Enhancing Teachers’ Take-up of Digital Content

Research designed to find out what works in helping teachers embed digital curriculum resources resulted in the publication of the following report: Enhancing Teachers’ Take-up of Digital Content: Factors and Design Principles in Technology Adoption by Professor Michael Gaffney.

This 2010 Australian-based report is a worthwhile 10 minute read.

I found the following diagrams particularly useful in communicating complex, multi-faceted ideas related to the challenges involved in technology adoption.

This continuum (Zhao 2007) describes how the roles of the teacher, the student, and the technology change as one moves from teacher-centred to student- centred Teaching. A useful conversation starter when considering teaching practice.



The next diagram un - packs the many factors at play when teachers adopt technology.
I considered this diagram particularly useful in informing the strategic planning process and in encouraging alignment between the contributing factors.




Click here for the full report.
Enhancing teachers' take-up of digital content: factors and design principles in technology adoption
Professor Michael Gaffney
June 2010

Learning with Primary Sources - Some Support

Workshop Title: Teaching with Primary Sources from the Library of Congress - ISTE 2010
Sharon Metzger-Galloway.

This hands-on workshop gave me an opportunity to explore the vast collection of primary sources available from the Library of Congress. See Fiona Grant’s Delicious links.

I attended this workshop keen to learn more about how teachers in New Zealand could be supported to facilitate effective teaching and learning with primary sources. Digistore is New Zealand’s storehouse of digital content and contains thousands of images, audio and video files. The future focus is on the development of further New Zealand content, through partnerships with cultural and scientific insitutions such as Te Papa. Digistore also provides links to further sources of digital content relevant to teaching and learning programmes in New Zealand.


Key Messages from the Workshop:
Examining primary sources gives students a powerful sense of history and the complexity of the past. Helping students analyse primary sources can also guide them toward higher-order thinking and better critical thinking and analysis skills.

My Picks : Support Material for Teachers

Using Primary Sources Guide
Includes question prompts to:
a) engage students with primary sources.
b) promote student inquiry.
c) assess how students apply critical thinking and analysis skills to primary sources.

Analysis Tools
Provides valuable and transferable question starters aimed at encouraging students to observe, reflect and question a primary source:
For a full list of these guides and examples of how they have been applied see:
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/guides.html

http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/document.html

NZ Examples

a) Year 13 Drama

b) The learning path function in Digistore allows these rich experiences to be packaged for direct student access. See the following example:
He Reo Komanawa:Viewing Image/Discussion

Useful Links:
http://tiny.cc/ufszh
http://virtualnorth.blogspot.com/2010/07/artefacts-of-assination-tweet.html
We would love to hear how other teachers are using primary sources to facilitate teaching and learning.

The New and Improved Digistore

Many digistore users would have received a pleasant surprise this week when en-route they were redirected to the new fresh -face of Te Pātaka Matihiko- Digistore.




New Zealand’s gateway to quality digital content (learning objects and digital resources) now offers new tools and functions to support educators with the effective selection and integration of digital content.
Resources will be added progressively, and new features introduced and refined.

What you can expect?
• increased discover-ability via browse, search and filter technology.
• to be able to tag and rate your favorite resources
• to create learning paths to ensure quick access for both you and your students
• an associated wiki (accessible via 'Using digital content') created to reinforce the key messages about the effective use of digital content. Examples of how digital content has been embedded into existing programmes and links to other relevant digital content.


Not registered? Don’t know your password:
Visit http://digistore.tki.org.nz/ec/access

Follow Digistore on twitter: DigistoreNZ

DigiStore Content

Is your school registered for digistore?
Are you interested in testing the latest learning objects and digital resources?
(You can contribute even if you have had little experience with digital content in classrooms.)
Teacher release provided.

Basically this opportunity involves providing feedback on learning objects for educational soundness, functionality, instructional design and the overall fit to the educational purpose for which they were designed.

To register your interest in joining a user focus group, please fill out the online registration form. Once you have submitted it, TLF will contact your school principal to obtain authorization to continue the registration process.
For more information or for help filling out the registration form, please contact the Focus Group Coordinator: celia.mitchell@thelearningfederation.edu.au

Digistore Gets Even Better

If your school hasn’t registered yet then you should!
Digistore is the New Zealand gateway to a growing collection of quality learning objects and digital resources.



To stay up to date with new resources I suggest you subscribe to the monthly update – diginews.

Thanks Helen Cooper, Senior Advisor Digital Content, MOE, for your work with digistore.
Visit this link for important information including:
*Who is registered?
*What to do if you have lost your password?
*How to register?
*Snapshots of teachers using digital learning objects
*Catalogues of resources by Learning Area