The exploration of metacognition in the context of Peer Assisted Writing (PAW) is an under-researched area. This study aims to address this issue in one primary school. A PAW programme that included four pairs of pupils from a composite Primary 6/7 class was timetabled over five weeks. There were three sessions of approximately 45 minutes each week during which each pair of pupils jointly planned and wrote a story. The stories followed the school writing programme. Qualitative and quantitative analysis, collected using action research and case study design, is used to investigate how a PAW programme supports pupils’ metacognitive and writing development. The complex issues of metacognition are examined. On-line and off-line assessment methods tell us about metacognitive outcomes of PAW. The results show that the different assessment methods (Video Recording of the PAW sessions, Think Aloud when Prompted and Pupil View Templates) reveal a range of metacognitive outcomes that together help to complete a fuller picture of pupils’ thinking and learning abilities and social emotional well-being. The results evidenced that PAW fosters metacognition. Qualitative results suggested that writing is a complex, metacognitive process and it was necessary to extend the range of sub-components of information management. The results confirmed the views that development of knowledge of metacognition and regulation of metacognition are mutually dependent on each other and also that development of regulation of metacognition can take place in early primary school. Additionally, there was confirmation for research that proposed writing as ‘applied metacognition’. Quantitative analysis indicated that pupils engaged in PAW made substantial progress and that PAW particularly benefited pupils with weaker writing skills.

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Although researchers, teachers and policy makers broadly agree on the benefits of collaborative learning, there appears to be less clarity regarding how effective collaboration can be realised at classroom scale. Research in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL), Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), simulation-based learning and related fields has produced a considerable range of applications that aim to support collaboration in classrooms. Grounded in well-established theories of how humans learn, many such applications have shown promising results within the context of small research studies. However, most of those research-driven applications never matured beyond the prototype stage and few are available today as products that schools can easily use and adopt. Many systems lack flexibility or require too much time, hardware, technical skills or other resources to be effectively implemented. Furthermore, teachers can be overwhelmed by managing large groups of students engaged in complex, computer-supported tasks. This thesis investigates how forms of whole-classroom activity can be supported by combining shareable technologies with simulation, team play and orchestration. New designs are explored to help large groups engage and discuss at multiple scales (from pairs and small groups to the entire classroom) in ways that effectively include each student and use the teacher's limited resources efficiently. Moreover, this research aims to devise and validate a conceptual framework that can guide future design, orchestration and evaluation of such activities. Three in-situ studies were conducted to address these goals. The first study involved the design of a climate change simulation to support a professional training course. Iterative design and video analysis resulted in the formulation of the Collaborative Learning Orchestration for Verbal Engagement and Reflection (CLOVER) framework. This framework comprises a suite of conceptual tools and recommendations that aim to help designers and teachers create, orchestrate and evaluate decision-based simulations for whole-classroom use. Two follow-up studies were conducted to validate the usability and usefulness of CLOVER. One of them aimed to replicate the previous findings in a similar context and resulted in the design of a sustainable, whole-classroom simulation for students to discuss finance decisions. The other used CLOVER to expand an existing desktop application (a~language comprehension task for children) to classroom scale. In sum, the three studies provide substantial empirical evidence, suggesting that CLOVER-based applications can effectively reconcile learning needs (collaboration) and technological affordances (shareable devices) with the inherent benefits and constraints of teacher-driven, co-located environments. Furthermore, the findings contribute to a better understanding of what it means to design for sustainability in this context.

The focus of this research is to investigate the e-readiness of subject supervisors to adopt e-learning in schools in the State of Kuwait. Subject supervisors, who were appointed to oversee teachers and bring about change in e-learning beliefs and practices in Kuwaiti schools, lacked adequate skills in using technologies, and did not have adequate training or professional development to train or assess teachers. Therefore, this thesis investigated the factors that influenced the perceptions of teachers and subject supervisors, as well as their readiness for the adoption of e-learning practices. A critical realist approach was taken to apply a mixed methods research design for this study. A qualitative case study approach was adopted to better understand the perspectives of subject supervisors and teachers. The participants were selected from schools in Kuwait that had adopted e-learning or were in the process of implementing it. Questionnaire data was analysed using factor analysis, descriptive statistics and multiple regression. Statistical analysis were be performed using SPSS 23.0 while semi-structured interviews were analysed thematically by using NVIVO. The quantitative results show that attitude and culture, confidence, equipment or infrastructure and technological skills were key factors for e-learning implementation. The subject supervisors did not have the confidence or confidence to support teachers. Although there was adequate equipment or infrastructure there were areas that were not ready, such as attitude and culture and teachers’ technological skills. On the other hand, the qualitative findings show that there was a lack of operational e-learning policies, a lack of professional training programmes, and a lack of policy maker’s commitment to motivate schools and teachers to be ready for e-learning implementation which is essential for its sustainability.

The overall aim of this research is the exploration mechanisms which allow an understanding of the emotional state of students and the selection of an appropriate cognitive and affective feedback for students on the basis of students' emotional state and cognitive state in an affective learning environment. The learning environment in which this research is based is one in which students learn by watching an instructional video.

