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Susan Beeley
ETEC 511: Foundations of
Educational Technology
PEDAGOGY:
The use of Technological Tools in Education
1 Assignment #2
It has been a commonly mentioned issue amongst teachers and MET students that the
technology available to teachers has, for the most part, been designed for business and therefore does
not meet the needs of education. The author will argue that it is not the design of the technological tool
itself, but the pedagogy applied to the tool that renders it useless or finds value in its use for educational
purposes.
Before I enter into a discourse on the technology itself I would like to discuss the theory of
Technology, Pedagogy and Content Knowledge (hereafter referred to as TPCK) as proposed by Mishra
and Koehler (2006). TPCK is an extension of Shulmans theory of PCK (1987), which makes the point that
it is not simply enough to be familiar with the content of the curriculum in an academic way in order to
teach it. There has to be further understanding on how to deliver the content knowledge reflectively to
TPCK adds the extra dimension of Technology to this foundation. There is a recognition that the
use of technology in education is growing, but as was the case with needing to apply pedagogy to the
delivery of content, teachers also have to apply pedagogy to achieve the effective incorporation of
technology in their curriculum delivery. Mishra and Koehler (2006) discuss the complex interplay
between the components of TPCK and suggest that effective use of technology in teaching requires
recognition of the relationship that exists between each pairing (technology and pedagogy, technology
and content knowledge, and pedagogy and content knowledge) and the interplay of the three
components together. It is recognition of these components and their interactions that allows for
successful integration of technological tools in education rather than the purpose of the tool being used.
2 Assignment #2
In the 1970s the first mobile phone was invented. It weighed in at 1.1kg and had an even heftier
price tag of a couple of thousand pounds. It was not for the average consumer, but was made for the
high flying, wealthy business men of the day. It took ten hours to charge, allowing for thirty minutes of
talk time, so was far from the handy everyday device that we know today. Further development of the
mobile device in the 1980s resulted in the GRiDPad, a tablet designed for use in the fields of
bookkeeping, delivery driving, and claims adjustment. Its function was to minimize the paper trail
created in these industries by storing various forms for use and future reference. In keeping with
tradition, these tablets were far more expensive than computers, approximately $3000 USD with
software, and so were used primarily by the military and never gained popularity with the average
consumer. It was during the 1990s that such mobile devices became accessible to the average
The development of BYOD involves using mobile devices which were designed for non-
educational purpose in education. Whether e-readers, phones, MP3/4 players, notebooks or tablets,
some schools are encouraging students to bring their own devices into school so that they have constant
access to the information on the internet. Like the devices themselves, BYOD was initially adopted in
the workplace rather than in education, and to great success (Bradley, 2011). The phenomenon has
been slower to catch on in education, but due to its popularity in the workplace and limited funds in
education it is becoming increasingly important that teachers learn to incorporate BYOD into the
classroom to encourage students to use mobile devices both fluently and with purpose (Burns-Sardone,
2014).
3 Assignment #2
The province of Alberta (2012) has come up with some guidelines to direct this movement.
They outline the need for technology in education to aid in the development of 21st Century skills and
digital citizenship:
By effectively leveraging such resources, school authorities not only have the opportunity to deepen
student learning, but they can also develop digital literacy, fluency and citizenship in students that will
prepare them for the high tech world in which they will live, learn and work (Province of Alberta, 2012).
The BYOD approach increases student fluency compared to the traditional computer lab scenario as
they are already familiar with the device they are using. Schools can and should provide devices for
students to sign out if necessary to ensure equality, however. The work done in class can then focus on
collaboration, personalised learning, developing interests beyond the curriculum and promoting higher
order thinking skills. Further, the money saved by having students bring in their own personal devices
rather than using school owned ones can go towards correcting many of the problems that plague
technology use in education, such as increasing bandwidth and improving internet connectivity.
Students are very used to using their own devices, but time does need to be spent teaching
them to use their devices for educational purposes. In the classroom they should be used in much the
same way a computer or a library would be used. Though there are concerns with students accessing
social media, and getting distracted by the various other functions of a mobile device, these functions
are also possible on the schools laptops or in the computer lab and are not unique to mobile devices
(Passanisi & Peters, 2013). A key issue to the success of the BYOD movement in education, as identified
in the paper by the Province of Alberta (2012), is pedagogy and teacher readiness. The paper identifies
the changes required and the pedagogical issues of personalisation, participation and productivity as
contributing factors to student learning, each with its own implications for teachers.
4 Assignment #2
Personalisation
This is the movement away from a tightly structured curriculum delivered by the teacher. The
teachers role is now to scaffold learning, for some students this might require more direction, for
others less. The students have the freedom to focus more of their time on areas of interest, and they
determine what tools will benefit their investigation of the curriculum in inquiry based learning.
