Hi Kimberly. I am writing to you from the African context. My country is currently trying to digitize the curriculum at primary and secondary school levels. As far as policy is concerned, we have put in place a comprehensive teacher training program. This program aims at shifting teachers' mindsets (hence learners) from consumption to creation, from content to conversation (through online communities of practice), from correct to correcting (encouraging critical thinking). We have also provided teachers with a support mechanism with regards to pedagogy and technology (troubleshooting). Aside to these, we have provided them with digital learning resources at the onset of our initiatives. However, we are slowly moving towards empowering to design and develop their own digital learning resources. At primary school level we have had some success with regards to technology uptake. Indeed teachers are now demanding that they have an interactive projector in their classrooms and training concerning usage.

High education, in my opinion, is a very creative process depending not only on protocols , but also on personality of Tutor, who is eager to implement advances of technology in the classroom . As a example I invite you to have a look on the On-line Educational Platform - Free of charge - WWW.TEST.AECP.AM

I think policies should make available on-going training for staff and faculty and require that follow-up evaluations be done on the impact of such training. In addition, faculty should be required to attend the latter and use the emerging technology in their teaching delivery (F2F and Online) with supporting evidence. 

Best regards,

Debra

Hi Kimberly. I am writing to you from the African context. My country is currently trying to digitize the curriculum at primary and secondary school levels. As far as policy is concerned, we have put in place a comprehensive teacher training program. This program aims at shifting teachers' mindsets (hence learners) from consumption to creation, from content to conversation (through online communities of practice), from correct to correcting (encouraging critical thinking). We have also provided teachers with a support mechanism with regards to pedagogy and technology (troubleshooting). Aside to these, we have provided them with digital learning resources at the onset of our initiatives. However, we are slowly moving towards empowering to design and develop their own digital learning resources. At primary school level we have had some success with regards to technology uptake. Indeed teachers are now demanding that they have an interactive projector in their classrooms and training concerning usage.

Dear Colleagues,

I invite you  have a look on the On-line Educational Platform - Free of charge - WWW.TEST.AECP.AM

Dear Kimberly,

Technology play significant role these days in education policy due to change in students learning behaviour. Technology is essential to be use in a right set of manner which should integrate with teaching pedagogy and tutor persona which will enable quality instruction to students.

Technology must be considered for all of the people, because ethnicity,minority and racial population  is increasing.in term  of, technology competence= cultural competence 

Hi Kimberley, my suggestion is that we should always keep examining the relationship between research, policy and practice. Hopefully, education policy changes can be informed by research which brings about changes in practice. Of course, the relationships don't need to be linear, as policy can encourage much needed research into practice, as well as practice and research informing policy.

I co-authored an interesting analysis of eLearning trends from 1977-2005 in the paper titled - Mapping the Evolution of eLearning from 1977–2005 to Inform Understandings of eLearning Historical Trends - and this is available at http://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/4/1/155.

Specifically, in that journal article, Figure 6 shows that there were three main trends, and when applied to Australia and Taiwan, we noted that it appeared that in each of those trends, policies have tended to follow each of those trends. We stated that, "...in Queensland, Australia, the first Policy Statement Computers in the Curriculum was developed in 1983..." and the "...next iteration of that policy occurred in 1997 with the launch of the Schooling 2001 policy, which was the first policy to acknowledge that classrooms by 2001 should have Internet access". Subsequently,"the Smart Classrooms Professional Development Framework, launched in 2005 referred to 'digital pedagogies', which was consistent with the ICT and pedagogy trend identified in the third wave."

Thus, through that analysis, we could see that policy tended to follow research - simplistically, the introduction of the PC Computer (circa 1983), then the emergence of the Internet (circa 1993), and then the focus on technology and pedagogy.

So - what research can inform policy change now? A search of EDITLibrary using TPACK as a search term reveals more than 500 research articles, which I suggest reflects the need to see that there is a new knowledge base for being a teacher, using technologies; i.e. TPACK. My view is that many policies reflect a pre-digital, analogue world, and require changes to reflect the digital era, and the need for teachers to have Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK). This policy shift needs to be reflected in the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers and the Australian Professional Standard for Principals.

Dear Kimberly!

In Austria, during the past two years new curricula for teacher education have been developed. Media Pedagogy (Medienpädagogik) - this term corresponds in our interpretation with technology-mediated and technology-integrated learning - plays an important role within the curricula. Media Pedagogy is a so called transdisciplinary principle. It is integrated into the curricula explicitly as a content of learning and implicitly as a principle that should be taken seriously across the entire educational endeavor in future teacher education.

I suppose that this might be a promising step forward.

