Discussion
This appendix contains a transcript of a discussion between the two assignment authors, Megan Dick and Alastair Reynolds. The purpose of the discussion was to establish collaboratively what form the next stage of the assignment should take, having read each others' literature reviews. This included decisions on the research design and analysis methods.
NOTE: The discussion was carried out on ExcitePal, an Internet-based real-time communications program.
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------------------------------------------------------------------------ - Discussion participants : Megan Dick and Al Reynolds ----------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Al Hi Megan Hey, the beep is back! Sorry about that ... someone phoned just as I made my tea. Al That's fine I just finished reading Colin's mail Megan The webpages too? Al No Al There are a lot of them :[ Megan Are there? I didn't even unzip it! Al Your mail was helpful (about headings) Megan Ok...just the beginning thoughts. Glad it helped! Al We could just clarify here about how our two bits of litrev go together Megan OK...you start. I seem to have forgotten everything we talked about! I'm hopeless......... Al Not to worry! We started by saying that mine surveyed the past situation with ... Al 1. Background about why teachers should use ICT Al 2. What official requirements are placed on teachers. Al What form should training take (basic skills vs. pedagogy) Al What areas previous questionnaires had covered. Megan And I have looked at the where teachers are in their skills now....so we have to take that into account when we write our questionnaire. Al Yours covers the stages of teachers' development with ICT Al and our questionnaire needs to be designed to take the stage our schools are at into account] Megan And where questionnaires fit into the overall scheme of teacher training (i.e. Passey's audit as a stage of change and evaluation and Marjorie Budd's multi-level needs assessment) Megan (Hee! Just figured out where the Budd stuff fits!!!!!) Al It is interesting that the surveys actually form part of the development process because they force teachers to be reflective Megan Right! And the training must take place, be evaluated and then you are back to the audit stage again! Al So we can't really audit everything at once? Is that right? Do we need to be more focused? Megan The questionnaire has to be manageable and understandable to teachers...... Megan many of whom have little or no ICT knowledge or skills. Al And must be appropriate to their level in the U-curve development (or one of the other models you discussed) Megan I think the model from the From Now On article works the best. Al The one about pioneers and sages? Megan Figuring out where teachers are on that model seems to be the most useful...the one about the Survival Stage, Mastery Stage, Impact Stage and Innovation Stage . Megan Because I think that works with the NoF and TTA ideas of pedagogical skills teachers need. Al Yes - he also says that if training is planned according to teachers' position in the model then it will be effective. Megan Right...sounds good. Al Should we actually ask something in the questionnaire to determine the stage? Al (that teachers are at) Al Or should we just ask them directly? Megan Well, it partly has to do with confidence, partly with competence and partly with pedagogy. All three are in his stages...hmmm. Al The BT questionnaire has questions about confidence, and the TCT one mixes the confidence ones with the competence ones. Megan We could pick one or two key things in his stages to ask about. Could only be about 3 or 4 questions? Megan I think asking them directly would not work. The teachers might not think they fit directly into the stages. Al Yes, and I think it fits quite well in the pedagogy section (or possibly in a section about stage of development) Megan I like the BT approach better. But Passey isn't specific about HOW he will fit people into stages, just that they must be confident. Al You mean having a separate section about confidence? Megan Passey does have one. I think it can either be a separate section...or can be incorporated into the possible answers. Al You mean like in the TCT questionnaire - with the scale from not competent through to confident? Megan I'm just checking out the From Now On guys questionnaire again to see how he does it....... Al OK - I don't have that one Megan No, I got it later....it is at http://www.fromnowon.org/FNOMay93.html Al I'm there ... Megan OK Al They seem to have a whole set of questions about the Survival/Mastery/Impact/Innovation thing? Al But that's all I can find on confidence Megan He seems to mix confidence with comfort with technology and with how teachers would prefer to learn. Al I'm not sure it's clear-cut enough to be useful ... Megan No...his ideas are but not his questionnaire... :-) Oh well. Megan Passey still seems to be the best at this bit. Al Confidence? Megan Yeah. His idea of a completely separate section. Megan TCT doesn’t seem to do the confidence bit at all, really. Al I think it includes it in the different ratings for generic applications (0 to 5) Megan Yeah, you are right. I just saw that. I don't think we will get very clear findings from it though. Al Why not? Megan Can we make up questions to fit the stages then? Megan We won't get two separate findings....like how confident they are AND how competent. Teachers do tend to underrate their skills in this area, I find. Al But don't they have to become competent _before_ they can be confident? Megan It could be a two tiered answer...like "Can you use Word?" Then either, yes and no....and then another box with "I am confident with it" or not. Al But if they can't use word, how