Action Research Plan Heath Version 2

ACTION RESEARCH PLAN Heath McCabe

August 2008

PREAMBLE Technology is transforming the way we teach, or at least it should be. According to the recently released ACMA national study into media and communication use in Australian families, 98% of Australian homes have at least one computer and more than 90% are connected to the Internet.(). Our students are using technology to access information, communicate, build new knowledge, collaborate with their peers and present their understanding in visually appealing and interactive media. This is before they even arrive at school for the day! David Warner, in his book Schooling for the Knowledge Era is critical of the slow pace at which governments and many schools appear to be responding to this change. He speaks of the shift which has occurred in society, largely driven by the rapid growth of the Internet, from an industrial era to a knowledge era, one in which people have increased access to information, communicate globally and the ability to learn new skills quickly dominates. () How do we achieve ‘digital take off’ () using new technologies: supporting students and teachers in ICT integration. My action research aims to address this question at three levels: self-learning, student learning and teacherlearning. Firstly, I aim to develop my own understanding of emerging technologies which may benefit teaching and learning. This means seeking out professional development in this area, keeping up to date with the relevant literature, experimenting with new technologies and methods of integration and reflecting on current practice using technology. Secondly, I need to actively seek new ways to effectively integrate technology in the curriculum. This involves following a process of thinking about the relative advantage of using a new tool, deciding on the objectives and assessments, designing integration strategies, ensuring that the environment for learning is right and evaluating the efficacy of the integration. Finally, in order to help colleagues further develop their own skills at integrating technology, I can present at curriculum and staff meetings, model effective use in the classroom, provide opportunities for one-one coaching for interested teachers, be approachable and available for when staff wish to find out more and ensure there is a clear structure for the teaching of fundamental technology related skills, including: research technique, ICT skills, thinking curriculum and communications.

THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM

Technology changes rapidly – significant change is often a slow process in schools. Teachers are busy – learning how to effectively use and integrate new applications takes practice and experimentation. Access to information is easy – assessing its relevance and making sense of the information requires a wide range of skills. Students need to learn the basics students are often more engaged by a media rich and hands on curriculum. These tensions are at the core of my action research project. How do we achieve ‘digital take off’ () using new technologies: supporting students and teachers in ICT integration.

ACTION/CHANGE PROPOSED The aim of this project is to facilitate effective integration of new technologies, specifically those embedded in the school portal, into the curriculum. The action will be implemented at three levels: improving personal skills and understanding of the portal and associated web 2.0 applications, integrating portal use into curriculum with the aim of improving learning outcomes for students and coaching colleagues as they aim to do the same. WHO IS GOING TO DO WHAT AND BY WHEN? Self Learning • • • •

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Participation in Learning Technologies Group (ongoing) Continuing to trial new features in the portal e.g. student collaboration sites (ongoing) Attending professional learning seminars e.g. 21st century teaching and learning (term 3) Exploring wiki and blog creation as a tool for self-reflection and collaboration (ongoing) Reading news feeds, blogs and literature on the topic of effective integration Link CSU study to this action research project (completion in November)

Student Learning • • • • •

Create new blog, Virtual Maths Legends, for Year 6 set 3 maths class (term 3) Develop science virtual classroom(Citius, Altius, Fortius) to include wikipages for students to develop project collaboratively (term 3) Monitor student engagement and results (ongoing) Survey students to ascertain impact 0f new technologies on learning (week 7) Participate in two national assessments of student ICT literacy - Learners’ and educators’ views of learning with technologies in Australian education conducted by Canberra University and National Assessment Program – ICT conducted by ACER on behalf of MCEETYA (Sept 23rd and Oct 28th)

Teacher Learning •

Curriculum meetings to include examples of effective integration of technology, from myself and other staff (fortnightly)

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One-one coaching sessions on Monday and Friday afternoons – Tim and Mandy, Martin, Wendy, Paul (ongoing) Introduce portal by integrating curriculum tasks which were previously completed using shared drives, hard copies and email into the JS Curriculum site (mid-term 3 and term 4) Begin planning for 2009 with Information Literacy scope and sequence development and survey to establish areas of need (start of term 4)

HOW WILL THE ACTION BE IMPLEMENTED?

1. The three levels of action take place concurrently although the general pattern of the

term is, in the first weeks -teacher (high enthusiasm and time), followed by student through integration of new technologies in the curriculum and self-reflection – how is it going? 2. Coaching of staff happens in two main contexts – through new curriculum

development strategies (e.g. documentation uploaded to the portal) and one-one coaching 3. Integration into classroom via virtual classroom/blog construction is ongoing but has greatest focus at the start of each term 4. Self-learning through reading, blog writing and continued study

5. Keep a journal of changes implemented, students responses, meeting notes and teacher comments

HOW WILL THE CHANGES BE OBSERVED AND MONITORED? The utilisation of the portal by staff is compulsory at the base level i.e. uploading curriculum documentation, but the voluntary learning and integration into the classroom can be used as an indicator that a combination of presentation and peer coaching is effective in helping teachers to manage change brought about by new technologies. Further reading and practice of coaching strategies may help to ensure that the change is sustained. () Student response to the use of the portal will be gauged by recording of anecdotal notes and the use of a survey. If possible, the results from the two national surveys relating to ICT use will be included in the final report for this action research.

Participation in the Learning Technologies group is a positive step towards making a stronger link between personal reading and studying in this area and the effect that I can have at the school level on effective integration of new technologies.

Works Cited Australian Communication and Media Authority. (2007, December 17). Media and Communications in Australian Families. Retrieved September 8, 2008, from Australian Government - ACMA: http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_310893 Fleischman, H. S.-P. (2006, February). Technology to help Struggling Students. Educational Leadership Vol63 No5 , pp. 84-85. Lee, M. &. (2006). Interactive whiteboards and digital take off: Achieving total teacher ICT usage. IWB Research Project , 8 pages. McKenzie, J. (1999). How Teachers Learn Technology Best. In J. McKenzie, How Teachers Learn Technology Best (p. Chapter 1). Washington: FNO Press. Warner, D. (2006). Schooling for the knowledge era. Camberwell, Victoria: Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).