Analysis of Vignette #2

Technology in the Arts and the Humanities Classroom ETEC 532 66B

The University of British Columbia

Dr. Alexander De Cosson

Derek Cowan

July 6, 2016
As technological advancements continue to alter educational possibilities, many schools are left

struggling to balance the competing administrative, technological, and pedagogical

considerations relevant to school-wide technology integration. Within the vignette, the complex

interplay between decision-making structures and the ensuing focus on pedagogical concerns,

leave the coordinator asking many relevant but unanswered questions.

Top-down decision-making clearly initiated the process but the coordinator had influence

thereafter. Although the coordinator correctly attempts to address issues of equality, she is not

able to ensure decisions are grounded in pedagogy. The decision to create a committee was a

positive one, but issues of representation and bias still arose. The teachers involved were not able

to engage around a common vision. Technology was the primary focus of the committee, with

questions regarding quantity, devices and logistical concerns being central to the discussion.

Furthermore, the technology was available before any major changes in pedagogy took place.

The teachers engaged in pedagogical discussions after decisions were made, increasing the

chance the technology could be used in support of status quo teaching methods: When used

merely as a means to access information, digital technologies create a technocracy in

schoolswhere considerations of imperialistic efficiency and rationality supersede possibilities

of transformation (Loveless, 2014).

An alternative approach, in which all teachers are included within an open-ended professional

development context, could have helped address these issues. This would allow for the necessary

collaboration and pedagogical discussions to take place before and during technology

implementation, helping transform school culture. Educators must also engage with ICTs at a

critical level in terms of our pedagogy. This means examining the educational intention of the

tasks we set our students (ORourke, 2002).

A discussion through a pedagogical perspective could have begun by considering how relevant

technologies could be optimally utilized to enable, support and enhance underlying beliefs about

teaching and learning. As questions are discussed, technological decisions can be made, rooted in

a mutual understanding of common pedagogical beliefs. For example, my own division recently

engaged in a problem-based mathematics iPad project. The technology was implemented in the

classroom at the same time as all teachers engaged in ten full day, teacher-led professional

development sessions supported by continual co-teaching opportunities. Learning focussed on

problem-based mathematics and how iPads can be used to enhance learning. A mutual

understanding of pedagogy drove decision-making and technology was used as a means to

enhance math instruction.

Collins and Halverson identify three strategies used to address technological innovations without

disrupting schooling norms or structures. Condemning schools respond to the risks of technology

rather than the potential. Co-opting schools focus on technologies that support existing

instructional organization. Marginalizing occurs when interested teachers create boutique

innovations alongside the general school context (Mouza &Lavigne, 2013). The final decision

of the committee to endorse a range of options left room for these strategies to affect the

outcome, potentially preventing transformational changes: If we are to extract maximum benefit

from ICTs, both in terms of engagement and learning, a futures oriented approach that prepares

students to read the world and communicate through multiple modes of communication is

necessary preparation for functioning in an increasingly technologized society (ORourke,

2002).
 References

Loveless, D. and Griffith, B. 2014. A Critical Pedagogy for a Polymodal World. Sense

Publishers.

Mouza, C. and Lavigne, N. (eds.). (2013). Emerging Technologies for the Classroom.

Explorations in the Learning Sciences, Instructional Systems, and Performance Technologies.

New York: Springer Science + Business Media.

ORorke, M. (2002). TechKnowLogia. Engaging students through ICTs: A Multiliteracies

Approach.