The purpose of this paper is (a) to present and discuss a multi-dimensional context sensitive design in an educational research project focusing on ICT in teaching and learning in upper secondary schools, and (b) report what participating teachers want this research to focus on. The project is financed by the Swedish Research Council and will run between 2015-2018. The project includes students, teachers and school leaders. This paper concerns the teachers and the importance of research projects being firmly based in the teachers’ previous experiences, their questions and expectations for the project. The question posted is how the design of the project potentially can contribute with a long-term impact by providing knowledge of importance when developing sustainable ecologies of using IT in teaching and learning in the schools.  

Over the last 15 years there has been a continuing discussion about ICT in schools (Authors 2015). This both on a policy level (cf. OECD, 2010) and within the research community (cf. Beckman et al., 2014). The potential power of ICT in teaching and learning in school which is often concluded on a policy level though seems to stand somewhat in contrast to what a rather large body of research reports. Here critical voices in research for example concern the lack of up-to-date and research-based strategies for the use of ICT in upper secondary schools (Håkansson Lindqvist, 2015); too few studies report evidence showing that ICT in school develops the practice, the pedagogy and has a positive effect on students’ learning experiences (cf. McGarr, 2009; Voogt et al., 2011). In addition, Säljö (2010) means that the results of the use of ICT in schools are seldom obvious or successful on a general or a subject-specific level.

Given the critical voices above, it seems as if work still remains in the development of research-based and sustainable ways of using ICT in teaching and learning in school. One might ask why. In this paper we can think of at least three reasons. First, research that reports negative results in relation to ICT in school tends to search for results that are general rather than specific and contextual (Hayes, 2006). Second, in order to understand the use of ICT in schools, in line with Tondeur et al. (2009), research studies need to include structural and cultural factors at different levels of the schools as organization in their design. Third, implementing ICT must go hand in hand with teachers’ professional development to be sustainable (Authors, 2015). Here, it has been claimed that the outcome of professional development to a great extent is influenced by “teachers subjectivity, which includes perceptions, previous knowledge, and the internalization of the power and influence present in educational policy and socioeconomic realities.” (Fore, et.al. 2015, p. 101). This calls for teachers’ strengthened influence and agency in professional development as well as in research. 

To capture the emergence and development of teaching and learning with ICT the design of the project theoretically draws on notions as task perception, agency, and enactment as well as the TPACK-framework (Mishra & Koehler, 2009). Most important for this paper is the notion of task perception, the self-understanding based on deeply held values and beliefs about the purpose of education and own tasks and responsibilities (Kelchtermans, 2009), agency, the way in which individuals “critically shape their response to problematic situations” (Biesta & Tedder, 2006, p. 11), and how these interact in the enactment of ICT.

Authors (2015) [details removed for peer review]. Article published in international journal with double-blinded peer-review process. Beckman, K, Bennett., S. & Lockyer, L. (2014). Understanding students' use and value of technology for learning. Learning, Media & Technology, 39(3), 346-367. Biesta, G.J.J. & Tedder, M. (2006). How is agency possible? Towards an ecological understanding of agency-as-achievement. Working paper 5. Exeter: The Learning Lives project. Fore, G.A., Feldhaus, C.R, Sorge, B.H., Agarwal, M. & Varahramyan (2015). Learning at the nano-level: Accounting for complexity in the internalization of secondary STEM teacher professional development. Teaching and Teacher Education, 51, 101-112. Hayes, D. (2006). Making all the flashy stuff work: the role of the principal in ICT integration. Cambridge Journal of Education, 36(4), 565–578. Håkansson Lindqvist, M. (2015). Conditions for technology enhanced learning and educational change. A case study of a 1:1 initiative. Unpublished doctoral thesis. Umeå University, Sweden. Kelchtermans, G. (2009) Who I am in how I teach is the message: self‐understanding, vulnerability and reflection. Teachers and Teaching, 15(2), 257-272 Koehler, M. J., & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge? Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 60-70. McGarr, O. (2009). The development of ICT across the curriculum in Irish schools: A historical perspective. British Journal of Educational Technology, 40(6), 1094–1108. Miles, M.B., Huberman, A.M. & Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: a methods sourcebook. (3. ed.) Los Angeles: Sage. OECD (2010). Inspired by Technology, Driven by Pedagogy. OECD, Directorate for Education. Säljö, R. (2010). Digital tools and challenges to institutional traditions of learning: technologies, social memory and the performative nature of learning. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 26, 53-64. Tondeur, J., Devos, G., Van Houtte, M., van Braak, J. & Valcke, M. (2009). Understanding structural and cultural school characteristics in relation to educational change: the case of ICT integration. Educational Studies, 35(2), 223-235. Voogt, J., Knezek, G., Cox, M., Knezek, D. & ten Brummelhuis, A. (2011). Under which conditions does ICT have a positive effect on teaching and learning. A call to action. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 29(1), 4-14.