01.Professional Learning and Development
Paper
Profession of Change and New Ways of Working: Introducing a Digital Quality Tool in Preschool Education
Amelie Elm
University of Gavle, Sweden
Presenting Author: Elm, Amelie
Abstract
Reflecting on what happens when a digital quality tool is introduced in a preschool setting, a system owner expresses: “[I]t’s a process in itself, it becomes a new way of working really. It may be that you work with the systematic quality work on paper today, or in another digital product, however, you do it, it changes things” (Quote from an interview with a system owner). The quote is a description of what happens when a digital tool for quality is introduced. Things change and new ways of working appear. The quote above is also representative of how different processes of digitalization seem to challenge professional knowledge, e.g. how to work with quality in preschools, and how this leads to processes of sensemaking (cf. Weick, 1995) among practitioners. Thus, introducing a digital quality tool affects professional settings and challenges traditional ways of working. The specific digital tool investigated in this study, consisting of an integrated app and a web interface, has an outspoken aim to organize and develop the work with quality. As such, the new digital quality tool has the intention to create new ways of working as well as change. Thus, the introduction of a digital quality tool does things and it needs to be made sense of by organizations and individuals. The following is as such an investigation of these new ways and changes related to how pre-schools work with issues of quality and how they are made sense of within their professional context.
Based on these initial observations the research questions in this study address:
- How is an introduction of a digital quality tool carried out in a Swedish pre-school setting?
- How do pre-school actors make sense of the digital quality tool?
In relation to the above, it can be stated that implementing a digital quality tool is not a simple transport from one situation to the next one. Thus, the implementation is to be considered a challenge. It affects both preschool actors (teachers, children, parents, principals, etc.) as well as Education technology (EdTech) company's digital products on how to digitalize different aspects of education. Digitalization of education thus functions at the very hub of education where desires, ambitions, and practices are formulated and acted on (see for instance SALAR, 2019). The present study engages in this phenomenon and provides knowledge on how an introduction of a digital tool is carried out, what kind of intentions, purposes, and experiences appear, and how education is made sense of by involved actors when a digital quality tool is introduced.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedMethod
The study was designed as a qualitative case study with the digital quality tool as framing the case (Denzen & Lincoln, 2018; Yin, 2018; Simons, 2009; Stake, 2006). It was conducted in four Swedish municipalities and four different preschools. Methods in use were focus group observations of the introduction meeting and semi-structured interviews with follow-up questions (Denzen & Lincoln, 2018; Edward & Holland, 2013). The collection of data comprises observations from August and September, and interviews taking place from September until November 2021. The observations took place in conjunction with four introduction meetings held by the system owner of the observed digital quality tool. After the introduction, semi-structured interviews at all four preschools were performed. These interviews were audio-recorded with a total time of eight hours and fifty-one minutes. The interviews were held with a focus on how the participants experienced the introduction of the digital quality tool. The questions were circulating about what experiences the participants had during and after the introduction and if they considered anything missing, and if any questions occurred afterward.
The data analysis is based on an approach of reflexive thematic analysis (see for instance Braun et al., 2019). With this approach, thematic analysis is understood as a reflexive and recursive open coding process. The work with reflexive and open coding can be considered an ongoing and critical conscious process where data content is interpreted by the researcher to reflect on the participants meaning. Data were generated into a thematic coding, organized by the same and coherent content (Emerson et al., 2011) visualizing different aspects of sensemaking of the digital quality tool by preschool actors.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsFindings
The study visualizes that, how the introduction is carried out makes a difference for the preschool actors. These differences entail nuanced variations in sense-giving; meaning how the introduction is performed, but also with what intentions the digital quality tool is presented. Differences in the length of the introductions were rather small, but it resulted in substantial variances in giving sensemaking opportunities; especially in the form of peer discussions and opportunities to ask questions for the participants. Another difference that was evident in the collected data was the rhetoric about opportunities for enhancing professional development. For instance, the presenting system owner frequently referred to the digital tool as a new way of working with quality. Among the preschool actor, this rhetoric of change and new ways of working is in no way that evident.
Another result emanating from the data was that sensemaking among the practitioners seems to be dependent on receiving the information and being given opportunities to discuss in small groups. This is because making sense in small groups was considered to give opportunities for interaction, to stop for questions, understand each other’s needs, and stepwise introduce different functions in the digital quality tool. Another observation worth mentioning is that teachers were ambiguous concerning how much time they were willing to invest in learning. A reason for this was that for the teachers it did not seem clear how long the digital tool would stay. Thus, the pre-school teachers reflected on the introduction of new techniques as something uncertain and changing and by that investing time in learning was seen as risky.
