Nayland College and Nelson College for Girls (TLIF1-109) - A teacher-led inquiry into the three E's: e-learning, engagement and effectiveness Publications
Publication Details
This inquiry was an action research project where teachers across two schools collaborated to investigate the effectiveness of blended learning (that is, including e-learning in face-to-face teaching) in engaging students with their learning.
Author(s): (Inquiry Team) Gaye Bloomfield - Nayland College, and Sarah Johns - Nelson College for Girls
Date Published: January 2019
Summary
The teachers conducted a series of individual inquiries (or ‘case studies’) in their classes, and shared them with their colleagues in the project team. All the teachers made significant shifts in their pedagogy, as evidenced in the data they collected about their case studies, particularly from student voice.
That’s when we realised we had this thread that went through all of our case studies, and we finally had a name for it — key competencies
Project teacher
However, the most profound discovery was that increased student engagement and achievement was not the direct result of blended learning. Instead, it was the impact blended learning could make on the key competencies that improved engagement and achievement.
The inquiry
This inquiry involved 12 teachers from two Nelson schools, Nayland College and Nelson College for Girls. They conducted their case studies using the Teaching as Inquiry model from late 2015 to 2017.
Goals of the inquiry
The inquiry addressed two key questions:
- Which e-learning techniques make learning both engaging and effective for students with limited previous e-learning experiences?
- When and where do we turn the devices on and off?
Each teacher planned a short unit of work for their class and gathered data from students to see if their specific and targeted use of digital technology made a positive impact on engagement and achievement. Throughout 2016, the group met twice each term to either present or critique one of the inquiries. As each case study was carried out and analysed by the group, data collected from teachers and students was fed back into the inquiry cycle that guided the action research.
The team changed their approach in 2017 to develop a collective goal to complete their final round of case studies. This time, the teachers worked together to test whether explicit teaching of the key competencies would improve engagement and achievement.
Initiatives trialled in the inquiry
Teachers introduced a range of technologies into their face-to-face teaching (blended learning). Case studies included:
- using Classcraft, a roleplay game, to encourage behaviour that contributes positively to others’ learning,
- students using OneNote to store and record information and research and write essays, and teachers using it to provide resources, comment on students’ work, and mark essays,
- using Time4Writing and Essay Map to help students with essay writing,
- students using Turnitin to check their writing’s originality,
- using Photoshop in art class to further develop characters and concepts,
- using coding software in teams to develop games,
- using in-class video tutorials to demonstrate textiles techniques and how to draw graphs, and
- using spreadsheets to prepare financial statements for other students’ business plans.
The team’s approach was characterised by:
- collaboration around a series of teacher inquiry case studies,
- cross-school, cross-subject team composition,
- the establishment and later revision of an overarching logic,
- exploration of a range of data, including student voice,
- freedom, space and support for inquiry, and
- learning-orientated talk.
Monitoring
The teachers used several ways of gathering data about the impact of the new initiatives. These included document analysis of teacher unit and lesson plans, pre- and post-unit student surveys, and pre- and post-unit semi-structured student interviews conducted by other members of the group.
Teachers completed the NZCER Learning with Digital Technologies teacher survey at the start and after the end of the project. They also critiqued each other’s case studies in their regular meetings, using what they had shared to inform future case studies.
Key findings
There were three key findings about the teachers’ professional development and practice from the project.
Finding 1: Teachers employed effective ways to build the conditions for personalising professional growth using a group format. These included: setting expectations that included permission to alter focus; having a shared context, purpose and identity; meeting off-site during non-teaching time; recruiting members with a range of cross-curricular and teaching experiences. As a result, they engaged in more learning-orientated talk.
Finding 2: Teachers’ research-based professional practice shifted, and they were thinking and behaving differently. Teachers considered that this inquiry cycle improved their practice and they were able to integrate new strategies into it to meet the identified needs of their students. They were questioning more, seeking out peers to be coaches, taking responsibility for developing their teaching, and collecting student voice to support the inquiry. They also shifted in their thinking from:
- technology solution focus to research mindset.
- looking for quick wins to results that take longer to appear (‘slow burn’).
- individual inquiry to collaborative inquiry.
- surface reflections to critical reflections.
Many teachers discovered that the blended learning approach allowed a deeper pedagogical shift to giving students more choice in the topics of their learning.
Finding 3: Facilitation that is planned, responsive and agentic creates the conditions for professionals to build their capacity to engage in research-based practices.
Shifting from achievement outcomes to key competencies
The most significant shift for all the teachers came with their realisation that the language they were using to talk about student progress and engagement came from the key competencies of the New Zealand Curriculum, not the achievement objectives. They were using blended learning strategies to foster the key competencies: thinking; relating to others; using language, symbols, and texts; managing self; and participating and contributing. As a group, they shifted from planning ‘how to use blended learning’ to ‘how to target skills development’, and spent more time unpacking which key competencies students needed to strengthen in order to use blended tools effectively. They more clearly identified the intended outcomes for the case studies and specifically targeted them in unit planning.
Key messages
The progress in this project meant that teachers moved away from their initial inquiry questions into richer learning territory. Exploring a range of data, including student voice, was particularly important in shifting away from the simpler question of when and how to use blended learning to how to use it to foster the key competencies. Teachers shifted away from an initial interest in which technologies to use, or when and how to blend them with face-to-face, or how to use digital technologies more. They discovered the need for quite nuanced learning about for whom, how and under what conditions blended learning could be used. They had to be more discerning in order to integrate digital pedagogies with other successful teaching strategies to enable students to progressively develop the targeted key competencies. There is no one ‘silver bullet’ blended learning tool or strategy, and teachers need to know the needs of their students and respond to those needs.
The initial shared logic of the inquiry was naive. Initially, the logic was that blended learning would increase engagement in ways that would contribute to improved achievement. However, when the project teachers looked at why their initiatives were successful, they realised that it was the key competencies that were making the difference. They revised the logic and positioned key competencies as a key purpose of their teaching. Their puzzle then became about how blended learning approaches created conditions for, and promoted development of, key competencies that were central to their education purpose. It was this that enabled better student engagement and supported improved achievement.
Sharing the findings
The project created a website (http://bloomfieldjohns.weebly.com) that includes information from their inquiry, which they have shared with other teachers. They also presented the results at the Ulearn 2018 conference. The group produced a unit planning tool to aid teachers in using blended learning tools to increase engagement and achievement.
Inquiry team
The inquiry involved 12 teachers from Nayland College and Nelson College for Girls. The inquiry leads were:
- Gaye Bloomfield — Nayland College
- Sarah Johns — Nelson College for Girls
For further information
If you would like to learn more about this project, please contact the project leader Gaye Bloomfield at gaye.bloomfield@nayland.school.nz.
Reference list
Aitken, G., & Sinnema, C. (2008). Effective pedagogy in social sciences / Tikanga a iwi: Best Evidence Synthesis. Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Education.
Bloomfield, G., & Johns, S. (2014). Proactive Learning Group Project. http://bloomfieldjohns.weebly.com
Bolstad, R., Gilbert, J., McDowell, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S., & Hipkins, R. (2012). Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching — A New Zealand Perspective. New Zealand Council for Educational Research. Ministry of Education, New Zealand.
Sinnema, C., Frauke Meyer, F., & Aitken, G. (2017). Capturing the Complex, Situated, and Active Nature of Teaching Through Inquiry-Oriented Standards for Teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 68(1) 9–27.
Timperley, H., Wilson, A., Barrar, H., & Fung, I. (2017). Teacher Professional Learning and Development: Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration [BES]. Ministry of Education, New Zealand.
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