Research Interests

ICT in eduction. Australian ICT Education Policy. TPACK

Title of Doctoral Thesis:

An investigation of ICT implementation in NSW Senior Secondary Education

University of Wollongong; Department of Education.  PhD Transfer proposal accepted September 2009.

Research Proposal Abstract:

This study examines the implementation of education policy related to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the context of senior secondary schooling in NSW. The research consists of two main components – a policy analysis phase and an implementation phase. Phase 1, the policy analysis was guided by Michael Fullan’s conceptualisation of The Characteristics of Change. This was completed as a component of a Masters of Education study in 2009. The analysis process elucidated the characteristics of the need for change, clarity and complexity of change; and the quality and practicality of changes, associated with government intentions for ICT in school education. Policy analysis showed a government vision for schools that will accommodate twenty-first century learners, improve learning and develop ICT literacy so that people leaving school can live and work in a modern world.

Several implications for senior teachers were identified. Australian governments assert that ICT literacy is important for students as it has the potential to improve student learning and is a necessary prerequisite for successful participation in society. In achieving these goals for school education, teachers are expected to enhance and support learning by integrating ICT. This implies a degree of complexity for senior teachers as the changes sought require new skills, changes to existing beliefs, new teaching strategies and new teaching resources. Within this context of change, the proposal sought an extension to include research on how technology is being used by senior secondary educators. This phenomenological exploration of teachers’ experiences with ICT included school visits and interviews with senior secondary teachers in NSW.Finally, the study will explore of the alignment between governments’ intended changes for school education and classroom practice.

Fullan, M. G. (2007). The new meaning of educational change. 4th edn.   New York: Teachers College Press.

 Technical stuff

• Type of qualitative study - Phenomenology
• Participants - 29 NSW senior secondary teachers; Govt & Non-govt teachers; regional and metropolitan schools.
• Data set - document analysis and interview transcripts of teacher's experiences with ICT.
• Theoretical frameworks - Michael Fullan's Characteristic of Intended Changes and teacher's technological, pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). 

Status

• Data collection was completed November 2011. Thank you soooooo much to all teachers and schools who generously gave me some of their precious time.

Publication List

• Three papers have been written to date (May 2014): Information and communications technology integration in senior secondary education (submitted for peer review); ICT use in senior secondary high-stakes assessment (final draft); Australia’s Digital Education Revolution – the characteristics of intended changes (final draft).
• Have begun fourth paper -  TPaCK can you here it? This is my theoretical framework paper - focusing on the usefulness of the TPACK construct in qualitative research involving teachers speaking about their applications of their knowledge -- how they use ICT in class.
• My fifth paper will be on Phenomenology and its application in the study of ICT integration.