Assessment can take place in a variety of forms, including self and peer assessment, and can then be
between students allows students to reflect on prior knowledge and adapt thinking as new information
comes available, thus promoting higher order thinking skills. The key ideas of scaffolding, inquiry based
learning, triangulation of assessment and collaboration are areas that will need to be well developed by
Participation
Through web 2.0 students can be encouraged to communicate, cooperate, and collaborate to
share ideas, develop individual knowledge, and combine group knowledge to create an end product. In
this process the teachers role is to ensure that etiquette has been established and is enforced, that the
students know how to participate in blogs or wikis, and provide learning opportunities for the students.
Productivity
Students need to be guided in the use of a variety of online tools designed to help them to
organise their work, write, design and present their work, analyse and evaluate what they have done
and demonstrate learning. Teachers will need the proficiency required to determine which tools are
available for each task, and which will work best for any given task.
5 Assignment #2
The areas outlined above require a complete shift in thinking for many of todays teachers. This
shift will require time and training so it is important, prior to and while implementing BYOD programs,
to provide professional development for teachers, time for staff to redesign learning and support for
Powerpoint
In the mid-1980s a new lecture tool came into being. Powerpoint, like mobile devices,
originated as a tool for the business world but has become well used within education:
PowerPoint ( Microsoft Corp.) is a widely used presentation programme that originated in the world
of business but has now become commonplace in the world of educational technology. However, its use
is far from controversial in this educational context and opinions as to its use range from highly
The motivation behind its development was the belief that good quality presentation graphics make
speakers look better (Austin, 2009), however it was also acknowledged that it served to amplify a
Criticisms of its use in education include its use to present a glorified lecture. For example
Adams (2006) notes that PowerPoint presentations are made in advance of the presentation and often
reused, this potentially limits the ability to move beyond the presentation in order to encourage unique
discussion and dialogue. Further, Tufte (2003) feels that presentations programs such as PowerPoint
may result in lower quality content as the focus shifts to presentation format, something that would
prove to be truly problematic in education where content is also very important. The fact that many
teachers use PowerPoint in a limited way, however, is not an issue with the tool itself but with the
Jones (2003) champions the use of PowerPoint, with appropriate pedagogical consideration, in
order enhance teaching and learning through mixed media. This requires an increased familiarity with
PowerPoint both in terms of the functions and possible designs that the program has to offer.
Mixed media
Videos, pictures and a variety of other forms of media can be imported into a PowerPoint
presentation to make it more stimulating than and ordinary lecture and to increase the diversity of
audience that the lesson appeals to. Graphics can replace text and make the same point in a more
Functions
PowerPoint files can be easily distributed to students so that the lesson material is accessible
outside of class. This is incredibly useful to student who, for whatever reason, need more time to
process the information presented or even for those students who have missed a lesson. Additionally,
the presentation can be printed out so that students spend more time in class engaged in the verbal
discourse rather than copying copious amounts of notes at the expense of participating in discussion.
This does come with the caution, however, that the awareness of the availability of lesson notes may
Further, the presentations can be easily edited to allow for changes to be made as new material
comes available or as the teacher reflects on what did or did not work well in a lesson. Further,
students ideas, question, and comments can be added to the slides themselves in order to further
develop the lesson and build a sense of collaboration and community in the classroom.
7 Assignment #2
Design
The design features of PowerPoint allow a teacher to avoid several problems that exist in a
lecture using a board and pens. For example, size, font and colour of the text can be easily manipulated
not just for the sake of aesthetics but also to accommodate students who are colour blind or have
dyslexia (high contrast between the background and the text can be hard to read).
Jones (2003) suggests that teachers limit the presentation text to headings and subheading to
encourage the students to take their own notes based on the ensuing discussion. Some material can be
hidden for a later reveal to ensure that the students have all pertinent information. Text can be faded
or moved in and out to ensure students are focused on the relevant details.
From a pedagogical standpoint, when used appropriately, PowerPoint allows teachers to avoid
some of the pitfalls that may exist in a typical chalk and talk type lesson (Jones, 2009), for example too
much focus on written text or unclear structure in notes. Issues that still need to be addressed in the
use of PowerPoint in the classroom include gimmicky presentations with too much colour and/or
graphics at the expense of content, or the tendency to speak more quickly as a teacher writing often
Social media
Unlike mobile devices or PowerPoint social media was not designed for business, rather for
communication across the miles as our world has become smaller and people more migrant. According
to Digital Trends (2014), social media entered the scene in the early 1970s where it began as emails via
Bulletin Board System (BBS). Users dialed in through a modem that exchanged data through phone lines
in order to interact through the internet. More recent developments have led to Ellisons (2007)
We dene social network sites as web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or
semi-public prole within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a
connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the
system.