However, the meaningful use of media and technology in the classrooms and in daily life covers more than an array of skills and simple techniques to use media and technology. It is rather a holistic qestion of how we can use it (possiblities of effective usage), how we want to use it (orientation on teachers and learners concerns), and how we should use it (ethical dimension). Hence, it embraces the hole human being and also culture.

This considerations bring me to the point that the integration of media and technology into educational settings should be reflected differentiated and conceputalized in dialogue with interdisciplinary theory (e.g. learning theories; learning approaches, moral development, inquiry learning, participatory learning,...), ideally not just among teachers but among all participants of learning arrangements (teachers, researchers, students, parents,...).

I hope that our new curricula will support this vision.

I also hope, that this information is useful for you.

Best regards from Middle-Europe,

Johannes

Quite an important factor mentioned in HE policy driver (but probably not enough) is the need to support learners who require flexible learning, working education around their work and families, as well as reaching out to those who may not physically be able to attend the institute.  In this regard, online distance programmes are classed as important in the HE infrastructure.  I teach on an online distance learning MA in Advanced Child Protection and importing technological innovations into this is essential.  However, in-house resources to support the continuing development of such programmes is not always widely available so tutor commitment and drive is a crucial part of making the programmes successful.   

For e.g. we know that online discussion forums (which I use in my programme) are a valuable addition to HE learning.  See below for further information:

•       Wang, Q. and Woo, H.L. (2007) “Comparing asynchronous online discussions and face-to-face discussions in a classroom setting” British Journal of Educational Technology 38 (2): 272-286. 

•       Guiller,J., Durndell, A. and Ross, A. (2008). “Peer interaction and critical thnking: Face-to-face or online discussion?” Learning and Instruction 18: 187-200.

Dear Kimberly,

Maybe you can find find insights related to your question in this article: http://data.edupax.org/precede/public/Assets/divers/documentation/1_articles/1_089_PagesfromSteinbergMacedo_ch56.pdf

May I also suggest this ppt presentation: Roadmap to Screen Freedom.

http://www.edupax.org/images/stories/edupax/PDF/52_CCFCsummitBostonMarch2013.pdf

Jacques Brodeur / Québec, Canada

In the United States, we have a restrictive school privacy law called FERPA. Use of Social Media may easily violate this law IF people outside the class can see who is in the class.  Yes, even the fact that you are TAKING a class is protected private information.  

However school privacy policies usually ignore the question of using Social Media for educational purposes, such as discussion forums.  

In the Philippines, there are unmatched realities and aspirations that will make harnessing of ICT benefits at the minimal. There was already a proposed roadmap for strengthening ICT support infrastructures like internet connectivity and reliable power supply. These support for ICT cannot reach its full potential due to either system implementation and plain crisis. When the infrastructure for strong ICT support cannot be delivered by government, it has to rely on private entity and this is coupled with erratic power supply that gripped the country in rotating brown outs. 

In terms of curricular aspect, the task of spreading ICT capability cannot be shouldered by the government, it still has to make linkage with private entities and international implementing bodies like UNESCO. In fact, most of the ICT trainings nationwide were done by the like of INTEL Philippines.

Looking at the actual field where trained teachers are to be monitored, the ICT implementation can be viewed as very sparingly employed because majority of recipient schools do not have sustainable support structure and that full integration can only be limited to those trained, however majority of the teachers are still ensconced in the traditional pedagogical stance. I am not sure if other third world countries share this predicament.

Hence, only countries with reliable energy source and well placed ICT support infrastructure can make policies that will engender maximum ICT benefits. The caveat, though, is that if there is a strong impetus to harness the benefits of ICT integration, it must mean empowering all teachers and all support  systems to facilitate a seamless integration. 

The real technology in learning is sound instructional design. Interested parties should consider searching the following terms: Direct Instruction, Precision Teaching, Tiemann and Markle, The Morningside Model of Generative Instruction.

UNESCO offers helpful guidance on many policy aspects of ICT in education. This includes (i) Transforming Education: The Power of ICT Policies, dated 2011 and available at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002118/211842e.pdf; (ii) the evolving ICT in Education Policy Makers' Toolkit, information on which is at http://www.unescobkk.org/education/ict/ict-in-education-projects/policy/toolkit/; and, moving forward, (iii) material related to the International Conference on ICT and Post-2015 Education, available at http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/themes/icts/policy/international-conference-on-ict-and-post-2015-education/.

Hi Kimberly, I'm from Austria so I can relfect the Austrian situation. A lot of things were organised in the last about 20 years to get new technologies into our schools. We can see that we made a big jump. All of our schools have internet and in every classroom there is at least one computer, a beamer,... . All of our schools have about 3 to 5 computer rooms where there are about 20 computers. Some schools have so called laptop classes and tablet classes. Now we can recognise the trend to "byond" (bring your own device). So some classes use tablets and smartphones for their lessons.

