10. Teacher Education Research
Paper
Trans-formative Change for ECEC Educators’ Professionalism to face Technological Challenges. The ChangeLab in the area of Rovigo (Italy)
Emilia Restiglian2, Juliana Elisa Raffaghelli1
1University of Padova, Italy; 2University of Padova, Italy
Presenting Author: Restiglian, Emilia;
Raffaghelli, Juliana Elisa
The unprecedented level of technological interaction that educators and teachers have been forced to engage in as a consequence of the pandemic has altered educational practices and how they interact with children and their families. During the height of the pandemic, staff members exhibited a lack of understanding regarding appropriate technology utilisation. They often turned to unregulated social media platforms to share educational experiences and communicate with families as part of what is considered pedagogical documentation (Restiglian et al., 2023).
Pedagogical documentation has a significant historical background in Italy, dating back to the Reggio approach to education (Edwards, Gandini & Forman, 1998). Utilised primarily to record and recollect noteworthy occurrences and experiences, it also furnishes material to support the reflective practice of children and adults and facilitates the replication, comparability, transparency, and comprehensibility of educational practices (Biffi, 2019). By making the subjective and collaborative learning processes of both children and adults explicit, observable, and evaluable, documentation renders learning visible (Giudici, Rinaldi & Krechevsky, 2001).
After the pandemic, the academic staff endeavoured to reassess documentation, as well as their own professional conduct, in direct correlation with technological advancements. Nonetheless, this has contributed to a social situation in which many families' economic and cultural destitution has increased, resulting in a highly heterogeneous usage pattern that requires revised educational designs that require a paradigm shift relative to the employed tools. In regions with limited state intervention (via municipalities) and substantial variation in the quality of education provided—which is only partially regulated in all aspects—the present condition of nurseries is especially alarming. Lastly, in order to analyse an unconscious decision and a balanced application of technologies (especially social ones), knowledge of the European context is essential. Efforts are being undertaken to provide support for strategies about the ethical utilisation of AI and data, grounded in the AI Act and the GDPR (European Parliament, 2016; 2023). In order to safeguard the identities of European citizens and preserve digital sovereignty, European legislation endeavours to disclose the rationale behind the extraction of data and the psychosocial ramifications of algorithmic manipulation. With the exception of the ECEC system, therefore, circular and conscientious strategies must be implemented in all spheres of lifelong learning. Both the demographic changes taking place in the different Member States and the incorporation of this crucial developmental stage into the Lifelong Learning system contribute to the considerable emphasis on ECEC at the European level (2014) (European Document).
This dilemma is especially pronounced in nurseries in regions where the state's (via municipalities) authority is limited and where substantial variation exists in educational offerings that are only partially regulated by explicit and well-defined policies.
The critical significance of the professionalism exhibited by educators in tackling these concerns becomes evident. However, it is imperative that they are guided towards the arduous processes of societal transformation that we presently confront, given that the intricacy of technological and social progress often induces feelings of being overwhelmed (Raffaghelli, 2022).
Therefore, it appears crucial to prioritise transformative processes in continuing education and training by using a formative methodology that incorporates research and professional development. Our hypothesis is that this methodology contributes to shedding light on the inherent contradictions and tensions that emerge during the implementation of technology. As a secondary hypothesis we propose that technology could develop into an essential tool for facilitating documentation and, consequently, education for all parties involved (including parents, children, and toddlers). This is because technology is expanding its influence to an ever-increasing degree within the fabric of social reality.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedAmong the methodologies that can support continuous and authentically transformative training is the one called “Changing Lab,” developed by the University of Helsinki and widely implemented in the context of research in the socio-sanitary and educational professions (Sannino & Engestrom, 2017; Morselli, 2019). This methodology promotes a critical, reflective, and oriented approach to real and improving changes through three sessions of activities led by experts who, through the mode of "mirroring," offer and revive informative situations and support the discussion of transformative solutions and changes generated from the laboratory called "ChangeLab.”.
The research involves the educational staff of three nurseries in the area of Rovigo of different types (public, private, religious), sizes, and geographical locations (city, countryside), for a total of about 20 people. It focuses on the quality of the management of pedagogical documentation on technological support, including communication situations with families that usually adopt social media or instant messaging but also documentation activities that serve educators' internal communication and reflection.
