Data Analysis

Data and evidence is an essential part of teacher inquiry, analysing data and reflecting on the evidence allows us to process and interpret the data to see the impact of the teacher inquiry (Babione, 2014). Data and evidence are defined as two separate units of information, Shaddock (2013) states that data is basic units of information, while evidence is data that has been processed, this evidence is used as the basis for decisions.

The first step of my teacher inquiry was to collect data, this was in the form of qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data included; interview questions with the students, classroom observations/notes and some open survey questions for the parents and teachers involved in the inquiry. This data is all in the form of transcribed text based documents or has been organised into a table (i.e. google form - spreadsheet). Through reading through this data I have got an overall sense of the students, teachers and parents understanding and view of digital technology for literacy learning.

Quantitative data collected included; closed interview questions from the parents (collected via google forms) and a tally chart to illustrate the talk time between students and to determine if they were on task. Both of these forms of data have been formatted into a table.

As qualitative data is typically very descriptive, I have decided to analyse this data by looking for any patterns or themes (Babiona, 2014). To organise and classify this data, content analysis has been used to identify the themes within the data - I have decided to code the data into categories to identify these themes and therefore summarise my findings. Whilst reading Babione (2014) I have utilised some preset codes to analyse this data these include; Perspectives Held by Subjects and Subjects’ Ways of Thinking about People and Objects.

To analyse my quantitative data, I have created a table for my tally chart - when forming my conclusions from this data I will ensure consider all students in the inquiry.

It is important to understand when interpreting this data that ‘data is not a perfect reflection of the world’ (Gray, 2012), it is a representation and can help us understand a topic. Therefore, I will keep this in mind when interpreting my data and establishing whether or not is addresses an answer to my research question ‘How can we use technology to enrich the junior school literacy programme’.

Looking into this data it is apparent that the students are a lot more confident using iPads to support and transform their learning, they have more knowledge of how to use apps and are happy and comfortable doing so. Observations have been a powerful and authentic data collection tool throughout the inquiry, for example, I noted that certain apps such as Book creator and explain everything allowed for more collaboration and talk time, whereas puppet apps didn’t.

However, this data doesn’t address the impact it has specifically had in enriching the literacy programme. If I were to repeat this inquiry, I would collect more data from the junior school teachers to gather their understanding of the impact this has had to literacy. I don’t believe this data addresses the improvements to the literacy programme, instead it shows increased confidence of the children on devices.

In the future I will be more strategic when collecting data. The majority of my data was collected at the start or during the inquiry, this resulted in the inquiry lacking data at the end and as a result it was difficult to provide solid evidence regarding the inquiry question.

References

Babione, C. (2015). Practitioner Teacher Inquiry and Research. USA: John Wiley & Sons.

Gray, J. (2012).What data can and cannot do. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/may/31/data-journalism-focused-critical

Shaddock, A. (2014). Using data to improve learning: A practical guide for busy teachers. Acer Press.

Digital Fluency Intensive - Workflow

Today was the second day of the DFI course, this week we had a focus on managing workflow through the following google tools;

• hangouts
• calendar
• mail
• google keep 

Our session started learning about the Manaiakalani pedagogy - looking into how we are using digital technologies to accelerate student learning outcomes and ensure our teaching is effective. 

We looked into the importance of 'learn' with the learn, create, share pedagogy. How can we ensure that students have access to and are engaging in existing knowledge in a digital world? We need to be using technology in our classroom to amplify our practice, this will help to ensure that our teaching is effective. 

Today I thought about what learn looks like in my school, I believe that the students in my hub are using technology in meaningful ways to make meaning and build on their knowledge. The use of technology in the hub isn't just a tool but it is being used to amplify their learning. 

I enjoyed learning about Google Keep today, I can see this being very helpful for me in the future regarding organisation i.e. creating To Do lists to stay on top of my various tasks. Furthermore, I liked the feature of being able to 'keep' slides and docs that I come across and want to save for later. I also found some of the tips within gmail helpful - such as being able to create labels within my gmail to save emails to i.e. DFI, Sport etc. 

Today I also learnt some 'how tip' tips regarding blogging which will be helpful to share with my students, such as - embedding slides and videos into their blogs. 

I can see how the tips and tools I learnt about today will be very helpful for organisation and improving my workflow both at school but also in my personal life. I am looking forward to using these and seeing the impact they have on my workflow. 

Ethical Considerations

Throughout my inquiry it was important to take into consideration any ethical issues that may arise. As teachers we have professional ethical obligations. Our Code, Our Standards (Education Council, 2017) provides us with guidance professionally when interacting with others in the school community.

