Literacy teaching and learning in e-Learning contexts

Chapter 5: Conditions of teaching

We begin this chapter with a description of the conditions of teaching that enabled the e-fellows to create the learning environments described in Chapter 4. We also discuss the barriers they faced. We then outline some shifts in teachers’ ideas about literacy teaching and learning that occurred during the project, and the advice they had for others interested in embarking on similar projects.

Teaching enablers

Enablers related to the e-fellowships

The e-fellowships provided teachers with some opportunities that may not typically be available to the average classroom teacher. These included: release time for personal e-fellow reflection and planning; regular on-line, face-to-face, and teleconference meetings with other e-fellows and researchers; a programme of termly workshops in which they met with the other fellows for extended discussion and sharing; and tools such as video and audio recorders and broadband access. In the following sections we discuss each of these in more detail.

Time

All of the e-fellows considered the release time they received for personal e-fellow use to be a very important enabler.

"Time was the biggest gift the e-fellowship gave me." (Year 7/8 teacher, August hui)

Teachers chose to use this time in different ways. Five of the e-fellows used at least some of this time to withdraw small groups of children with whom they worked more intensively. The teachers described how this enabled students to connect deeply with each other and the task. They considered this was possible but not so easy to achieve in a busy classroom with many more distractions both for the students and the teachers.

All of the e-fellows used some of their time away from students to read, research, explore others’ ideas, such as those of previous e-fellows, converse with colleagues, reflect and plan. They considered that while they could have successfully completed their projects without this time, it allowed them to take their projects further than they would normally be able to do.

Community of learners

There were many opportunities for the e-fellows to meet together. These included release days set aside for face-to-face meetings, regular teleconferences, and wiki conversations. There were also informal gatherings via email, phone, and sometimes in person as e-fellows with common interests worked together in pairs or small groups. Knowledge building occurred on different levels at the same time—at the individual e-fellow level; as pairs or small groups engaged in on-line and face-to-face dialogue; and as these pairs or small groups conversed together as a collective. The same processes occurred within the research team and across the research and e-fellows team. The e-fellows described how their projects were shaped and strengthened by opportunities to share ideas and resources, to solve problems, and to build theory with others and as a collective. In turn we observed the way in which the knowledge generated by the collective was shaped by what happened in the e-fellows’ classrooms and the dialogue amongst the research team and between researchers and e-fellows.

This process of collective meaning making was in fact an extension of what was going on in each of the e-fellows’ classrooms. Within the e-fellows’ classrooms different levels of learning systems were operating at the same time—individuals, pairs, small groups, clusters of groups and the whole class. To borrow from Davis et al. (2008, p202) each of these “nested systems” were “mutually supportive and intelligent, unfolding from and enfolded in one another”. The e-fellow community operated as another level in these nested systems providing informal gatherings via email, phone, and sometimes in person as e-fellows with common interests worked together.

“Permission” to take risks and try new things

Several e-fellows felt the e-fellowship gave them permission to take risks in their classroom or to do things that they would otherwise feel might not be considered acceptable by colleagues. For example, one e-fellow described how some teachers considered movies to be “frivolous”. Three of the e-fellows explained that if it were not for the e-fellowship they would have felt guilty allocating as much class time as they did to one area of study.

"If people ever said, ‘Should you really be spending so much time on this?’ I could say, ‘Yes!’" (Year 7/8 teacher, August hui)

Other enablers

The e-fellows came from schools with a commitment to e-Learning—all those from primary, contributing, and intermediate schools had been part of an ICT Professional Development (ICT PD) contract.

Some came from schools well equipped in terms of ICT tools, connections, working spaces, and support staff, and were quick to acknowledge all of these as enablers. For example, the Year 4–6 teacher acknowledged that she had special access that other teachers do not to professional equipment, professional mentors from the industry for her students, and use of the school literacy budget to buy equipment. The Year 3/4 teacher recognised that having classroom computers, a school computer suite, and an ICT teacher with no classroom responsibilities, helped her implement her project.

"We’re lucky because we do have an [ICT teacher] and we do have a computer suite. But even without all of that I think you could still do it." (Year 3/4 teacher)

Most of the e-fellows also had school leader support for their projects. This was one of the requirements of e-fellow applications. Many also described working in schools with high levels of trust between staff. All had colleagues with whom they had regular professional conversations.