The work will be completed in March 2024 and intends to answer the following research questions: How do smart and digital technologies, from social media to smart toys, cross the lives of our children, our families, and our own professional practice? How does pedagogical documentation, the core of mature educational professionalism, change in the presence of technologies so configured?
The meetings take place at nurseries after working hours for approximately two hours each. They include two presence sessions and one remote session (via Zoom or Meet). These are rather heterogeneous working groups by age and initial training, both in the group-to-group comparison and between groups. The small number of participants enables the full participation of educators and their coordinators. During the present sessions, technology was not used, but rather posters, leaflets, and post-it notes for sharing opinions and points of view useful to open more in-depth discussions. The remote session, however, included the use of some applications such as mentimeter and padlet for the same purposes. As for the data collection, audio recording and pictures from specific perspectives of the work (protecting educators’ privacy) have been adopted after getting the informed consent. The data analysis will be done through discourse and multimodal analysis after verbatim transcription based on the principles of the ChangeLab methodology (Sannino & Engeström, 2017).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsChangeLab aims to respond to the compelling emergence of exploring and advancing proposals for an agency, i.e., a protagonist of renewed educational professionalism, within an educational and social reality deeply pierced by “smart” technologies based on algorithms and huge amounts of user data.
The research focuses on a crucial educational dimension useful to effectively address the constantly evolving technological-digital challenges and to contribute to the proactive construction of an environment of professional growth and dialogue with families and the territorial community without ever losing sight of the centrality of the child. Its main purpose is the activation of transformative processes within the nurseries involved. It intends to disseminate procedures and results to other nurseries of the area, then engaging in kindergartens (3-6 years) in the perspective of the integrated system 0-6 years provided by the Ministerial Decree no. 65. It also intends to lay the foundations for advancing the request for modification of the content of the course degree in Education Science activated in the city of Rovigo, but managed by the University of Padova.
The research ends up as an exploratory research for the definition of draft guidelines for the use of technologies in nurseries, returning to policy makers (regional and European) a series of reflective elements for defining actions regarding digital practices in education that can deepen some elements contained in the DigiCompEdu (Redecker & Punie, 2017), which at the present stage cannot be fully applied in the integrated system 0-6 years.
ReferencesBiffi, E. (2019). Pedagogical documentation as a shared experience of understanding childhood. In (Eds.) J. Formosinho & J. Peeters, Understanding Pedagogic Documentation in Early Childhood Education. Revealing and Reflecting on High Quality Learning and Teaching (pp. 67-80). Taylor and Francis. https://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780429030055-5
Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (Eds.) (1998). The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach Advanced Reflections. Bloomsbury Academic.
European Parliament (2016). General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) EUR-Lex—32016R0679—EN - EUR-Lex (pp. 1–88). European Union Law portal. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/679/oj
European Parliament. (2023). Artificial Intelligence act. EPRS (European Parliamentary Research Service). https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2021/698792/EPRS_BRI(2021)698792_EN.pdf
Giudici, C., Rinaldi, C., & Krechevsky, M. (2001). Making learning visible: Children as individual and group learners. Reggio Children.
