Session Information
16 SES 12 B, ICT in the Classroom
Paper Session
Contribution
The average classroom is disrupted every 42 seconds (Wettstein & Scherzinger, 2018). Over the time of an entire day at school, teachers and students are facing up to hundreds of minor and major disruptions. Since a well-structured lesson and a less disturbed classroom are key aspects for students’ academic success (Adeyemo, 2012; Marquez et al., 2016; Talebi et al., 2015), there is an urgent need for educators worldwide to address this issue. This is especially true when facing the consequences of permanent disruptions as stress for teachers: (mental and physical) health issues (Kokkinos, 2007; Wettstein et al., 2021).
Additional to this already important matter the educational systems around the world have to deal with more and more digitization (Meinokat & Wagner, 2022). This transforms educational systems worldwide (European Union, 2020; Wohlfart & Wagner, 2023) and affects all areas of teaching in classes. Classroom Management, as “the actions teachers take to create an environment that supports and facilitates both academic and social-emotional learning” (Evertson & Weinstein, 2006, p. 4) is therefore affected as well. Dealing with disruptions, so “behavior[s] that seriously interferes with the teaching process, and/or seriously upsets the normal running of the classroom” (Infantino & Little, 2005, p. 493), is part of classroom management, but research so far is missing the impact of the digital changes on this topic.
The pandemic has shown that teaching already and in future might benefit from and in digital settings (Meinokat & Wagner, submitted). Digital settings can occur in different forms: digital enhanced face-to-face learning, online learning, or blended learning (Meinokat & Wagner, 2022). All forms can be found interdisciplinary across various subjects at schools. Research in this area so far is lacking an explicit look at the topic of classroom disruptions, rather focusing on classroom management generally, and is mostly teacher focused (Meinokat & Wagner, 2022). To generate a more complete understanding of this important research area, teaching must be investigated from different perspectives. This cumulative PhD Project is therefore addressing classroom disruptions in digital settings from multiple views and regarding various subjects, answering the following research questions:
- How is the current state of research on the topic of classroom disruptions in digital education?
- What strategies do teachers use to prevent and intervene classroom disruptions and how are they impacted by digital media?
- How do students experience the digital evolution in their classes and what are their views on classroom disruptions in digital settings?
Method
This cumulative PhD Project is using a mixed method approach, adapting the used approach according to earlier gathered insights and suitability. Every research design is producing a unique scientific journal article. At the beginning, a systematic literature review according to the PRISMA statement (Moher et al., 2009) is developed to construct an overview of already existing research in this area, find further gaps in the literature and prepare future research. Research in this area so far is teacher focused but missing the digital aspects of teaching. Therefore, a qualitative, semi-structured guideline-based interview study with expert teachers is conducted. The interviews are analyzed via qualitative content analysis (Mayring, 2014). The differences between subjects, school forms and age groups of students ask for further investigation, leading to further interview studies with dedicated focus to vocational education and physical education. To address the issue of teacher centered research, the project will then conduct research on students. The higher number of students compared to available teachers in schools makes it possible to address quantitative research, resulting in a quantitative survey with students in various agents. To address the interdisciplinary character of this project and make the findings comparable amongst the students, this part of the project focuses on the subject of mathematics. This generates a view on the research are from multiple angles and with an interdisciplinary character while having, for the first time in research, the aspect of digitization as the focus for the look at classroom disruptions.
Expected Outcomes
The literature review (Meinokat & Wagner, 2022) shows that the terms of digital settings and classroom disruptions are not defined uniformly. Creating and systemizing definitions for these topics, international research is very teacher oriented. Expert interviews with teachers about their teaching during the pandemic in multiple subjects (Meinokat & Wagner, submitted), their teaching at (digital) learning factories in vocational schools (Meinokat & Wagner, under review), and their teaching of physical education facing the problem of refusal behavior show (Meinokat et al., submitted), that teachers are already utilizing digital media given. To address issues on various levels, teachers use their already existing behavior strategies and enhance their skillset as well as improve their strategies using the benefits of digitization in schools. With the gathered information it is possible to generate systemizations for disruptions and behavior strategies for teachers to utilize during their reflection and their own teaching. The students’ point of view, gathered through quantitative research will answer questions about different understandings of disruptions between teachers and students, will show the impact of these (mis-)understandings on the students directly, and will lay a foundation for future researcher to dwell deeper into this area. Already practicing teachers and students during teacher education will benefit from these findings, making it easier in future to understand the impact of classroom disruptions on multiple stakeholders in class and use the digital media appropriately to enhance their teaching, creating better learning outcomes for students while saving their own health.
References
Adeyemo, S. A. (2012). The relationship between effective classroom management and students’ academic achievement. European Journal of Educational Studies, 4(3), 367–381. European Union. (2020). Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027. In Resetting education and training for the digital age. https://education.ec.europa.eu/focus-topics/digital-education/digital-education-action-plan Evertson, C. M., & Weinstein, C. S. (2006). Classroom Management as a Field of Inquiry. In C. M. Evertson & C. S. Weinstein (Eds.), Handbook of classroom management. Research, practice, and contemporary issues (pp. 3–15). Routledge. Infantino, J., & Little, E. (2005). Students’ Perceptions of Classroom Behaviour Problems and the Effectiveness of Different Disciplinary Methods. Educational Psychology, 25(5), 491–508. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410500046549 Kokkinos, C. M. (2007). Job stressors, personality and burnout in primary school teachers. The British Journal of Educational Psychology, 77(Pt 1), 229–243. https://doi.org/10.1348/000709905X90344 Marquez, B., Vincent, C., Marquez, J., Pennefather, J., Smolkowski, K., & Sprague, J. (2016). Opportunities and Challenges in Training Elementary School Teachers in Classroom Management: Initial Results from Classroom Management in Action, an Online Professional Development Program. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 24(1), 87–109. Mayring, P. (2014). Qualitative Content Analysis. Beltz. Meinokat, P., Gerstmaier, K., & Wagner, I. (submitted). Refusal in physical education – teachers’ strategies and utilization of digital tools. German Journal of Exercise and Sport Research. Meinokat, P., & Wagner, I. (2022). Causes, prevention, and interventions regarding classroom disruptions in digital teaching: A systematic review. Education and Information Technologies, 27(4), 4657–4684. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10795-7 Meinokat, P., & Wagner, I. (under review). Classroom Disruptions and Classroom Management in Learning Factory Settings at Vocational Schools. Vocations and Learning. Meinokat, P., & Wagner, I. (submitted). Classroom Disruptions in Digital Teaching during the Pandemic—An interview study. Frontiers in Education. Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., Altman, D. G., & The PRISMA Group. (2009). Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement. PLoS Med, 6(7), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000097.g001 Talebi, S., Davodi, S., & Khoshroo, A. (2015). Investigating the Effective Component of Classroom Management in Predicting Academic Achievement among English Language Students. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 205, 591–596. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.09.085 Wettstein, A., & Scherzinger, M. (2018). Störungen im Unterricht wirksam begegnen. Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Heilpädagogik, 24(5–6), 26–32. Wettstein, A., Schneider, S., Grosse Holtforth, M., & La Marca, R. (2021). Teacher Stress: A Psychobiological Approach to Stressful Interactions in the Classroom. Frontiers in Education, 6, 681258. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.681258 Wohlfart, O., & Wagner, I. (2023). Teachers’ role in digitalizing education: An umbrella review. Educational Technology Research and Development, 71(2), 339–365. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-022-10166-0
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