ReferencesReferences
Braun, V, Clarke, V, Hayfield, N, Terry, G. (2019). Thematic Analysis. In P. Liamputtong (ed.), Handbook of Research Methods in Health Social Sciences. Singapore: Springer.
Denzen, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. Fifth edition (2018). The Sage handbook of qualitative research. Edwards, R., & Holland, J. (2013). What is qualitative interviewing?. A&C Black.
Emerson R M, Fretz R I, & Shaw L L. 2011. Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
SALAR. (2019). Lägesbeskrivning november 2019: Nationell handlingsplan för digitalisering av skolväsendet. Retrieved from
Swedish Ministry of Education. (2017). Nationell digitaliseringsstrategi för skolväsendet. (Diarienummer: U2017/04119/S ).
Simons, H. (2009). Case Study Research in Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Stake, Robert E. (2006). Multiple Case Study Analysis. New York. London: The Guilford Press.
Yin, K, Robert. (2018) Case study research and applications: Design and methods. 6th edition. Thousand Oak, London and New Delhi: SAGE Publications.
Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in organizations (Vol. 3). Sage
01.Professional Learning and Development
Paper
Signs of Professional Vision in Teachers' Dicussions of their Professional Digital Competence
Apostolia Roka, Annika Lantz-Andersson, Ewa Skantz-Åberg
Göteborgs universitet (Göteborg), Sweden
Presenting Author: Roka, Apostolia
The teaching profession is becoming increasingly digitized. The educational policies and curriculum address the technology-oriented changes. It is paramount that there is support for the digitalised citizen to ensure a democratic and accessible society. Teachers serve as the main facilitators of students learning. More precisely, teachers are expected to develop the necessary competences to teach in technology-mediated activities in order to support students’ digital competence (Starkey, 2020). Teachers’ professional digital competence (PDC) addresses the complexity that is specific to the teaching profession (Erstad et al, 2021; Skantz-Åberg et al., 2022) through the transitional role of technologies in shaping learning in a digitalized age (Danish et al., 2021). Therefore, the transformative character of technology positions teachers as agents in reshaping their emerging professional competence and calls for changes in the way in which teachers understand and articulate their changed profession and practice. However, teachers’ perspectives and reflections on their understanding of their changing classroom practices through their experience of technology-mediated teaching activities remain less focused (Reeves & Lin, 2020). Based on sociocultural approaches (Säljö, 2010; Wertsch, 1998) this study takes a particular analytical interest in teachers’ ability to look at their practice in professionally relevant ways, indicating signs of professional vision (Goodwin, 1994). The concept of professional vision involves discursive practices to see and understand central phenomena within a professional community (Goodwin, 1994), which in this study concerns aspects of PDC.
In this paper, preschool class teachers, working in pairs, in collaboration with a team of researchers participated in educational design-based research (McKenney & Reeves, 2014) in which teachers and researchers together discussed and reflect on the competences that come into play in technology-mediated teaching activities. The discussions were elicitated by video clips from the classroom activities. These discussions, which are also video documented, are named reflective discussions (Lantz-Andersson et al., 2022) understood as first-hand, situated, and collaborative deliberations in interactive situations.
The aim of this study is to explore how teachers elaborate on the competence that comes into play in technology-mediated classroom activities and what signs of professional vision are shown in the reflective discussions in terms of how we analytically understand their utterances as coding, highlighting and articulating (Goodwin, 1994) key aspects of competence that come into play in their teaching. The following question frame our interest: What signs of teacher professional vision in relation to a digitalized early years classroom can analytically be identified in the reflective discussions between teachers and researchers?
The concept of professional vision as introduced and described by Goodwin (1994) suggests that there are professional ways of seeing, understanding, and talking about things that are connected to the specific tools that professionals use within their professional community. We therefore use professional vision as a concept for scrutinising events in our study, where shared collective practices are discussed. In addition, professional vision provides a framework that brings together ways of seeing and examining individual skills “within a community of competent practitioners” (p. 626). In educational settings, focusing on how teachers learn to code and highlight remarkable events among the simultaneous events that occur during classroom activities is linked to the development of teachers’ professional vision. In this study, the elicited video clips are used as a starting point for teachers to comment on their practice with the researchers’ central questions and inputs supporting the organisation of “the perceptual field” (Goodwin, 1994, p.620). Therefore, teachers’ professional vision is informed and shaped by balancing the individual and collective skills that structure and organize a professional field of expertise through joint reflections.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedUnderpinned by educational design-based research (McKenney & Reeves, 2019) the study involves nine teachers of early years education and a team of five researchers. The design involves video-documented technology-mediated teaching activities, followed by collaborative discussions, elicitated by videoclips from the classroom.