Morselli, D. (2019). The Change Laboratory for Teacher Training in Entrepreneurship Education A New Skills Agenda for Europe. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-02571-7
Raffaghelli, J. E. (2022). Educators’ data literacy: Understanding the bigger picture. In Learning to Live with Datafication: Educational Case Studies and Initiatives from Across the World (pp. 80–99). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003136842
Redecker, C., & Punie, Y. (2017). European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators: DigCompEdu. In Joint Research Centre (JRC) Science for Policy report (pp. 1–95). https://doi.org/10.2760/159770
Restiglian, E., Raffaghelli, J. E., Gottardo, M., & Zoroaster, P. (2023). Pedagogical documentation in the era of digital platforms: Early childhood educators’ professionalism in a dilemma. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 31. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.31.7909
Sannino, A., & Engeström, Y. (2017). Co-generation of societally impactful knowledge in Change Laboratories. Management Learning, 48(1), 80–96. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507616671285
10. Teacher Education Research
Paper
Realizing an International Dimension in Teacher Education Curricula via a Blended Intensive Programme
Ruben Vanderlinde, Karolien Keppens, Simon David, Tammy Schellens
Ghent University, Belgium
Presenting Author: David, Simon
Nowadays, classrooms are becoming increasingly diverse due to demographic changes and worldwide policy initiatives toward a more inclusive educational system. With these increasingly diversifying student populations contrasting with teaching professionals whose demographics haven’t changed as rapidly, coupled with “superficial and partial” attempts at integrating intercultural perspectives in teacher education programs; today’s teachers are inadequately prepared to teach these diverse populations. As such, teacher education is challenged to equip future teachers with global perspectives preparing them to teach in today’s globally interdependent world. To put it differently, teacher education institutions are struggling to realize an international dimension in their curricula (Brown, 2015) and to educate future teachers with intercultural competencies. As such, teacher education is being challenged to increase internationalization and “begin preparing future teachers for the globally interdependent world in which they will work and their students will live, by opening the world to students through international experience and integrating a global perspective throughout the curriculum” (Kissock & Richardson, 2010, p. 89). Realizing internationalization is even more challenging for teacher education institutions (Kissock & Richardson, 2010) because of national educational legislation and local internship regulations.
In this paper, we present a concrete initiative to realize such an international dimension in teacher education aimed at empowering student teachers for tomorrow; by integrating international experiences and global perspectives throughout the curriculum and to “make room for real collaboration to occur” (DelliCarpini, 2009). This concrete initiative is a 3 ECTS-course developed by the European University Network ENLIGHT. ENLIGHT is a European University alliance of ten comprehensive research-intensive universities from 10 European countries (Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland). All ENLIGHT teacher education institutions collaborate in the Teacher Education Network (TEN). This network has developed an international collaborative Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) to promote internationalisation in teacher education and to foster student teachers’ global citizenship competencies. BIPs are new Erasmus + formats for short-term mobility.
The BIP developed by the the ENLIGHT Teacher Education Network is structured around the principles of challenge-based education (CBE). CBE is an engaging multidisciplinary approach to teaching and learning that encourages students to leverage the technology and resources they use in their daily lives to solve real-world challenges (Gallagher & Savage, 2023; Nichols & Cator, 2008). Based on this approach, the ENLIGHT TEN BIP was called “Teaching for Global Citizenship in European Classrooms: a challenge-based approach”. A total of 45 student teachers and 11 PhD coaches from the ENLIGHT partner universities participated in the first edition of the BIP (2023). Students from these different institutions worked together in an online and physical component via innovative ways of teaching and learning, following the different phases of the CBE approach.
The BIP consisted of an online pre-programme in which students are introduced to the concept of global citizenship. Subsequently, students went through an online learning path. Moreover, students from the same university engaged in online group discussions and prepared a presentation of their local educational system and the challenges it faces. In a second phase, the participating student teachers and PhD coaches physically met at Ghent University and followed a 5-day on-campus programme with both a social and an academic focus. During this week, students gained insight into the concept of global citizenship through the method of CBE. Concretely, students participated in mixed group assignments, group presentations and workshops, attended guest lectures, and went to visit local schools that are currently facing issues of global citizenship. In a third and final phase, students reflected on their BIP-experience in both an online meeting and a report.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe BIP’s development was explored using a mixed-method research design, targeting two primary research objectives: understanding student teachers’ perspective on the challenge-based approach of the program and examining their experience with the international collaboration aspect to enhance intercultural competencies. By focussing on these research goals, we aimed to gain insight into the student perspective and identify opportunities for improvement.
Data collection included pre-test and post-test phases during the 2022/2023 academic year. Quantitative data was collected through a questionnaire (32 participants), assessing demographic variables, course evaluation (Gonzalez, Montenegro & Lopez, 2012), student engagement (Reeve, 2012), and Intercultural Communication Competence (Arasaratnam, 2009). Analysis was done through SPSS. This was complemented by qualitative data from focus group interviews (35 participants), discussing the added value of CBE, lessons learned, and potential improvements to the Blended Intensive Programme. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the focus group data, utilizing NVivo software to facilitate this process
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsBoth quantitative and qualitative research indicated that the participating student teachers had a very positive experience and found the challenge-based BIP to be a highly empowering and innovative pedagogical practice. The results also showed that the social and international aspects of the BIP were deemed crucial by participants. The opportunity for student teachers to interact and familiarize themselves with each other, as well as with the diverse educational systems represented, not only fostered a sense of community among them but also led to more effective and cohesive collaboration. Overall, the development of the BIP and the associated research shows the potential to finally realize an international dimension in teacher education curricula in general, and the development of student teachers’ intercultural competencies in particular.