One of the most important enablers observed by us, but not mentioned by the e-fellows themselves, was their own knowledge and expertise. As already noted in Chapter 1, most of the e-fellows were very experienced working in e-Learning contexts and all had existing literacy interests and skills.

Teaching barriers

The barriers faced by teachers included the availability and reliability of ICTs, school ICT policies, the school timetable, and student access to home computers.

Availability of ICTs

Many of the e-fellows faced challenges relating to the availability of ICTs, though in this regard each e-fellow’s situation was different. While some had regular access to computer suites or pods, some only had access to one or two classroom computers and had to work out systems for ensuring every student had enough time with them to complete their work. This was especially challenging for the teachers of younger students who were often very slow at typing.

"At the moment the system is a little problematic in that when we assign two of the three computers for the children to write comments they spend a long time constructing their comment reflecting the fact that their typing skills are not fine tuned. Some days very few children manage to complete a comment and we get behind in the children drawing illustrations for their published work. I have thought about setting a timer but that just doesn’t seem right—reflective comments do take time and this coupled with their emerging typing skills—I need to give them the time to work through the process." (Year 2 teacher, wiki)

One of the solutions was to use adults such as parents, or older students in the school, as scribes. This freed up computers more quickly and also freed up more student time and energy for thinking and creating.

Reliability of ICTs

A more common barrier, faced by several e-fellows, was the reliability of the ICTs and the availability of support when things went wrong. For example, the Year 7/8 teacher found the process of students logging on to the internet so difficult that she changed the whole focus of her e-fellowship project.

"Initially, I had planned to explore the impact that blogging and purposeful audience feedback may have on student writing. I moved away from this idea when logging onto the internet at school became overly difficult. Our server had very slow connections and this impacted on student enthusiasm for their tasks and ability to complete work. Our network speed became an even greater issue in Term Two and was compounded by the arrival of the conflicker virus. Our network was down and only revived partially at times until well into Term 3." (Year 7/8 teacher, blog)

School ICT policies

The biggest barrier for the Year 11 teacher involved constraining school ICT policies and procedures. School computers were not easily accessible on a regular basis for in-class work, and students were blocked from accessing their blogs while at school.

"We couldn’t get onto the blogger site. Last year there were blocked sites and we couldn’t get onto any of them. This year they’ve decided to block them all at school so we couldn’t get them onto blocked sites to do their enrolments at the beginning of the year and signing up onto the sites and setting it up." (Year 11 teacher, interview)

She felt she could not get her requirements met because the school did not consider using external wikis and blogs to be a priority.

"And there’s a real thing going on at school where they’re desperately trying to promote our intranet and so anything to do with external wikis and blogs isn’t getting its worth at the moment." (Year 11 teacher, interview)

For this reason she designed her project so that students did their work on home computers rather than at school. On reflection, she felt that while this approach had worked it had also limited the teaching and learning opportunities. Her students concurred.

"So how would I do this differently next year... I would definitely fight for their blogs being unblocked at school, this would make the initial set up much easier, and it would also allow for more guidance in the outset. I get the sense that greater support at the beginning, opportunities in class time to read, and complete peer feedback would have established behaviours that they would have then continued at home."

School timetable

Timetabling of the school programme and of computer suites sometimes provided barriers and the e-fellows often had to design their projects around these constraints. The Year 4–6 teacher, for example, found it a challenge to organise a whole day out from “normal” timetables for her students to come together from different classes to work on their projects. Sometimes their “day” clashed with special events that the kids would rather have gone to, but she made the day sacrosanct in the timetable.

Others found it difficult to find spare rooms where students could audio or video record without interruption or background noise. Students from several classes told us of their frustration at having to re-record their work because of unexpected background noise.

Some of the e-fellows were able to reorganise the timetable so that students had longer periods of time in rooms, such as computer suites, with the equipment they needed.

Students without internet access at home

One of the barriers faced by the Year 3/4 teacher was that three of her students did not have internet access at home, making it difficult for them to participate fully in all aspects of the project. One of her solutions was to send materials home in hard copy.