The discussions are also video-documented and constitute the main data. The researchers selected video clips of instructional sequences involving so-called critical incidents that include some kind of tension, i.e., instances where the teachers encountered a challenge, such as instructional difficulties in explaining the technology-mediated tasks to the pupils, and situations when they experienced insufficient knowledge of the functioning of a digital tools. In that sense, such critical incidents that are shown in the video sometimes are immediately noticed by the teachers, or sometimes they become obvious and further elaborated on by the researchers’ questions and points.
It is important to take into consideration the use of video in the reflective discussions and the role of the researchers’ questions, comments, and inputs. We use video to analyze teachers' practices as the video makes visible representations of their practices to them and others allowing a detailed examination and repetition of sequences of talk and embodied work practices performed in the actual settings of practice. Moreover, the collaborative video analysis approach could enable teachers to work together with the researchers to distinctly articulate and strive toward their professional vision.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsPreliminary findings suggest that signs of professional vision are shown by the teachers’ highlighting of technological and pedagogical issues. The highlighting is articulated and represented through speech and gestures related to the technology-mediated activities as displayed in the video clips. The use of gestures along with the talk allowed the teachers to highlight the problematic situation of lack of adequate technical skills. The close access to the teacher's own reflections and understandings, offered by the video, enabled a more detailed analysis, and made it possible to see the specific challenges of the technological shift. An analysis of selected excerpts showed that video-based discussions are treated as an invitation to develop teaching practices and offer teachers new insights and ways of teaching with digital technology. The reflective discussions increased the teachers' focus on noticing aspects of their teaching, which included fostering the notion of ‘learning together' which the teachers problematized (highlighted). However, teachers demonstrated an awareness of the social and institutional practices of their profession, which also included their duties and responsibilities as teachers, so that they are not completely unprepared for class. In addition, when teachers talked about their insufficient use of digital tools, they emphasized teaching strategies such as flexibility, previous pedagogical knowledge, and experiences as compensatory factors. Therefore, teachers’ PDC is understood as an evolving and complex set of skills that involves both technical and pedagogical competences.
ReferencesDanish, J. A., Johnson, H., Nicholas, C., Francis, D. C., Hmelo-Silver, C. E., Rogers, M. P., ... & Enyedy, N. (2021). Situating video as context for teacher learning. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 30, 100542.
Derry, S. J., Pea, R. D., Barron, B., Engle, R. A., Erickson, F., Goldman, R., ... & Sherin, B. L. (2010). Conducting video research in the learning sciences: Guidance on selection, analysis, technology, and ethics. The journal of the learning sciences, 19(1), 3-53.
Erstad, O., Kjällander, S., & Järvelä, S. (2021). Facing the challenges of ’digital competence’: A Nordic agenda for curriculum development for the 21st century. Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 16(2), 77. https://doi.org/10.18261/issn.1891-943x-2021-02-04
Goodwin, C. (1994). Professional vision. American Anthropologist, 96, 606–633. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1994.96.3.02a00100.
Jordan, B., & Henderson, A. (1995). Interaction analysis: Foundations and practice. The journal of the learning sciences, 4(1), 39-103.
Lantz-Andersson, A., Skantz-Åberg, E., Roka, A., Lundin, M., & Williams, P. (2022). Teachers’ collaborative reflective discussions on technology-mediated teaching: Envisioned and enacted transformative agency. Learning Culture and Social Interaction, 35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2022.100645
McKenney, S., & Reeves, T. C. (2019). Conducting educational design research (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Reeves, T. C., & Lin, L. (2020). The research we have is not the research we need. Educational Technology Research and Development, 68, 1991-2001.
Starkey, L. (2020). A review of research exploring teacher preparation for the digital age. Cambridge Journal of Education, 50(1), 37-56.
Säljö, R. (2010). Digital tools and challenges to institutional traditions of learning: technologies, social memory and the performative nature of learning. Journal of computer assisted learning, 26(1), 53-64.
Tripp, T., & Rich, P. (2012). Using video to analyze one's own teaching. British Journal of Educational Technology, 43(4), 678-704.
Wertsch, J. V. (1998). Mind as action. Oxford university press.