As discussed previously in my inquiry, ethical issues that I deemed were important to take into consideration included; maintaining a duty of care to learners by considering their welfare, seeking consent from all communities, keeping individual information confidential and ensuring that no students are held back in their learning. Hall (2001) guided my ethical decision making in the initial stages of my inquiry, I ensured that I considered the code of ethics and school policy when designing the inquiry and I brainstormed any ethical issues that may arise throughout this inquiry.

Although none of these ethical issues arose throughout the inquiry I have decided to reflect on an issue that could have arisen if there were no policies in place. This is the issue of violation of privacy and confidentiality and misuse of student data. As the inquiry was centered around the use of 1:1 digital devices, there are certain risks and dangers that can come with this. The devices that the students were using had a camera and online sharing capabilities, therefore it was paramount that students privacy was maintained and that we keep them safe online.

I believe that the best time to address these ethical issues is before it takes place. Therefore ensuring we are proactive by creating a learning environment that teaches students how to use digital technology safely and responsibility is important. I already knew that the school has policies and actions in place to ensure student privacy and confidentiality is kept safe online i.e. accessibility to certain sites. Additionally students take part in Cyber Smart Lessons, these lessons explicitly teach safe and responsible use of digital technology and teach students how to make positive choices when using digital technology.

In addition to these policies and actions in place I took further measures to ensure student privacy and confidentiality was maintained, these included; using only first names on any saved work, any individual information is kept confidential - for the purpose of the inquiry they were named ‘student A, B etc.’, using iPads that only have access to certain apps and limited search capabilities.

If issues of privacy, confidently and misuse of student data did ever arise in the future the actions I would have taken would have include; looking into the stakeholders involved i.e. the child, their parents and teachers. Depending on the severity of the issue I would also consult with the Senior Leadership Team, after consulting with them I would then determine a course of action to take (Hall, 2001).

Through reading the literature it has come to my attention that there are a lot of ethical considerations to be met and there are a lot of things that could go wrong. I understand that especially when students are working with digital devices there is the potential for violation of privacy, abuse of ICT in school and also intellectual property violation, these can all have a detrimental effect on the learning environment. In the future I will definitely be considering the Our Code, Our Standards when designing my inquiry but I will also consult Digital technology- Safe and responsible use in school, if any further ethical issues surrounding the use of digital technologies were to arise.

References

Education Council. (2017). Our Code Our Standards.Retrieved from: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Our%20Code%20Our%20Standards%20web%20booklet%20FINAL.pdf

Hall, A. (2001). What ought I to do, all things considered? An approach to the exploration of ethical problems by teachers. In IIPE Conference, Brisbane.

Ministry of Education. (2015). Digital technology- Safe and responsible use in school. Retrieved from http://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/School/Managing-and-supporting-students/DigitalTechnologySafeAndResponsibleUseInSchs.pdf

Digital Fluency Intensive - Core Business

Today was my first session in the Manaiakalani digital fluency intensive course (DFI). I found it really interesting learning about the origins of Manaiakalani and how the pedagogy has continue to develop since it began in 2006. I learnt about why the Manaiakalani trust was formed and the reasoning behind learn, create share and the important role devices play within the pedagogy. I found it interesting how forward thinking and innovative Manaiakalani was when it was first formed and how relevant the initial goals still are today. 

My confidence within google drive and google docs has improved. I have enjoyed learning about simple tips that have the potential to drastically improve my capability and workflow as a professional. For example;

• Creating 'google groups' - this will be useful for my 'PALs' student leadership group
• Simple google docs features such as; voice typing, various extensions, using headings and adding contents pages and the 'explore' tool in google docs. 

Additional features of google docs that I found would be useful for my students was the 'word cloud generator' add-on. 

I created a word cloud today based on my students answers to 'What are the biggest problems in the world today'.

I thought this was a really interesting and fun tool to display student voice and opinions. 

A further feature I learnt about today was called 'talk and comment'. I think I will find this really useful when giving students feedback. 

I have found the session today really relevant to me as a teaching professional. I have enjoyed learning about tips and shortcuts and how to get the most out of google docs. I am looking forward to learning a lot over the next 8 weeks of the course. 

Using Rolfe's Model of Reflection to discuss what has happened during my Inquiry so far - How it impacts on taking action

I have chosen to apply Rolfe’s Model of Reflection to reflect on my teacher inquiry. I will first look at the ‘what’ - what happened and who was involved.