In our presentation, we will elaborate on the development of our Blended Intensive Programme, the research conducted, and the associated results. We will present our findings in terms of student empowerment, focusing on three key participant groups: student teachers, PhD coaches, and teacher education institutions. Through this, we aim to initiate a debate on concrete actions that can be taken by all stakeholders in teacher education to further internationalization efforts. Our paper presentation will thus (1) detail our efforts in designing a Blended Intensive Programme within the European University alliance ENLIGHT, (2) present our mixed-method research on the BIP’s development and the competence development of student teachers, and (3) facilitate a discussion with the audience on future initiatives to realise an international dimension in teacher education.
ReferencesArasaratnam, L. A. (2009). The development of a new instrument of intercultural communication competence. Journal of intercultural communication, 9(2), 1-08.
Brown, A. (2015). Promoting global and comparative understandings of education: my yearlong journey. In D. Schwarzer, & B. Bridglall (Eds.), Promoting global and comparative understandings of education (pp. 127-148). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
DelliCarpini, M. (2009). Dialogues across disciplines: preparing English-as-a-second-language teachers for interdisciplinary collaboration. Current Issues in Education, 11(2). https://cie.asu.edu/ojs/index.php/cieatasu/article/view/1573
Gallagher, S. E., & Savage, T. (2023). Challenge-based learning in higher education: an exploratory literature review. Teaching in Higher Education, 28(6), 1135-1157.
González, C., Montenegro, H., & López, L. (2012). Analysis of the reliability and validity of the course experience questionnaire (CEQ). Educación y Educadores, 15(1), 63-78.
Kissock, C., & Richardson, P. (2010). Calling for action within the teaching profession: it is time to internationalize teacher education. Teaching Education, 21(1), 89-101.
Nichols, M. H., & Cator, K. (2008). Challenge Based Learning White Paper. Cupertino, California: Apple, Inc.
Reeve, J. (2012). A self-determination theory perspective on student engagement. In S. L. Christenson, A. L. Reschly, & C. Wylie (Eds.), Handbook of research on student engagement (pp. 149-172). New York, NY: Springer.
10. Teacher Education Research
Paper
How AI-PCK Predicts AI Assisted Instruction Intention: A Study with Pre-service Teachers in China
Jiayi Wang
Beijing Normal University, China, People's Republic of
Presenting Author: Wang, Jiayi
The development and application of artificial intelligence (AI) has empowered and accelerated the process of education and teaching transformation. Although prior studies have examined the forms of integrating AI into education, insights into the effective factors impacting pre-service teachers’ AI assisted instruction intention (AI-AII) are rather limited. Considering this gap, this study constructed a structural model among AI-AII, AI pedagogical content knowledge (AI-PCK), AI technological knowledge (AI-TK), performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI), and facilitating conditions (FC). Data were collected from 1391 pre-service teachers in China. Results of the modeling effort indicate that the pre-service teachers’ AI-PCK, EE, PE, SI, and FC positively predict their AI-AII. However, pre-service teachers’ AI-TK had indirect effects on their AI-AII. These insights are important for educators and policymakers to consider in designing teacher education and professional development related to foster pre-service teachers’ behavioral intention to use AI in teaching.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe online questionnaire comprised of two sections. The initial section focused on gathering background information from participants, encompassing aspects such as gender, university category, grade level, majors, enrollment in educational technology courses, and familiarity with AI-assisted teaching. The second part sought to assess the intention of pre-service teachers to utilize artificial intelligence in their teaching. This component had seven constructs: Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence, Facilitating Conditions, AI-TK, AI-PCK, and Behavioral Intention.