01.Professional Learning and Development
Paper
The Potential Of Virtual Reality To Combat Teacher Bias And Increase Empathy
Frauke Meyer, Jo Smith, Gabriella Foreman-Brown
University of Auckland, New Zealand
Presenting Author: Meyer, Frauke
It is well-documented that educators’ prejudices surface in interactions with students and as a result influence students’ learning, academic beliefs, and attitudes toward school (Brophy, 1983; Cheng & Starks, 2002; DeCuir-Gunby, & Bindra, 2022; Meissel et al., 2017; Rubie-Davies, 2006). Prejudice is generally defined as “a negative bias toward a social category of people, with cognitive, affective, and behavioral components” (Paluck et al., 2012, p. 534). While explicit (conscious) biases are easier to identify and address because we are more aware of them, implicit (unconscious) biases tend to impact our behaviour more when we are tired, stressed, act under time constraints, or are faced with ambiguous or incomplete information (Staats, 2016).
Policymakers have increasingly called for anti-bias training for educators, however, most research on such efforts has shown that they have little sustained effects (Bezrukova et al., 2016; Carter et al., 2020; Paluck et al., 2021). As Carter and colleagues (2020) note, training often merely raises awareness of bias and in some cases triggers defensive reactions when participants are confronted with their biases without being given strategies to move forward.
With the technological advances in virtual reality (VR), the ability to immerse participants into different worlds and embody other personas has given rise to a new avenue of anti-bias training and research. VR interventions to combat bias have shown some promising results (Hatfield et al., 2022), however, these have been mainly experimental studies documenting bias in psychology or in the medical field. Only a few intervention studies exist, and these have mostly been light touch (i.e., under ten minutes) and conducted in labs with graduate students, thus their applicability to real-life contexts is uncertain (Paluck et al., 2021). Hatfield and colleagues (2022) conducted a systematic review of VR intervention research regarding racial bias and noted that 61 out of 68 studies reviewed only examined whether prejudices existed but did not explore solutions. These studies often used VR to enable participants to have contact with avatars presenting an out-group (e.g., avatars of a different race). More recently, studies have experimented with participants embodying a different race or skin colour avatar to enable perspective-taking (Groom et al., 2009), however, if the avatar lacked a real context or persona, biases seemed perpetuated. Hatfield and colleagues (2022) described this form of embodiment as ‘virtual Blackface’ (p.6). VR experiences in which the avatar has a name and history, and offers views into their experiences of prejudice, have shown more positive results in facilitating prejudice reduction (for one example, see Banakou et al., 2020).
Most research has been conducted in psychology or the medical field and few studies exist in education. Haghanikar and Hooper (2021) describe a preservice course aiming to build knowledge and awareness about homelessness. One assignment involved a VR experience embodying a homeless person. However, the impact of the VR experience or the course on students was not evaluated. A couple of small studies have explored the design of a virtual classroom for teacher training and had a small but positive impact on teachers’ empathy towards diverse students (Stavroulia et al., 2018; 2019).
We present a preliminary study exploring the potential of VR to combat teacher prejudice and increase empathy. In our study, educational leaders engaged in the VR experience and were subsequently interviewed to answer the following research questions: (1) What are educational leaders’ perceptions of the potential of a virtual reality scenario to increase feelings of empathy? (2) What are educational leaders’ perceptions of whether virtual reality scenarios from outside of education could be adapted as a professional learning tool in educational contexts?
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedWe invited education leaders from a state in the Northwest of the US to participate in the study. Participants were asked to watch two five-minute VR scenarios and participate in an interview about their experience. The VR scenarios were aimed at creating empathy by embodying a homeless man at work and at a shelter, and a woman of colour in a health care setting, both experiencing biased behaviour from others. Participants were able to look around the scenario and move their avatar’s arm and head, however, they could not interact with the environment (i.e., move around or move objects). Participants could hear the avatars’ conversations with people in the scenarios and their inner monologues about their experiences. Both VR scenarios also included short audio clips of people experiencing such situations alongside their photos.
Nine educational leaders participated in the study. They held a range of roles, including at a university, in school districts, and school level. Six participants were female, and three were male; they ranged in age from 30s to 50s and included a range of racial/ethnic identities. Interviews of around 1 hour were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide and follow-up prompts to collect rich data about participants’ experiences. The interviews focused on participants’ feelings in and perceptions about the VR experience, factors that helped and hindered feelings of embodiment and empathy. Further, participants were asked how the VR could be adapted for an education context as professional development. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed by the researchers.