Something significant that has happened during my inquiry so far is the students immediate uptake of the chosen apps. I have found it really interesting how quickly the students have picked up how the apps work. They are not afraid to ‘explore’ and use ‘trial and error’ with the app in order to find out how it works. The phase of the Inquiry in which this event took place was week 25 ‘Act on your plan’ - this happened right at the beginning of implementation.

A further notable event I have identified in my inquiry is knowing the place of the iPads in the hub. When they are being used I need to ensure they are not disrupting other students work and the students have the capability of using them independently. The iPads should not just be ‘brought out’ at certain times of the day, rather they need to be used throughout the whole day when needed and as a learning tool for all. This was observed during the implementation stage of the action plan. In both of these events students and teachers have been involved.

So what? - I will now consider the theory and knowledge behind what has happened, I will look into the most interesting aspects of these events and how they can be explained.

Regarding students uptake of apps on the iPads, I found it interesting how keen, eager and engaged they were to do their learning on the iPad. Research suggests that through the use of iPads, students are keen to take an active role in their learning. They enjoy deciding what and how they are going to learn with the iPad. It is indicated in research that children are less fearful than adults in how they approach technology, therefore they learn much more quickly in comparison. As a result of this, I think we can introduce students to a wider range of iPad apps. The students have demonstrated their competence when using iPads and have proven that all children can successfully use an iPad - it isn’t something that should be kept exclusively for older students as a privilege.

With reference to the place of iPads in the hub, I think that this comes down to the teachers dispositions surrounding digital technology and understanding of the benefits it can bring to learning. Research indicates is important to continue to educate and inform teachers of the reasoning behind the use of digital technologies and the importance of these being freely available for students. Research states that teachers attitudes and understanding is a major factor in the implementation of digital technology. This impacts the ‘taking action’ aspect of inquiry as the iPads need to be available as often as possible for students to use and explore.

Now what? Looking towards further action and into the future, I have learned that children are very adaptable and open to learning new things. They enjoy creating original pieces of work and sharing this work with others. This would impact my ‘taking action’ in the future as I would offer a wider range of apps for students to learn and be exposed to. Further changes I would make to the ‘taking action’ component of my inquiry would be to consult with the junior team more regarding the launch of the apps in the hub to ensure they have a good understanding of what my intention is for my teacher inquiry.

Resources

iPads and opportunities for teaching and learning for young children

Reflective Writing

Trends Shaping Education Spotlight

How indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness is informing the way I am taking action

When implementing my teacher inquiry I will take into account indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness. I believe that a culturally responsive pedagogy is one where teachers know how to make a difference. They have a strong understanding of their students' culture and how they make sense of the world. This ensures they can get maximum engagement from their students. Teachers should be able to help all students and believe that all their students can achieve no matter what. The classroom needs to be culturally meaningful and the context needs to be authentic. In order to be a culturally responsive classroom, it needs to relationship centred.

I will be using the following framework; ‘Culturally Responsive Practice for Māori Scale’ to critically examine how I am taking action throughout my inquiry. The area I wish to focus on for discussion is my community’s needs. Within this framework I will be focusing on the concept of Whanaungatanga (building relationships).

When considering my communities needs for my teacher inquiry I took into account Whanaungatanga. I considered the members needs of my community - what did I want to develop within these members and what needs did I need to consider?

Working with junior children meant that I wanted to foster a strong home-school partnership throughout the inquiry. I understand that from the ‘Culturally Responsive Practices for Māori Scale’, building strong relationships is important. Therefore when assessing my communities needs for my inquiry I ensured that talked to parents and got a good understanding of their perspectives regarding my inquiry. This ensured my understanding of the communities needs were consistent with the students' parents.

In regards to fostering home school partnerships I believe that my inquiry will address this through the use of technology. As students will be using technology to create digital work they will be able to send this home or upload onto LINC-ED. This enables parents to anytime access to their child’s learning providing a two way interaction between home and school. Evidence suggests that it is important for schools to collaborate with whānau, to have honest and open communication and to have whānau in the classroom - I believe that the sharing of work through technology can address these important values. Furthermore, this is consistent with ERO’s findings regarding the importance of involving whānau in the classroom and extending learning across school and home. Positive student engagement is evident when the parents and the school worked in a partnership to benefit their child’s development.

Through examining the ‘Culturally Responsive Practices for Māori Scale’ and specifically looking into Whanaungatanga I used this as a measure of my own and my schools cultural responsiveness. There are strong relationships with Māori students and their whānau. Furthermore, tukana/teina relationships are in place throughout the school, this is evident in my teacher inquiry as I am using older students ‘the Googlers’ to help teach the junior students how to use the iPad apps. Additionally, I believe that Māori students know their teachers care about them and have high expectations for them like any other student in the school.

