Changing your own practice is real work.

 

Westberry (2015) unpacks reflections of 14 lecturers who switched to multi-site lecturing.

Experiences and responses

Some good teaching intentions were frustrated:

I conceived it as sort of having windows where you could, could talk or see or respond to people in other rooms, and that we would be a community…

I always use teachable moments … all this technology absolutely puts a down on that whole teaching system, because you have to abide by some rules, that you have to go on with the flow and be on camera and be on shot…

Sometimes the solution is to be less ambitious.

While the technical staff believed that more interactive versions of the technology were needed teachers on all four courses adapted by limiting interactivity or resituating it in other contexts such as tutorials.

Solutions often involved increasingly collaborative teaching practice.

Almost all teachers in the remote venues however, experienced uncertainty and a lack of control…

Time – perhaps a year – is required.

…the lack of professional development opportunities for staff and daily technical breakdowns led to replacement with another system after one year of operation.

They describe the teachers’ adaptation process as “often turbulent and multifaceted”, and,

in a situation of perceived compromise, beliefs remained predominantly unchanged.

things are a bit out of control – that [the lecture] it is not a very safe place, that the ground is shifting and it can all just disappear at any minute. (Technician)

Implications

Teachers need to be able to openly voice and negotiate pedagogical and technological choices.

In conclusion, the authors argued

it is imperative for technological changes to be introduced either in a way that is aligned with teachers’ current knowledge and ways of working, or with the support and time needed to effectively resituate them.

References

Nicola Westberry, Susan McNaughton, Jennie Billot & Helen Gaeta (2015) Resituation or resistance? Higher education teachers’ adaptation to technological change. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 24:1, 101-116. DOI: 10.1080/1475939X.2013.869509

Michael Eraut (2004) Informal learning in the workplace. Studies in Continuing Education, 26:2. DOI: 10.1080/158037042000225245