Also nearly all our schools have the so called "digital class-register". There you can see many information about the classes. Curriculum, the timetable of each class, homework, all the tests and much more. Also all the parents have a account to the digital class-register of their child. So they can see what timetable she/he has, and if the kid was in school or not.

So we had many changes equiment and hardware chnages during the last years.

We also are working on digital learning materials, learning software (such as geogebra for maths) and teachertrainings.

To be honest. Sometimes I think we did a big job and sometimes I think we are always one step behind reality.

The same statement can be stated in regards of our policy. The ministry is trying hard to adopt all the laws to make it possible that the teachres can work more and more digital in the classes. Sometimes I think they are trying hard and doing a great job. Sometimes It hink that chnages are one step behind reality (see above).

In general I think that times and technology is chaning so fast that it is really a challange for all in the system (ministry, teachersm students and us researchers) to be up to date.        

I've heard that sense of scrambling yet always being "behind" in the states as well, Guenter. I wonder whether we are "tackling" the changes technology brings both effectively and realistically? Is it most important for us to incorporate tech the way the business world might? We hear that top digital gurus still send their primary age children to very low tech schools - perhaps most of this thread refers to post-secondary institutions - or at least high schools. I like the idea of always asking how will this change improve/enrich our lives (not in the future, but in the present) and how will it help us to build on our current capacity to be the best we can be at a very human level?

Ms. Lawless,

I belief a lack of trust exists with respect to distance education (DE). Technology dependent DE has existed for over 150 years. The first tech advance was in the development of a national postal system in North America and Europe and the steam locomotive.  DE has continued to follow technology ever since.  The advances of the last 15 years have eclipsed the previous 135 years by a dramatic margin. Consequently, pedagogy lags technology. In short, administrators are still learning how to manage computer mediate DE. They have followed and been at the mercy of technology and that is reflected in policy. In order to control what has been unanticipated technological advances, rigid policy is set.  Unfortunately, technology reigns and pedagogy suffers. Policy that focuses on pedagogy is what is needed. See onlineteachrs.tumblr.com for more info on DE.

Hi Kimberly, I think that policies that hamper or constrain teacher autonomy are the ones that have the biggest impact on teachers using technology in the classroom. Many of my students, in-service teachers, express a great deal of fear about trying new things in the classroom.  They are afraid of principals and district personnel who don't understand or misunderstand what they are trying to do. Policies that have weakened the power of unions have also contributed to this sense of vulnerability that leaves teachers waiting to be told what to do.

Hello Kimberly,

I teach in China, both in Higher Education and Secondary. Technology is used to varying degrees, but it all depends on the schools and funding. Most of the government funded schools have reasonable access to technology, but lack adequate access to electronic research sources. In terms of policy, it would come down to spreading the funding around more effectively; in rural schools technology-based learning may range from limited tech to non-existent while urban schools have all the bells and whistles. Even within major cities there is a gap based on the reputation of the schools. The major policy change here would revolve around better distribution of funding to schools; the schools that have a solid reputation and charge parents a large amount of money to send their kids there do not need the same amount of funding as the schools that have no reputation and no additional funding.

However, that said, I'm not a fan of the introduction of technology at too early a point. Chinese love their technology and digital screens, but ultimately people seem to have forgotten the key difference between my generation and the current generation in terms of technology in education - I already knew how to do everything without technology.

For me, the most important policy regarding technology is that it should NOT be implemented before Senior high school. Recent research by the OECD has shown that technology is actually restricting learning just as recent research has shown that digital reliance is impacting our memories for the worse. It is important that we teach students how to do things on their own without technology before showing them how technology can make it easier. Just my take on it.

Cheers,

Rob

A change in policy on the following points  -that only internally available courses will be considered for completion of program  -  This enables choosing courses available on MOOC certificate ,on line programs from specialized institutions to add into the courses of a program and learner will have greater autonomy.

flexibility in timing and place - on line virtual webinars, uploaded class instructions can enable learner to choose time and medium of learning.

Teachers can be exposed to international domain exclusive webinars and industry outreach.

Dear Dr. Lawless, 

To answer the question, I’d like to take out the following parts of this article by a well-known Thai scholar, Pote Sapianchai (2005).

1. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Thai education has become a mainstream educational focus.  It has been used for the purposes of

• enhancing the learning environment, and the flexibility of educational provision
• reinforcing the learning ability of students, and their learning independence
• increasing the efficient use of resources-human, physical and capital

2.  Many reasons exist as to why classrooms are not places for the normal use of technology such as computers and other higher technologies. Among the main reasons in Thailand appear to be a lack of hardware, software and possibly the most important lack of teacher/lecturer skills.

3.  Failure to develop a whole-institution ICT strategy which takes into consideration learning, teaching and administration aspects of institutions appears to affect how technology is used within them.

4.  Attitudes to technology appear to affect how technology is viewed and used.

Improvements should be done in these problematic areas for technologies to become more beneficial to learning and teaching.

The whole article is on the link below.

http://www.bu.ac.th/knowledgecenter/epaper/july_dec2005/pote.pdf

Best regards,

Cameen

Hi Dr. Kimberley,

I'm from India, teaching at MBA college in Symbiosis International University, Pune.

As said by Jim, empowerment of Faculty to use the technology is not at par to the requirement to get expected growth wrt technology use. The policies are good but the implementations and change management issues are there in India also.

I'm using Moodle for teaching and evaluation but 90 % faculty members are just doing not happy with the digitization bcz of chage in the nature of work for making the content available on Moodle.

I thnik, changing the mindset of the Gen x people like us should be the first  measure approach in the policy.

Dear Prof. Lawless,

There are many benefits of technology for students and teachers. Benefits for students include, developing skills needed in real world, stimulating student motivation, accessing to wealth content, improving communication, etc. Policy changes may include:

- Tackling challenges facing schools in relation to technology.

- Fostering greater collaboration between industry and schools concerning best technologies for classroom instruction, course design, etc.

- Communicating research findings of the benefits of technology for students, teachers, and the larger community.  

- Developing technology strategy for schools (e.g. the effective use of technologies in schools and minimizing the negative effects of technologies).

- Expanding professional development for educators. 

In Oman, the integration of technology is growing very fast in public schools. For example, IT has long been one of the required subject areas for students at the basic education stage (Grades 1-10). Besides that there is an expansion of using technologies relevant to each subject area. For example, there is a strong emphasis on geo-technologies (e.g. GPS and GIS ) in geography classes (Grade 12). Still there are a number of issues facing the implementation of technologies in classroom instruction (technical issues, professional development, time, etc. ).  

 Attached two documents about international perspectives on technology:

(1)Technology in the classroom survey results.  

(2) Adapting technology for school improvement: A global perspective (UNESCO).

Best regards,

Mohammed

Hi Kimberly,

I want to respond to your question speaking about my experience and what happened in my institute which belongs to University of Carthage. I think its very important to have the possibility to try. In my institute, I tried eLearning and using technology in many courses, well in all my courses. I also, put all English courses for masters online (I'm not English teacher). You would ask how could I do it without following the education system and policies especially? I did all my courses in a traditional way and in parallel I managed online spaces belonging to each course. I was not paid for all what I did online and I did not mind because I'm convinced of the importance of using technology in education. After seeing the good result of what I did, the dean of our institute asked me to coordinate the english courses on line. And then "policies changed". 

So to change policies we need to be volunteers in order to show the importance of technology and the success we rich using it in education. I think it is the case of any kind of change! :)

Hi Kimberley,

I'll keep this simple and sweet

teachers need incentives and time to become competent IT users and leaders -so any policy needs to take this into account

In Brazil we have a lack of comprehension: professors don't think technologies as a good medium to learn, because they don't use technologies daily (social networks; games; etc). They use only to do research and only use the same databases.... The communication revolution and technologies approach are important to know how to use for learning challenge!

These are amazing answers with such wonderful International representation! Many of you are on the same page I am - we need commensurate training for teachers, at all levels including preservice teacher education. There is a great deal of research going on regarding IT, its impact on students and changes to how we interact with the world, but it simply is not being leveraged in classrooms. I think part of this, in the US, is do to assessment driven policy mandates that favor content knowledge as an indicator of learning do to its ease of measurement. But it is also partly do to the architecture of our schools which was developed prior to the existence of computers. How our classrooms are set-up, how schools are set up - seat facing the front where the teacher stands in front of a board or a screen to lecture, segmented and siloed subjects that do not impinge upon one another. This type of architecture no longer represents the best pedagogy we have, and limits us as to how we can think about technology as a teaching tool... we need policies that allow us to open up our classrooms and teaching to new pedagogies, ones that technology has afforded. Until we break through that structuring of "how schools operate" we will never learn the full power of the technologies that surround us.

Reform the examination system by bringing the internet into the examination hall.  The exams, the curriculum and how teachers teach will all have to change to take this into account.  Teachers will then have an incentive to embrace technology.

