Research Reviews

The Digital Education Revolution (DER) is a $2.2 billion Australian program to provide netbooks to years 9-12 secondary students, internet connectivity and professional learning for teachers. 'What are the possible implications of this program on teaching and learning?' is a question that immediately comes to mind? A thought provoking research article Paradox, Promise and Public Pedagogy: Implications of the Federal Government’s Digital Education Revolution published earlier in 2011 in the Australian Journal of Teacher Education is definitely worth reading and gives pause for thought even though some assertions may be contentious. Paradox, Promise and Public Pedagogy raises three issues about the use of computers in schools: the digital natives rhetoric, public pedagogy and the corporatisation of education.

Connectedness to the internet is a matter that is important for Australians in order to engage in educational activities, access information and tele-communicate. Today, there are many points of access to the internet such as desktop computers, laptops, mobiles, tablets and other processing devices. The methods of connection are as diverse, with a range of methods for fixed line access and wireless access. Wireless access could include satellite, fixed wireless, mobile wireless, via datacard, dongle, USB modem or tablet SIM and other wireless broadband, suggests the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). In a recently released report on Internet Activity in Australia, Dec 2011 by the ABS the number of ‘mobile wireless internet (excluding mobile handset) connections (44%) now exceed Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) connections (41%) in Australia’ (p. 2). This finding excludes mobile handsets but the fact that some mobile handsets can act as internet conduits for wireless internet connections complicates matters further. Something to bear in mind in this discussion is that wireless connections to the internet frequently require fixed line infrastructure. However, what is not ambiguous is that Australians are moving towards mobile internet access using a variety of methods.

Education has developed over the last two-hundred years with some fixed views about learning, for example, learning involves memory training through rote learning or drill-and-practice. More recently, educational research has moved to better understandings of the social and contextual perspectives of learning as distinct from the decontextualized learning of traditional education. The use of technology and device-based interactivity especially using haptics (touch screens) has provided a bridge between the work of cognitive scientists and neuroscientists who have developed new insights into learning based on scientific evidence. Notions that the functioning of the brain was fixed, or that learning styles, popular among educators, affected learning or that the brain was right-sided or left-sided for different tasks came unstuck when the plasticity of the brain was revealed. In the popular best seller The Brain That Changes Itself, Norman Doidge (2007) explained how research had shown that the brain changes itself with experience. In a new research report Neuroscience and technology enhanced learning published jointly by STELLAR and Futurelab, the links between elearning and neuroscience are outlined succinctly and precisely. States the report, ‘We know that the brain is plastic and that experience (including educational experience) can change its connectivity, function and structure’ (p. 21).

There has been much debate and discussion about the use of the Internet using broadband connections. A very thoughtful and insightful qualitative research report about using technology in South Australia, one of the driest and most isolated parts of the world, is illuminating. The report was developed after soliciting the stories from people in many locations, talking and walking with people the length and breadth of the State and conducting group discussions in far-flung towns and communities. The anthropological research, in an aptly named and refreshing report, Getting Connected, Staying Connected: Exploring South Australia’s Digital Futures captures the culture of change and community expectations in an exemplary way. The report focuses on transforming the Internet ‘from a destination to an essential service in our homes, offices and schools’ (p. 6) and from a ‘discretionary destination into a meaningful part of our daily lives and ritual’s’ (p. 6). In Australia, ‘technology is critical to any conversation about the drought, the global financial crisis, Aboriginal self-determination, regional identity, educational aspirations, the price of wool, petrol and real estate, families, communities – and even nationhood’ (p. 6)

Teaching as a profession is focussed on learning: student learning, teacher learning and learning as a community. Teachers themselves can often feel isolated because of the very nature of the professional role of working with groups of learners separated from other groups. The professional support that teachers seek in order to enhance and improve their own learning and teaching very often comes from colleagues, professional friends, Principals and professional associations, as well as conferences and workshops although the last two of these would appear to be decreasing due to financial pressures. Teachers regularly seek to engage collegially to share their practices, to seek support and to find resources. The free online social networking cloud service Twitter may be a service that enables teachers to effectively and easily engage with their professional colleagues. In a fascinating and novel research article The End of Isolation published in the recent edition of MERLOT’s Journal of Online Teaching and Learning (JOLT) Alderton, Brunsell and Bariexca (2011) analyse the text, the ‘followers’ and ‘followings’ of ten experienced teachers who regularly use Twitter and seek their views about their experience using the microblogging service. The teachers came from mixed backgrounds by gender, levels of teaching assignment, subjects taught and length of experience. The purpose of the research was to ‘examine the specific ways in which educators use Twitter, and the impact of this use on their professional practice’ (p. 355).