Reflections on literacy teaching in e-Learning contexts

At the final project hui we asked the e-fellows to write down if, and how, their ideas about literacy teaching and learning had shifted as a result of their e-fellowship. This was a question we also had asked as part of the e-fellow interviews. In this section we discuss their responses.

The e-fellows considered that working on their e-Learning projects had strengthened their awareness of the multi-modal nature of literacy and the need to concentrate on all of the modes, not just reading and writing.

"All that is good and great about literacy is no longer just about pen and paper" (Anonymous response, August hui¹⁷).

"[I] had to go beyond the traditional concepts of teaching reading/writing to engage and extend students via visual literacies." (Anonymous response, August hui)

This made some more aware of the way traditional notions of literacy can marginalise or fail certain groups of students.

"[I realised] how literate our students are when many people label them illiterate." (Anonymous response, August hui)

Several also described their increased awareness of the connections between different modes and many commented on the need to teach these in a more integrated way.

"I have probably seen more of the connections between the reading and writing. Often we teach reading as reading and writing as writing." (Year 7/8 teacher, interview)

"My ideas about the way I teach or approach literacy have changed—I now approach literacy more by integrating different literacies to enhance one or more of the literacies involved, rather than the more traditional way of teaching them as isolated subjects." (Anonymous response, August hui)

"Because there’s such a drive in perhaps many schools throughout NZ actually, that key data you’ve got that’s linked to literacy is reading and writing…And there’s not that interconnection through the literacies. They’re planned for in isolation. And for me I see literacies. You do need that articulation that they’re learning but you do need that integration." (Year 4–6 teacher)

Teachers said, too, that working on their e-Learning projects strengthened their awareness that literacy involves “thinking and doing”, not just breaking the code.

"That reading is much, much more than pointing and predicting and sounds." (New entrant teacher, blog)

"It’s not all about just having to read it, it’s about being able to escape into it and make the connections." (Year 4 teacher, interview)

"Writing is their ideas…writing’s not just a physical task of writing, it’s not just the mechanics, it’s the thinking, it’s the doing, it’s inspecting. They all need to be good at writing, and good writing comes from all those things. …"(Year 2 teacher, interview)"

Students therefore need opportunities to “think and do” if they are to learn to be literate, and from this several said they had developed an increased belief in the importance of situated practice.

"Any changes? It has just reinforced the importance of teaching literacy and learning, you know, that whole, and the importance of hands-on in the class." (Year 2 teacher, interview)

"I think…that letting children talk about books and live them is really valuable." (New entrant teacher, interview)

They also emphasised the importance of overt instruction.

"Make connections explicit to the learners, between the oral and written texts, and develop a reflective learner. [All this] enhances achievement, I feel sure." (Year 2 teacher, interview)

"It [the e-fellow project] has just reinforced the importance of [consciously] teaching literacy and learning." (Year 2 teacher, interview)

"Pre-plan, and pre-teach in giving reflective feedback." (Year 3/4 teacher, interview)

Nearly all of the e-fellows became more keenly aware of the need to provide students with more time to think and talk about ideas, and to revisit the same text many times.

"I have allowed myself and children more time to reflect, revise and reshape their work." (Anonymous response, August hui)

"I understand that it takes children time and repetition to have a full and deep understanding of story and of words. We rush and we give the wrong message. We need to slow down." (Anonymous response, August hui)

"[I learnt that] time was the biggest thing I could give my students—time to do something well…Spending time going over and over familiar information in different mediums made them more and more confident. You choose a narrow focus and you go as deep as you can…They never got tired or bored of that topic…They became extremely skilled and showed a deep level of understanding that I have never seen before..." (Year 7/8 teacher, Ulearn)

Some e-fellows observed that the multi-modal and rapid changing nature of texts and their uses mean that students need to learn the principles of meaning making and build the capacity to apply them to new situations.

"We can’t just teach children one way is right, we have to give them the tools to challenge and find out for themselves." (Year 4 teacher, blog)

Many e-fellows expressed a sense of urgency about the need for some changes to the way in which literacy teaching and learning is carried out more generally.

