Module 12
Module 12 Summary, Synthesis, & Inquiry
How teachers manage their classroom in the digital learning environment – experiences from the University Smart Learning Project
Summary
The article, How teachers manage their classroom in the digital learning environment – experiences from the University Smart Learning Project, outlines the prior knowledge, methodology, and research findings from a study conducted by a team of researchers at Khon Kaen University to learn more about the effect of integrating technology on classroom behavior management, engagement, and deep learning (creative and analytical thinking). The researchers collected qualitative data through interviews and classroom observations in three buckets: before teaching, during teaching, and end of class. The collected qualitative data was then coded by theme, including data regarding preparation, teaching and learning activities, evaluation, developing competence, “most important things,” and limitation of teaching practice. The study found that the integration of technology did increase collaboration and teamwork, presentation skills, engagement, knowledge stimulation, problem solving skills, and deeper learning (7). However, the researchers noted that the most important factor may not have been the introduction of new technologies, but the "comfortable learning atmosphere for students to learn” (6) created by the teachers themselves. Teachers’ own digital literacy (7), or the comfortability of the teachers with the technology, played a role in the effectiveness of the integration. Other assumptions and possible barriers to successful implementations include foundational pieces such as access to devices, basic infrastructure like dependable internet and support staff, and distractibility of devices once students had access to them. Access to technology allowed teachers to be more personalized in their creation of and responses to both formative and summative assessments. At the end of the study, the researchers suggested doing a more comparative study at other schools, and exploring the correlation between other characteristics of the learners, including age, gender, and other variables.
WC: 279
Synthesis
I found the style of writing and/or the translation to make it very difficult to glean any deep synthesis from this research paper. From what I could understand, this research paper did nothing but offer a few correlative ideas of how technology can be applied in the classroom, but that could be from my difficulty in following the sentence structure and figuring out which subjects connected with which verbs and which objects, etc... The effective use of Google Classroom/Forms/Sheets/Meet and Zoom supported Miell and Littleon’s claims in Chapter 9 of their Collaborative Creativity (2003) that online forums create an alternative method of community building for digitally native users that may feel safer and encourage deeper learning. What I am taking away from this article, whether the authors intended it or not, is that the same practices of good teaching apply with or without technology: it wasn’t just because of technology that the researchers saw positive results, it was because of good teaching. Bell’s claim that “possession of music technology is the key to unlocking the hibernating musician within” (Can We Afford These Affordances?, 2015) could be extended to this research setting by offering that possession of technology is the key to unlocking the hibernating analytical thinking within, however the research did not satisfactorily address any sort of causation between the two. Similar positive effects could’ve been achieved by having an excellent teacher who can restructure a classroom environment towards deep thinking. When it comes to teachers who are not as technologically competent as their digitally-native students, an opportunity for Allsup’s “laboratory” in concert with “museum” classroom structure is uniquely afforded, allowing the marriage of the teacher’s historical knowledge and the students’ technological knowledge to lead to the creation of new knowledge that students can have agency over.
WC: 301
Inquiry
How might a teacher who does not consider themselves technologically competent create a lesson plan that allows students to incorporate their technological knowledge into the learning objectives.
If technological barriers exist (access to devices, reliable internet), what are ways to replicate the benefits of technology in the classroom using traditional methods?
Describe ideas for future experiments that may further causatively support the claims made by the researchers?
Reference Page
Lan Thi Nguyen , Issara Kanjug , Grichawat Lowatcharin, Theeradej Manakul, Kornwipa Poonpon, Weerachai Sarakorn, Anucha Somabut, Niwat Srisawasdi, Saksuriya Traiyarach, Kulthida Tuamsuk (2022). How teachers manage their classroom in the digital learning environment – experiences from the University Smart Learning Project. Heliyon Cell Press.
Miell and Littleton (2004). Collaborative creativity: Contemporary Perspectives. Chapter 9. Free Association Books.
Bell, Adam Patrick. Can we afford these affordances: GarageBand and the double-edged sword of the digital audio workstation. Action, Theory, and Criticism for Music Education, 2015
Allsup, Randall Everett. Remixing the Classroom: Toward an Open Philosophy of Music
Education. Indiana University Press, 2016.