In order to move up to the next level of cultural responsiveness I need to find ways to allow students to implement their world views and prior knowledge to enhance learning i.e. using Puppet Pals or Book Creator to explain a traditional maori creation myth. My next steps are to find a way to incorporate the Māori worldview more authentically this into my inquiry.

Resources

A Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

Education for Māori: Relationships between schools and whānau

ERO - Educationally powerful connections with parents and whānau

Partners in Learning: Schools’ Engagement With Parents, Families, and Communities in New Zealand

A School-Based Measure of Culturally Responsive Practices

Culturally Responsive Practices for Māori Scale

How do aspects of law, regulations and/or policy impact on teacher inquiry?

Throughout my teacher inquiry I will take into consideration the Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession ‘Our Code, Our Standards’. I will unpack this document and discuss how this will help to guide and identify aspects of law, regulations and policy relating to teacher inquiry. I will consider how professional relationships, learning-focused culture, design for learning, teaching, Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership and professional learning will have an impact on my teacher inquiry.

‘Our Code, Our Standards’, has influenced the way I inquire into my practice, I will unpack several of these standards:

• Developing a learning-focused culture is central to my teacher inquiry. The students are active participants in the process of their learning, they have agency in the iPad apps they wish to use for learning and have ownership over their learning and sharing i.e. which apps they choose to use to showcase their work. Furthermore, the environment the students are in allows them to collaborate with others, this fosters respect and cooperation, thereby maintaining learning-focused relationships.
• Design for learning is a further standard that has influenced my practice. Throughout my teacher inquiry I have ensured my students interests and needs were considered i.e. using iPad apps that would interest them such as ‘Puppet Pals’. I also took into account curriculum and pedagogical knowledge when designing my inquiry - I knew literacy was an area that I wanted to see progress, therefore I would need apps that would support this. Furthermore, my inquiry was situated around the use of technology in the classroom, I knew that with the emerging digital curriculum, technology was going to be essential to my teacher inquiry. 
• Professional learning has had a huge impact on my inquiry. I have engaged in professional learning through The Mind Lab and school PD and have applied this to my practice. Research specific to the digital learning discipline and pedagogy has provided me with evidence which has informed my inquiry (research articles linked below). 

I believe these standards are evident in my schools policy and practice. Our school uses research to inform teaching which ensures professional learning is ongoing. As a result of this teachers are teaching in a knowledgeable and adaptive way and are designing learning tasks based on appropriate curriculum content, pedagogy and progressions for learners.

TKI states teacher inquiry is used as part of the appraisal process and policy in schools across New Zealand. It is used to provide evidence of accountability against the registered teacher criteria. This enables schools to show that standards are being met. The aim of this is to provide a link between teacher appraisal and school development, the aim is that teacher appraisal should be used to look into the relationship between teaching and learning, so teachers can improve their practice.

Using teacher inquiry as part of the appraisal process can present some challenges. Due to appraisal being an outcome dominated activity, an issue with teacher inquiry being linked to the appraisal process in schools is that teachers may choose inquiry topics where they know they will achieve the best outcome.

Furthermore, Wood (2015) states that using student achievement data as a starting point to the inquiry process could have an impact on making the teaching inquiry process outcomes focused and “nullifies the essence of inquiry of discovering other potential legitimate areas of practice”. It is apparent that teacher inquiry across schools is interpreted differently, i.e. it could be individual or collaborative. Thereby making the application and impact of teacher inquiry different across New Zealand schools despite the same regulations and policy being in place.

Resources

TKI - Appraisal and Teaching as Inquiry

Education Council - Our Code, Our Standards

Wood, C. (2015). Teaching as Inquiry: form, purpose and application in New Zealand Secondary Schools (Master's thesis).

Readings specific to my teacher inquiry:

Dobler, E. (2012). Using iPads to promote literacy in the primary grades. Reading Today, 29(3), 18.

Flewitt, R., Messer, D., & Kucirkova, N. (2015). New directions for early literacy in a digital age: The iPad. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 15(3), 289-310.

Marsh, J., Plowman, L., Yamada‐Rice, D., Bishop, J., Lahmar, J., & Scott, F. (2018). Play and creativity in young children's use of apps. British Journal of Educational Technology, 49(5), 870-882.

Woloshyn, V. E., Bajovic, M., & Worden, M. M. (2017). Promoting Student-Centered Learning Using iPads in a Grade 1 Classroom: Using the Digital Didactic Framework to Deconstruct Instruction. Computers in the Schools, 34(3), 152-167.