Are Resistance and Reluctance Good Signs? An Investigation of Implementation Failures of Digital Technology in Teaching and Learning.

Author(s):

Petra Grell(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

06. Open Learning: Media, Environments and Cultures

Format:

Paper

Session Information

06 SES 03, Digital Media: Innovative Use and Reluctance

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-02

17:15-18:45

Room:

B109 Sala de Aulas

Chair:

Nelson Goncalves

Contribution

Some international textbooks on digital technology in teaching and learning claim a more or less dramatic turn in education and in lifelong learning. Some colleagues are talking about “Pedagogy 2.0” (McLoughlin & Lee 2011). Skeptic voices like Neil Selwyn point out, that neither school (Selwyn 2011) nor informal adult learning (Selwyn 2005) in UK has changed fundamentally. Eickelmann (2011) investigated in Germany factors that support or hinder the sustainable ICT implementation in schools. We (Grell & Rau 2009, 2011) investigated two years ago, using a sample of case studies (e.g. Cole 2009, Wheeler 2011), problems of student engagement when implementing participatory web technologies in higher education. In this study we focus on the people, professional educators and students, who show reluctance to the process of implementation of digital technologies in education. The aims of this study were (1) to construct a clear picture of failure of implementing digital technologies in different educational settings and (2) to critically discuss the attempts to reduce unintended side-effects like resistance and reluctance of professionals and students.

Method

Content Analysis. First step (1) was a systematic review of research projects in Germany on this subject. Second step (2) was a review of papers about implementation of digital technology in teaching and learning (in schools or other educational institutions) in international journals, which were published between January 2010 and December 2013. Sources were two well-established online platforms for journals (Taylor and Francis Group, Elsevier Science direct). Fourth step (4) was to exclude all non-empirical papers and to develop a well-founded set of criteria to reduce the amount of papers. Fifth step (5) was to analyze the remaining papers.

Expected Outcomes

Our study will be completed fully in summer 2014. So far we found different descriptions (types) of implementation failures. Most interesting is that resistance and reluctance of professional educators and of students are often discussed as purely disruptive factors that ought to be eliminated. This needs to be discussed critically.

References

Cole, M. (2009) 'Using Wiki technology to support student engagement: Lessons from the trenches'. Computers & Education 52.1. pp. 141–146. Eickelmann, B. (2011). 'Supportive and hindering factors to a sustainable implementation of ICT in schools'. Journal for Educational Research Online. Vol. 3(1), pp. 75–103. Gouseti, A. (2010) 'Web 2.0 and education: not just another case of hype, hope and disappointment? ' In: Learning, Media and Technology. Vol. 35, No. 3. pp. 351–356. Grell, P.; Rau, F. (2009) 'Participation under compulsion'. In: International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (i-JET) Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 26–30. Grell, P.; Rau, F. (2011) 'Partizipationslücken. Social Software in der Hochschullehre'. In: Medienpädagogik. Vol. 21. pp. 1–23. Selwyn, N. (2011) 'Schools and schooling in the digital age: a critical analysis' London, Routledge. Selwyn, N., Gorard, S. and Furlong, J. (2005) 'Adult learning in the digital age ' London, Routledge. Wheeler, S. (2011) 'Using Wikis in Teacher Education: Student-Generated Content as Support in Professional Learning'. In: Lee & McLoughlin. pp. 180–191.

Author Information

Petra Grell (presenting / submitting)

Technische Universität Darmstadt

Human Sciences

Darmstadt

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