Teacher Networks and Digital PedagogiesHow Network Contexts Shape Digital Integration

Elizabeth HomanPhD, University of MichiganDigital Learning Specialist, Boston Public Schools

Networks as Social Contexts

Latour (2007): Networks as a challenge to the notion of “social”

Brandt & Clinton (2003): Networks as pulling together the “global” and the “local”

Frank (1995), Zhao & Frank (2003):Networks as an alternative to institutional social constructs

Digital Integration and Teacher Networks

Digital Literacies….

“New technical stuff” and “new ethos stuff” mean new digital literacy practices characterized by collaboration, co-authorship, crowd-sourced knowledge and data (Lankshear & Knoebel, 2006; 2011)

No longer a question of “whether to,” address new literacy practices, but “how to” (Hicks, 2013; NWP, 2010)

Teachers’ Collaborative Learning with Tech…

Teachers first need focused learning, then time to fiddle or play, then time to collaborate with friends (Frank et. al., 2011; Zhao & Frank, 2003)

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Requests for professional development related to technology usually sound something like…

“show us how to use the Chromebooks”“Train our faculty how to use the Student Information System”

“We need some Google PD”

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Research Questions

How do teachers’ social networks shape their digital literacy learning and, by extension, their pedagogical beliefs and practices?

As teachers develop digital practices, what factors play a role in the development or change of teachers’ existing pedagogies?

Borealis High School and Digital Tech

I think we can continue to improve our use of technology across the board. […] We have pockets, pockets that are really excelling and collaborating, and that sort of thing, but they’re still pockets, it goes back to that time and professional development. - Principal Jameson

Facilitative and Integrative Digital Pedagogies

Facilitative Digital Practice: Kristin’s Forums, Donna’s Reviews

[Kristin and Spruz]

I’ve seen our class discussions improve so much as we’ve been doing the forums too, and I’ve seen the forum discussions improve. This year, when I

added the exit strategy piece, versus last year when I didn’t do that.

[Donna and Quia]Quia is probably the best new tool I've used this year and I really am

sold on it… I mean again the kids are using it outside of my room, it's not happening in here, but it's just one more tool for them to get instant feedback, for me to instantly see okay they're getting it, [or if] they're not.

Integrative Digital Practice: Amanda’s Flip, Mary’s Project

[Mary and This I Wish to Change]I've had some people who have started their own Facebook group to promote whatever material they have created. I have had some people present somewhere else and then share a link to something[…]. I have had some people that have done grass-roots kind of work and given flyers to their communities and spread it out that way.

[Amanda and the Flipped Classroom]And then that opens up a time for discussion about how you learned from the video versus a real person. How do you ask questions when it’s a video verses having a real person in front of you?

Distinctions…Fa

cilit

ative

Ped

agog

ies • Reconceive analog

tasks in digital environments

• Separate tech from the space of the classroom

• Use tech in the interest of efficiency, access, or ease.

Inte

grati

ve P

edag

ogie

s • Employ tech to accomplish things that are impossible (or at least very difficult) in analog

• Incorporate tech as an integral, nearly seamless, component of disciplinary content

• Use tech to engage students in strategic decision-making and metacognition.

Tech Consultation Networks and Teacher Practice

Integrative practices associated with:

• Extensive in- and out-of-school professional networks that supported digital integration

• Institutional and social legitimization of digital knowledge and expertise

• Engagement with digital technologies for a teacher’s own purposes (such as developing non-school-related networks)

Teacher Networks and Institutional ContextsIn the English Department, a few teachers shared resources regularly, while other teachers felt intimidated by their more digitally “savvy” colleagues.

Digital “savvyness” was legitimized by institutional groupings like the “DigLit” PLC and breakout sessions in which certain teachers were called upon to share their practice.

Implications for Teacher Learning

How to develop PD that builds teachers’ digital literacies?

1. Start with where teachers are, what they want to learn right now (not just in case)

2. Provide time for “focused play” with a creative end product

3. Include research-based foundation as a critical component of all teacher PD!

Not sure, but here’s where I’m starting…

Future Research

• Larger-scale studies of teacher networks and digital practices across contexts

• Design-Based Research working with teachers and schools to develop digital integration PD that meets their specific needs

Thank You!References• Brandt, D., & Clinton, K. (2002). Limits of the Local: Expanding Perspectives on Literacy as a Social

Practice. Journal of Literacy Research, 34(3), 337–56.• Frank, K. A. (1995). Identifying cohesive subgroups. Social Networks, 17(1), 27–56. doi:10.1016/0378-

8733(94)00247-8• Frank, K. A., Zhao, Y., Penuel, W. R., Ellefson, N., & Porter, S. (2011). Focus, Fiddle, and Friends

Experiences that Transform Knowledge for the Implementation of Innovations. Sociology of Education, 84(2), 137–156. doi:10.1177/0038040711401812

• Gee, J. P. (2000). Teenagers in New Times: A New Literacy Studies Perspective. Journal of Adolescent &amp; Adult Literacy, 43(5), 412–420.

• Hicks, T. (2013). Crafting digital writing: composing texts across media and genres.• Hicks, T., Turner, K. H., & Fink, L. S. (2013). No Longer a Luxury: Digital Literacy Can’t Wait. English

Journal, High School Edition, 102(6), 58–65.• Hicks, T., Turner, K. H., & Stratton, J. (2013). Reimagining a writer’s process through digital storytelling.

LEARNing Landscapes, 6(2), 167–183.• Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2011). New literacies. Berkshire, England ; New York: Open University Press.• Latour, B. (2007). Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford University

Press, USA.• VanKooten, C. L. (2014) Developing Meta-Awareness about Composition through New Media • in the First-Year Writing Classroom. Dissertation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. • Zhao, Y., & Frank, K. A. (2003). Factors Affecting Technology Uses in Schools: An Ecological Perspective.

American Educational Research Journal, 40(4), 807–840.