Discussion about the use of ICT in education has often focussed on the need for new skills such as critical thinking and collaboration. A framework for the effective use of conversation using educational technology by teachers was developed by Diana Laurillard (2002). However, analysis of actual online discussions and learner experiences of online discussions has not often been cited. If online collaboration and discussion are to be used effectively in education, then the pedagogical challenges need to be understood. DERN has featured previous research about different forms of educational delivery such as face-to-face, a mixture of face-to-face and online known as hybrid, and purely online where the hybrid mode has been shown to be the most effective. The need for a closer examination of online discussions was recognised in an interesting paper and presentation on Learning through online discussion: a framework evidenced in learner’s interactions hosted by The Association for Learning Technology Conference (ALT-C) 2011. The paper focussed on a qualitative study of six university students, their asynchronous online discussions and the factors that affected their learning.

Learning using technology has been fraught with controversy and debate since personal computers became widely available in the early 1980s. Apart from unfounded criticisms that the use of information and communications technologies (ICT) did not increase learning achievement, other issues such as access and equity needed to be resolved. However, common educational practice for using ICT in learning programs has become focussed on converting traditional texts to digital formats and calling these learning objects. The learning objects are centrally managed in repositories and made to conform to standards so that they can be accessed from so called learning management systems. These learning management systems are more about managing content, courses and assignments than learning, and continue to be used for educational control. However, learning is fundamentally social in nature and resides in networks argue Chatti, Agustiawan, Jarke and Specht in an award winning research article titled Toward a Personal Learning Environment Framework Chatti et al. assert that ‘traditional technology-enhanced learning (TEL) initiatives have failed’ (p. 67). They proffer that a reason for failure is that ‘management by the learner is often key to learning (p. 68) and so a core issue in learning is ‘personalization of the learning experience’ (p. 67) rather than a one-size fits-all model.

Reading is a critical skill for students because of the strong correlation between success as a reader and educational attainment, employment and career, and quality of life. DERN has recently reported on two research works about reading, one by the UK National Literacy Trust and a second about reading in higher education. A report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) adds further crucial information for educators about reading online. The OECD undertakes international surveys every three years, with large samples of 15 year old students, to understand the acquisition of knowledge and skills towards the end of schooling. The 2009 surveys focussed on reading, both print reading and online reading, as well as updated information for mathematics and science. This 2009 survey as part of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) adds significantly to insights into reading proficiency.

There is little doubt about the importance of reading in education. Reading has been associated with attainment, employment and quality of life (OECD, 2010) and so it is an essential core learning skill for schools. When reading is discussed, the evidence that is often cited to indicate a reader is one who reads books. However, that may be changing. The influential National Literacy Trust in the UK has recently released the 2010 results for reading from its Omnibus annual surveys about reading, writing, communication and technology use. Their report on reading called Setting the baseline: The National Literacy Trust’s first annual survey into young people’s reading - 2010 from the responses of over 18,000 school students indicates that there may be an increasing diversity in the materials that young people read.

The increase in the number of online courses in post school education has clearly increased since 2000, although the number of courses offered by institutions may vary. Online courses can offer wider possibilities for access and flexibility of time and place which may be more attractive to some students. Also, online courses may increase administrative options, such as untying course enrolment numbers from physical locations. However, online courses can raise a number of questions about learning, performance, completion, equity, access, support and the like. A recently released study completed by the Community College Research Center examined the differences in the enrolments, completion and learning outcome rates between students who undertook online, hybrid and face-to-face courses in the period 2004 to 2009. The longitudal study, Online and Hybrid Course Enrollment and Performance in Washington State Community and Technical Colleges used a Washington dataset of degree seeking students in community and technical colleges.