Data analysis consisted of 4 stages: exploratory factor analysis (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), reliability analysis, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Descriptive statistical analysis was conducted on all samples using SPSS 27.0. First, a randomly selected 50% of cases (N = 696) were used for performing the EFA of instrument in IBM SPSS 27.0 to clarify the factors. The sample size of EFA met the subject to item ratio of 10:1 suggested by Gorsuch（1983）. Then the structural equation modelling (SEM) technique was employed using AMOS 26.0 with the remaining 50% (N = 695) of observations to examine the measurement model and the structural model. Subsequently, latent variable path analysis was conducted in order to evaluate the hypotheses.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsOur results showed that AI-TK exerted indirect effects on pre-service teachers’ behavioral intention to AI for assisted teaching. This indicated that AI may not have always been a preferred tool among teachers who were aware of how AI could enhance teaching and learning in general unless they understood the pedagogical benefits. Further, AI-based tools could emphasize their pedagogical advantages (such as timely and personalized feedback). The outcomes demonstrate that both AI-TK and AI-PCK possess direct predictive influence over performance expectancy and effort expectancy. In accordance with UTAUT theory, this study confirmed that PE, EE, SI and FC positively influenced pre-service teachers’ behavioral intention to use AI for assisted teaching. Among these factors, effort expectancy serves as a direct predictor of pre-service teachers' inclination to utilize AI. This underscores the necessity for governmental bodies or educational institutions aiming to foster the amalgamation of AI and teaching in universities to aid pre-service teachers in comprehending AI's utility for their future instructional practices.
ReferencesAn, X., Chai, C. S., Li, Y., Zhou, Y., Shen, X., Zheng, C., & Chen, M. (2023). Modeling English teachers’ behavioral intention to use artificial intelligence in middle schools. Education and Information Technologies, 28(5), 5187-5208.
Bardakcı, S., & Alkan, M. F. (2019). Investigation of Turkish preservice teachers’ intentions to use IWB in terms of technological and pedagogical aspects. Education and Information Technologies, 24, 2887-2907.
Bibauw, S., François, T., & Desmet, P. (2019). Discussing with a computer to practice a foreign language: Research synthesis and conceptual framework of dialogue-based CALL. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 32(8), 827-877.
Celik, I., Dindar, M., Muukkonen, H., & Järvelä, S. (2022). The promises and challenges of artificial intelligence for teachers: A systematic review of research. TechTrends, 66(4), 616-630.
Chatterjee, S., & Bhattacharjee, K. K. (2020). Adoption of artificial intelligence in higher education: A quantitative analysis using structural equation modelling. Education and Information Technologies, 25, 3443-3463.
Chen, X., Zou, D., Xie, H., Cheng, G., & Liu, C. (2022). Two decades of artificial intelligence in education. Educational Technology & Society, 25(1), 28-47.
Chiu, T. K., & Chai, C.-s. (2020). Sustainable curriculum planning for artificial intelligence education: A self-determination theory perspective. Sustainability, 12(14), 5568.
Chocarro, R., Cortiñas, M., & Marcos-Matás, G. (2023). Teachers’ attitudes towards chatbots in education: a technology acceptance model approach considering the effect of social language, bot proactiveness, and users’ characteristics. Educational Studies, 49(2), 295-313.
Divekar, R. R., Lepp, H., Chopade, P., Albin, A., Brenner, D., & Ramanarayanan, V. (2021). Conversational agents in language education: where they fit and their research challenges. International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction,
Dogan, S., Dogan, N. A., & Celik, I. (2021). Teachers’ skills to integrate technology in education: Two path models explaining instructional and application software use. Education and Information Technologies, 26, 1311-1332.
Du, Y., & Gao, H. (2022). Determinants affecting teachers’ adoption of AI-based applications in EFL context: An analysis of analytic hierarchy process. Education and Information Technologies, 27(7), 9357-9384.
Edwards, C., Edwards, A., Spence, P. R., & Lin, X. (2018). I, teacher: using artificial intelligence (AI) and social robots in communication and instruction. Communication Education, 67(4), 473-480.
Geng, J., Chai, C.-S., Jong, M. S.-Y., & Luk, E. T.-H. (2021). Understanding the pedagogical potential of Interactive Spherical Video-based Virtual Reality from the teachers’ perspective through the ACE framework. Interactive Learning Environments, 29(4), 618-633.
|