Thematic analysis of the interview transcripts was conducted using an inductive approach by one researcher (Braun & Clarke, 2013). The initial broad code list with related data excerpts was shared with the team and reviewed in view of the data to refine the themes and definitions. A second coding iteration tested the discussed themes. A discussion of any discrepancies involved all researchers to ensure inter-rater reliability. A third and final coding iteration ensured the application of the final list of themes.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsOur findings highlight important aspects for consideration in the design of VR scenarios and their use in anti-bias training with educators. Overall, participants saw great potential in the use of VR due to its ability to capture and immerse users and its novel nature. Participants noted several technical aspects that enabled or hindered feelings of embodiment, including the quality of the graphics, the level of interactivity, and time for familiarisation for participants without prior VR experience. Participants also felt VR had great potential to increase empathy but noted several aspects to consider in the design of the scenarios. These included the type of biased behaviours displayed, the proximity of scenarios to educators’ own experiences, and ways to display the impact of ongoing and/or systemic bias. To adapt the VR scenario for anti-bias trainings for educators, participants noted that the experience should be embedded in training that included awareness raising before as well as debriefing after the VR experience. Another important aspect was the inclusion of strategies to change behaviour, with ideas that the VR could be used to show different – negative and positive - behaviours and their consequences for students.
As highlighted in the conference call, in Europe and globally, there is an increasing acknowledgement of diversity, and educators and educational researchers need to reflect this diversity in their values and practices. VR experiences in which educators embody a student experiencing bias can raise educators’ awareness of their own biases, increase empathy, and lead to critical engagement with their beliefs and behaviours. However, considerable care needs to be taken in the design and use of VR scenarios to be able to reduce or break down participants’ defensiveness and enable participants to acknowledge deep-seated beliefs and engage in open discussions of how to embrace diversity in their classrooms.
ReferencesBraun, V. & Clarke, V. (2013). Successful qualitative research: A practical guide for beginners. Sage.
Bezrukova, K., Spell, C.S., Perry, J.L., & Jehn, K.A. (2016). A meta-analytical integration of over 40 years of research on diversity training evaluation. Psychological Bulletin, 142(11), 1227–1274.
Carter, E.R., Onyeador, I.N., & Lewis, N.A. (2020). Developing & delivering effective anti-bias training: Challenges & recommendations. Behavioral Science & Policy, 6(1), 57–70
Cheng, S., & Starks, B. (2002). Racial differences in the effects of significant others on students’ educational expectations. Sociology of Education, 75(4), 306–327.
DeCuir-Gunby, J.T., & Bindra, V.G. (2022). How does teacher bias influence students? An introduction to the special issue on teachers’ implicit attitudes, instructional practices, and student outcomes. Learning and Instruction, 78, 101523.
Groom, V., Bailenson, J.N., & Nass, C. (2009). The influence of racial embodiment on racial bias in immersive virtual environments. Social Influence, 4(3), 231–248.
Haghanikar, T.M., & Hooper, L.M. (2021). Teaching about homelessness through multicultural picture books and virtual reality in preservice teacher education. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 49(3), 355-375.
Hatfield, H.R., Ahn, S.J., Klein, M., & Nowak, K.L. (2022). Confronting whiteness through virtual humans: a review of 20 years of research in prejudice and racial bias using virtual environments. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 27(6), zmac016.
Lai, C.K., Marini, M., Lehr, S.A., Cerruti, C., Shin, J.-E. L., Joy-Gaba, J.A., …Nosek, B.A. (2014). Reducing implicit racial preferences: A comparative investigation of 17 interventions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 143(4), 1765–1785.
Meissel, K., Meyer, F., Yao, E.S., Rubie-Davies, C.M. (2017). Subjectivity of teacher judgments: Exploring student characteristics that influence teacher judgments of student ability. Teaching and Teacher Education, 65, 48–60.
Paluck, E.L., Porat, R., Clark, C.S., & Green, D.P. (2021). Prejudice reduction: Progress and challenges. Annual Review of Psychology, 72, 533-560.
Rubie-Davies, C.M. (2006). Teacher expectations and student self-perceptions: Exploring relationships. Psychology in the Schools, 43(5), 537–552.
Staats, C. (2016). Understanding implicit bias: What educators should know. American Educator, 39(4), 29–43.
Stavroulia, K.E., Baka, E., Lanitis, A., & Magnenat-Thalmann, N. (2018). Designing a virtual environment for teacher training: Enhancing presence and empathy. Proceedings of Computer Graphics International (pp. 273-282).
Stavroulia, K.E., Christofi, M., Baka, E., Michael-Grigoriou, D., Magnenat-Thalmann, N., & Lanitis, A. (2019). Assessing the emotional impact of virtual reality-based teacher training. International Journal of Information and Learning Technology.
|