Using this definition the first real SNS was SixDegrees which was launched in 1997. Since then various
other social networking sites have come and gone, amongst the most well-known and sustainable are
One of the major pedagogical issues to overcome in the use of SNS in education is explained by
the difference between a digital natives and digital immigrants. McCarroll & Curran (2013) define
digital natives as those who were born and raised with technology, i.e. our students, and digital
immigrants as those who have had to learn technology as adults, i.e. most teachers. This means that
teachers are often reluctant to learn to use technology that the students are already familiar with and,
as a result, do not use potentially valuable educational tools such as blogs or wikis that are able to
support collaborative learning. SNS fall into the category of Web 2.0 technology as they allow students
to be active participants in their learning through the promotion of collaboration and knowledge
sharing. Like all tools classed as Web 2.0 there are four changes that need to be made if SNS is to be
Rather than providing education about computers, students need to be educated on their use of
the web. They need to be taught digital citizenship so that they can responsibly share and publish
information, reference learning materials and assess and collaborate with teachers and other students.
This shift towards the constructivist approach, where students investigate and develop their knowledge,
has made the knowledge of how to find information as important as the actual knowing of it.
9 Assignment #2
Students are encouraged to collaborate and share their knowledge in order to contribute to an
overall product. Through the process they do as much giving of information as taking and become more
active participants in their own learning experience. The teachers role becomes one of providing an
infrastructure to support the newly empowered students as they take charge of their own learning.
The variety of resources available on the web is impressive. These resources combined with
more traditional classroom lessons provides a much richer educational experience for the students and
for the teacher. Further, it has been suggest that SNS in particular might be useful in for students
Due to the ease of contributions to Web 2.0 more information becomes available and existing
information continues to be developed. Though editing rights may make some of the information
unreliable, as more and more teachers become involved in creating Web 2.0 materials it improves in
As has been the case with the previous two technological tools designed for business but used in
education, teacher training in social networking is critical to ensure that those with limited knowledge
are aware of how to use SNS in the classroom safely and effectively. Mc Carroll and Curran (2013) go as
far as to say it is obvious that the Web 2.0 medium will only be as good as the educational strategy that
it becomes integrated into and this resonates with the experience of teachers in the classroom who are
concerned that rather than being used as an educational tool, students will use SNS as a distraction or
10 Assignment #2
even worse, an avenue for cyberbulling. In addition to further training, policy needs to be developed to
ensure that students and teachers have clear instructions on the manner of use of SNS in the classroom.
Conclusion
It was the purpose of this paper to show that it is not the design purpose of a technological tool
that determines its usefulness in education, rather the pedagogy applied to the use of the tool. I have
discussed the issues of pedagogy affecting the effective incorporation of Bring Your Own Devices,
PowerPoint and Social Networking Sites in this paper and have found that not only are these tools of
great potential use, but that with the correct pedagogical consideration they all support the 21st century
skills that the education system is currently working towards. They provide opportunities for
collaboration and the independent and differentiated development of student knowledge in addition to
The issue now is to determine the best way to get teachers on board with using these and other
technological tools in a pedagogically sound way. It seems that this task in in the hands of those who
make policy. Firstly, teacher need to be provided with adequate training, time and support if they, as
digital immigrants, are going to keep up with the technological knowhow of the digital natives that they
are teaching. Secondly, clear guidelines at the district, school and classroom levels need to be put into
place to ensure that the responsibilities of digital citizenship are being adhered to. Further research
could focus on the best way to engage teachers in the use of technological tools in the classroom so that
they themselves seek out the training required, and on the development of effective policy to govern
the use of technological tools that promote student independence in a responsible way.
11 Assignment #2
References:
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38(4), 389-411.
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Bradley, T. (2011). Pros and cons of bringing your own device to work. PCWorld. Retrieved from
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ml
Burns-Sardone, N. (2014). Making the case for BYOD instruction in teacher education. Issues in
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12 Assignment #2
Mc Carroll, N. & Curran, K. (2013) Social Networking in Education. International Journal of Innovation in
Mishra, P. & Koehler, M.J. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for
Passanisi, J., & Peters, S. (2013, December 10). The powerful computer in your pocket: Using smart
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The Province of Alberta (2012). Bring your own device: a guide for schools. Retrieved from
https://education.alberta.ca/media/8640236/tech-briefing-byod.pdf
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