deeply held concerns about notation of ideas by trainee teachers and classroom teachers can be powerful reasons for limited network participation. For trainee teachers, recording ideas publicly presented special difficulties associated with written communication. They were concerned about writing for an audience; about what to write about and how to write it. The loss of visual and verbal cues which form part of face-to-face communication was also a problem leading to concerns about how messages would be received by others. However, the overwhelming concern of almost all trainee teachers about presenting their own ideas was Tear of criticism' from peers (in particular), and other participants on the network. Trainee teachers expressed concerns about the 'dangers' of putting their thoughts in writing, the scrutiny their messages might have received from others, and the public 'criticism' about what they wrote which might have appeared on the network. Knowing that messages were stored on the network, and could be retrieved at some later date, heightened anxiety about the vulnerability of written communication; what was written on one occasion may have to be defended at some later date when the views expressed initially were no longer held. Classroom teachers were also unsure about recording their own ideas in an electronic form. Like trainee teachers, they were concerned about the scrutiny their contributions might receive from other users, and the lack of visual and verbal cues which they had learnt to use in face-to-face communication. Notating ideas in text-based messages which were archived (by the software), and retrievable by others later, was also daunting to many teachers. Another major 'danger' for teachers was the possible repercussions of 'public comment' about curriculum policy and initiatives which they thought might get them into 'trouble' with their employer. Since very few messages were contributed to conferences, there was little evidence of reflection in network communication. In the main, the network was not used to share information and ideas about curriculum and teaching. Public examples of collaboration between participants were not evident, and the 'special knowledge' held by members in each distinct group of users was not elaborated and discussed. Messages were not used to request information or clarification about issues, to outline the processes by which decisions about teaching were reached, or to synthesis ideas from different sources. The potential of the medium to operationalise reflective practice was not realised. Among the effects observed, the use of an anonymous account to access the network, and the impact this had on participation (in one conference) was considered to be a particularly significant finding. While the opportunity to systematically investigate the effects of anonymity on network participation and message contributions was not realised (by the author) while the research was in progress, the effects observed and discussed are considered to be important and worthy of further investigation. In this case study, the anonymous account helped trainee teachers mask concerns about personal writing skills and fear of criticism from others, indicating that anonymity may alter communication patterns, particularly in the early stages of network use. Given the data collected in this case study, and the interpretations placed on it by the author, a pessimistic assessment of the place of electronic networking in initial teacher education courses was presented. For this situation to change - that is, for electronic discussions to become more fully integrated into course activities - four issues which need to be addressed were identified and discussed. These included clarification of the role of collaboration amongst participants in initial teacher education, the ways in which collaboration can be facilitated using electronic networking, the problems of notation - such as the difficulty of expressing ideas about teaching in written form, and the concerns about permanently archived messages - for teachers and trainee teachers, and the lack of skills which many trainee teachers bring to electronic discussions. In the context of initial teacher education, it was suggested that these four aspects require clarification and development before the potential advantages of electronic networking can be realised. Some specific suggestions about how these issues might be resolved were presented.