Hi Kimberly, I think that there are two elements to be considered: the first one is concerning the institutional politics about the educational project (i.e. the pedagogical model, the teaching and learning strategies for the currrent knowledge society, the strategic plan to incorporate ICT in education, etc.), and the second one is about the development of digital competences in teachers. The combination of these two elements would have an impact in the learning process and the main actors should be very motivated.

In the first instance, I think that education policy should openly admit that there inequities in the system,  that the digital divide is real in all countries, and that the approach to technology introduction may only have the effect of widening that divide. So taking that into consideration, overall policy should set an attainable benchmark for technology acquisition to ensure that ALL students regardless of socio-economic status and/or location of school, have access to the resources required for self-development in this digital age.

Another area which I think policy should address is the allocation of resources for technology for individual vis-a-vis collective use. What proportion of funds will go to the acquisition of technologies for individual use and what to use by groups of learners for  interactive, collaborative learning? Of course, these decisions will be linked to key curriculum planning decisions.

Training also needs to be factored in at the policy making level for all stake holders. It is important not to fall into the trap of limiting this training to technical know-how. There are the wider and even more critical areas of building competence in sourcing, evaluating and using information. Also for students to build greater confidence as learners and for teachers to develop the capacity to support their students along this path.

Of course policy must also ensure that there are resources to support ongoing research and evaluation.

Just following up on my earlier post. Found this recent publication from someone in my RG network. He is the second author:

Chen, Y-H., Jang, S-J, Chen, Pj (2015). Using wikis and collaborative learning for science teachers' professional development: wikis and collaborative learning. Journal of Computer-Assisted Learning, 31(4).

Colleagues may wish to request the text from him.

hay Kimberly : in my country its impossible to use  technology  in learning for many reason first ; the  technology  tool very expensive for that the student can not buy it

second : the teacher need more practice to use it   third; the class rooms is not ready  technology  tools .

the other hand the government try to apply the  technology  to improving learning because reduce individual different between student .  technology  make the student learning himself .the  technology Boundary between the modern education and Traditional education.

The wide and dynamic access to information is obviously the greatest use of technology in Education. However, unfortunately confirming the tragedies of postmodernity, in what we understand of Jean-François Lyotard,  three highly harmful problems come along with this seductive self-sufficiency in getting well informed:

1.    students give preference to data, instead of dedicating to reasoning - memorizing gets more important than understanding; accumulating quantity gets more important than sensitizing about quality;

2.    the virtual contact to the pleasure of feeling connected, completely away from the tensions involving human real contact, ends up putting aside the necessary humanistic dialectics learning demands; and

3.    the pleasant sensation of solitary-connection-to-the-world naturally implicates lack  of affection (an important element in learning), something the students try to compensate with two other poisons technology  unfortunately has been bringing together: narcissism (social networks) and consumerism (to feed narcissism).

My point of view is that together with technology, in its useful aspects, teachers and professors have a new responsibility:  create techniques to always bring students back to the real world, with the same pleasure he finds in the virtual one – some kind of pedagogical witchcraft!

I am reminded of a class of very bright and advanced students I was faced with, many of whom I suspected were probably better at some aspects of my subject than I.

Teachers today are faced with the problem of rapidly advancing technology and diminishing respect for their often great accumulated knowledge and wisdom.  Who could have predicted ten years ago that in 2015 our portable telephones would be powerful computers letting us access the world, or even 30 years ago, that computers would be such an important part of the classroom?

I have personally seen widespread waste of valuable resources in placing computers into classrooms without any present need or teachers able to use them to their greatest benefit.  The result in implementing "technology" into a classroom is often a feel-good activity (on the part of the administration implementing it) with little or even a negative benefit to the teaching process.

Give competent teachers clear teaching goals and please stand back and let them use whatever resources that are available to communicate their subjects in the most efficient manner.  Administrations cannot proscribe enthusiasm or demand student appreciation, but good teachers can generate both.

Perceptions must change, not policy. Policy does not dictate how content should be taught, but does dictate what should be taught. At the building level, policy needs to be less about buying new tech & making teachers use it & more about encouraging teacher exploration. 

I think policies need to include incentives for faculty to use technology, especially complex initiatives such us blended learning implementation. Such incentives would help to motivate faculty to effectively integrate technology into learning activities and assessments. I have attached two conference presentations as examples of how I've used technology in learning and assessment that I hope would be useful in showing that the teacher is still "behind" both F2F and online classes in knowing how to use the technology for learning and assessment.

Best regards,

Debra 

Conference Paper Social Media in Education: Bringing Your Classroom to Life -...

Conference Paper Debating: A Dynamic Teaching Strategy for Motivating Student...