can they be confident with it? Megan Ohhh.yeah. *blush* Megan OK, then maybe the confidence part has more to do with teachers' attitudes to technology, like the sages and reluctants. Megan So do you like the TCT approach? Or the Passey one? Al I think we can combine the initial questions about confidence from Passey/BT with some questions on the Stages in the FromNowOn model and get an idea of their developmental stage and their confidence Megan That sounds good. It will be its own separate section then, right? Al Then when we look at the basic skills we should use a scale like the one in the TCT one because it progresses through competence to confidence Al What do you reckon? Megan Hmmm. Let me look.... Al Probably different wording on ratings 0 to 5 Megan I'm comparing it to Passey.... Al change confident in ratings 2 and 3 to competent Al add confidently into ratings 4 and 5 Megan Passey does the same, but with less choices. Al but I think the choices in the TCT questionnaire would be OK with some modification, would you like to take any out? Megan I think they just need to be modified to go with the stages.... Al OK Megan The TCT ones are good because they go from one who knows nothing to one who can teach others to use a program. Al But I thought the stages were more general and related to pedagogy Al ish Megan No, they have all three things together......competence, confidence AND pedagogy. Al OK Megan Confused yet???? :-) Al Yep - shall I propose what I think we're moving towards and you can pull it to pieces? Megan *vigorous nod* Megan (I'm reworking my headings.....btw) Al SECTION 1 : Questions to determine stage in FromNowOn model - allowing for teachers to be at different stages in different areas. Al This will be based on the FromNowOn model and would include section on confidence a la Passey Al SECTION 2 : Questions on use of ICT to determine training needs Al Content of this section from NOF docs and ratings from TCT - but modified so that scale runs from no competence to confidence to teach others. Al FINISHED Megan hmmm - don’t we need some other stuff? Al but other section as well sorry! finished for what we discussed so far Megan OK, section two will then also have to do with confidence......? Al need pedagogy section a la Passey as well Megan Not just what technology teachers need specific training in? Al BT/Passey does this ... I can use on-screen menus / I am confident using on-screen menus. Megan Right, so the two (comp and conf) will be intertwined in a way. Al Yes Al The TCT ratings help place teachers more accurately in a spectrum. Al But we are not assessing confidence through section 2 - it is part of seeing how competent teachers are Megan OK, hard question. From the results, how will a training program be created? Al Look for areas of common need amongst teachers. Al Our next assignment could be planning a training programme for our schools - we don't have to do it in this one. Megan So by placing them in a stage, we will know how confident and competent teachers are and where they need to be trained. Al But we do have to think about whether our results are useful Megan Yep. Al The planning of a training programme will partly be based on organisational needs and partly on individual needs Megan OK, section three....somehow subject specific info must be asked about....and what to do about pedagogy? Megan OK, that sounds right. Megan Passey has part about organising ICT use in a classroom. Al I think that how teachers use IT in their own subjects is like Curricular Content (Shulman) Megan Looking that up.... Al and how they organise and teach with it is Pedagogical content (also Shulman) Megan TCT leaves pedagogy out entirely. Al but in our case we can’t ask subject specific questions (yet) but we could try and create some generic subject questions Al and combine these with pedagogy questions based on NOF documentation Al Questions like : Do you know about software specific to your subject? / Would you like to know about software specific to your subject? Megan The questions Passey has about organising ICT use in a classroom deals with pedagogy and is small part of questionnaire. Al BTW Claire says you're missing ER Megan I know! Just a few more minutes....!!!! Al We ought to get this finished ;-) Al Do you think the 'curricular' and 'pedagogy' sections should be combined or separate? Megan Separate. Al OK Megan So.... Megan SECTION 1 : Questions to determine stage in FromNowOn model - allowing for teachers to be at different stages in different areas. Megan SECTION 2 : Questions on use of ICT to determine training needs Megan Section Three: pedagogy a la Passey's use or organising classrooms.... Megan Section four: Some generic subject questions......Questions like: Do you know about software specific to your subject? / Would you like to know about software specific to your subject? Megan FINISHED????? Al So we will be able to find out : (1) level of confidence / stage of development (2) skills training needs (3) pedagogy training needs ish (4) subject training needs Megan And section one is like Passey's confidence one.... Al which is what we need to design a good training programme Megan NOD Megan NOD NOD Megan I like this!!!! Al I think we've actually worked it out! Megan (Will send you redone lit rev and headings after ER. :) Megan NOD NOD NOD Megan Does it sound OK to you???? Al Yep Megan Geez...don;t sound TOO excited! Megan hee Megan Have we finished? Al Do you have a minute to call me (the break is about to start) Megan Ok...will log off then. Al I'll save this one. Al OK Al Bye Megan I saved it too, just in case. Megan Bye! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - End of transcript ---------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------