"I am concerned about the ‘way’ literacy is taught in many classes nationwide." (Anonymous response, August hui)

"The institution of ‘school’—the culture of ‘the school’ does not always support my beliefs about literacy. I am conflicted inside about this." (Anonymous response, August hui)

This did not necessarily mean changing everything, but it did mean scrutinising the approaches available and selecting from them.

"I saw something that said we need to change everything!!! I disagree, we need to enhance what we are doing, look at the core curriculum, work with the tools that are out there…above all be adaptive and challenge ourselves." (Year 4 teacher, blog)

When reflecting on their projects, the main piece of advice the e-fellows had for others interested in embarking on projects similar to their own was to allow time to cover things in depth.

"Make sure you give the kids the time to get the quality and yourselves the time. Pre-plan, and pre-teach in giving reflective feedback. And get the parents involved." (Year 3/4 teacher, interview)

"A project like this takes time, perseverance, commitment…Scaffold the learning. Integrate [everything] with the topic. Make connections explicit to the learners, between the oral and written texts, and develop a reflective learner. [All this] enhances achievement, I feel sure." (Year 2 teacher, interview)

"I guess now I’m starting to see if you’re going to cover all those things you can’t do it in a day and that it has to take that long and to really get the thinking. In the beginning I thought the blogging was great, I’d get their immediate thoughts, but I’m starting to realise now that it does take them time for them to come up with their thoughts [and] that it wasn’t going to be up the next day. But if you’re gonna do it properly it’s got to take time." (Year 4 teacher, interview)

"Things didn’t go well when I thought ‘I must do guided reading, I must do spelling,’ and trying to squeeze it all in… Accepting that if you want to do the job properly you have to take the time to do it…I know I take time to process stuff and they do as well." (Year 3/4 teacher, interview)

All of the e-fellows also had advice about the tools, although all agreed that their projects were not primarily about the tools.

"It is not that blogs are the golden egg. The golden egg is actually that my students can choose the medium that suits them. That they are not limited to one means or another, handwriting or blog writing." (Year 11 teacher, online journal)

"It [effective e-Learning] is far more important than a couple of tools that you, [use], you know what I mean…I think a) it’s the interaction and b) it’s the perfect opportunity for differentiation, for thought extension…And to me that’s the really interesting and exciting side of ICT" (Year 11 teacher, interview)

However, the tools were an important part of the projects and provided opportunities for learning that would not have been possible without them, and to use them effectively requires both technical knowledge and a disposition for flexibility in planning and conducting lessons.

"It is not the ICT that has driven it. It has been a tool—an amazing tool for them to share their stories" (Year 3 teacher, interview)

"ICTs are a fantastic tool and I urge teachers who have become frustrated to take the time to become more confident…Your students may well be a tremendous resource, very quickly they will become experts and do much of the work for you, they will make terrific mentors to other students and also lead you to new ways to work with ICT."

"It is a major area of concern when using ICTs how very quickly and frequently the tool—be it a server or the internet, connecting a data projector, camera, voice recorder etc can impact on a lesson. The way forward needs teachers who are ICT confident to problem solve and to also recognise when the plug needs to be pulled on a lesson and plan B swung into action." (Year 7/8 teacher)

Summary

The e-fellowships provided the teachers with conditions such as release time, a learning community, and additional tools that they would not otherwise have had access to. All considered that these conditions made it possible to take their projects to a deeper level than they otherwise might have been able to. However, all considered, too, that even without these extra supports it would be possible to implement their initiatives in the classroom.

The fellows described how working in e-Learning contexts either showed them for the first time, confirmed, or strengthened their understanding of the multi-modal nature of all texts, the need to focus on the connections between modes, the need to recognise and celebrate student strengths in a wider range of modes, and the need for both situated practice and overt instruction.

Their main piece of advice for others wanting to embark on projects such as their own was to slow down and take more time to explore fewer ideas in greater depth.

The main barriers teachers faced related to the accessibility, availability, reliability of the ICTs their students needed. All fellows found ways around these problems and all managed to successfully implement their projects—some in less than ideal conditions. However, some of them did consider the opportunities for teaching and learning were limited by these barriers.

Footnote

17. The written responses to the question we asked at the final project hui about shifts in thinking about literacy teaching and learning were anonymous.