Building Communities of Changing Technological Pedagogical Practice: Pedagogical Technologists in Schools

Building Communities of Changing Technological Pedagogical Practice: Pedagogical Technologists in Schools

By

Woo, David JamesUniversity of Hong Kong

Abstract

This paper explores the role of selected pedagogical technologists and examines what they do to impact schools’ ways of working with and through technology. In particular, it investigates pedagogical technologists’ involvement in communities of practice.

Pedagogical technologists are full-time coordinators of pedagogy and technology in schools. They are not teachers in a traditional sense nor do they focus predominantly on supporting the technical aspects of teaching with information technology (IT). Their primary duty is providing pedagogical support for teaching with and through IT and helping teachers and other school stakeholders use technology to best support student learning, taking into account technological, pedagogical, content knowledge. These pedagogical technologists are often drivers of school change. The pedagogical technologist role in Hong Kong schools may be emergent, due in part to the increasing presence of IT in schools and changes to the specific ways that schools think about IT in education.

In examining the pedagogical technologist within an ecological conceptual framework, this paper identifies significant species and interactions in the pedagogical technologist’s ecology. It also identifies the qualities of these species and these interactions, and develops some general principles about what makes pedagogical technologists successful in schools. The paper employs a qualitative, multiple-case study research strategy with the pedagogical technologist role being the case unit of analysis. Data collection and analysis are grounded. Data is collected by observing and interacting with selected pedagogical technologists at work. The pedagogical technologists, principals and other school stakeholders are interviewed. Documents are collected, and photographs are taken.

Some persistent qualities of interactions between pedagogical technologists and other species are illustrated in the data. Pedagogical technologists are members of communities of practice based on similar pedagogical beliefs, values and assumptions. Pedagogical technologists are also significant, intentional and influential builders of these communities by their spreading of these pedagogical beliefs, values and assumptions in their interactions with other species. A diverse range of interactions illustrate this. Ecological metaphor terms are also used to describe this. These findings strongly suggest that direct participation in communities of practice is essential for pedagogical technologists’ success in impacting schools’ ways of working with and through technology. Other implications for practitioners, organizations and researchers are discussed.