As the title of this thesis hints, this research has focused on three main pillars in education; ‘reading’, ‘writing’ and ‘digital technology’. The study’s main aim was to explore how constructions of reading and writing are changing in the 21st Century. It further investigated the definitions of ‘reading’ and ‘writing’ and teachers’ and Grade 3 students’ views on the role of digital technology in reading and writing in the classroom. This research used a qualitative case study approach and data were mainly gathered from two Grade 3 classes in the same school. Classroom observations, focus group interviews and semi-structured interviews were the main research tools used. During the study, I continued working as a class teacher in one of the Grade 3 classes; in addition this same class was also participating in the ‘One Tablet per Child Pilot Project’. This pilot project’s main aim was to evaluate the use of tablets in the Maltese classroom context. Although data were collected from two different Grade 3 classes, the means of teaching and learning were quite different since the students in my class each made use of a personal tablet. This enabled me as a researcher to compare and contrast both classrooms which helped me better understand how constructions of reading and writing are changing due to technological advancements and use in Maltese classrooms. Data from this study showed that constructions of what it means to be a reader and writer in the digital age are changing. In particular this study found that definitions of these terms now include physical interaction with texts. Observations showed that when students read and write through the media of digital technology, they collaborate and interact more and they make use of skills such as skim reading, viewing, reading of images, multidirectional reading and sharing information through sound and visuals. This study also revealed that digital technology is challenging accepted definitions of what the terms ‘reading’ and ‘writing’ actually mean, given that participants often found it difficult to distinguish between the two.

In light of the changes to the ICT curriculum in England (DfE, 2013), this research examined the implications of developing a computer programming initiative into the Key Stage 1 curriculum in Jersey’s primary schools. A number of studies have identified skills that can be developed through a programming environment (Lochead and Clements, 1979; Papert, 1993 and Clements and Gullo, 1994), but the narrative around the assessment of these skills remains very much in its infancy (De Araujo, Andrade and Sere Guerrero, 2016). This study hypothesised that teaching computer programming within the Key Stage 1 curriculum would enhance children’s ability to problem solve, drawing on theoretical influences from Dewey (2012), Piaget (1965), Papert (1993) and more current notions of learning power and resilience held by Costa and Kallick (2000), Claxton (2007) and Claxton and Lucas (2015). A mixed methods approach was adopted for this observational study and a multiple linear regression analysis conducted. A bespoke online assessment tool was created, based on Blockly (Google for Education, 2016), to gather data on children’s problem solving skills. The assessment was two phase; phase 1 (2014 cohort) involved 335 children and phase 2 (2015 cohort) involved 387 children. Phase 1 gathered baseline data prior to the computer programming intervention that was delivered over one full term with phase 2. In addition, interviews were undertaken with all Year 2 practitioners and focus group sessions were held with some of the Year 2 children involved in the ‘Primary Coding Project’ (States of Jersey, 2014) to ascertain their perceptions of the newly introduced computing sessions. This data helped to shed light on some of the nuances involved in developing, implementing and integrating a new curriculum. After considering the effects of gender and maths attainment, results revealed that participating in the coding intervention increased the total score attained in the problem solving activity, implying that computer programming is an important pedagogical approach to promoting problem solving skills and therefore, computational thinking. A relational shift between children and computers was also identified, which supported the notion of children being able to adapt to and create with new technologies of the future, contributing to the notion of supporting and developing resilience.

The rapidly developing role of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) is evident in educational reforms across the world. While ICT standards in the United Kingdom are improving, the issue of teacher engagement remains a concern, as it appears to be central to developing successful and innovative leT in primary schools. This mixed methods study investigated Key Stage 2 teachers' engagement with ICT, in relation to school size and access to social relationships, operationalised through the theory of social capital. . In the first, quantitative, phase, the research questions focused on mapping general patterns of engagement, in terms of how teacher-level and school-level factors affected teacher engagement with ICT at Key Stage 2. Findings were obtained from a small-scale, cross-sectional survey of 67 teachers at 27 schools. In the second, qualitative, phase, a purposefully selected subset enabled individual interviews with 24 teachers from stage one to explore in-depth the results from the first phase. The interviews permitted identification and examination of emerging themes from the survey data, which could then be explored in conjunction with school size and the theoretical framework of social capital. The two phases were connected in that the qualitative stage built upon the findings of the quantitative stage. Datasets were mixed and interpreted in the discussion. Conclusions from the multi-level model suggest that smaller schools are able to procure maximum access to social capital wealth from a meso-organisational level. Larger schools are able to garner· most benefit from social capital resources emanating from a micro-organisational level. This study offers an evaluative structure, which gives schools a framework within which to begin to practically assess circumstances in their own organisation.

The Hong Kong Government has launched three five-year strategies on Information Technology in Education since 1998. The First Information Technology in Education (ITEd) Strategy invested heavily in resources to; build a solid foundation for schools with Information Technology (IT) infrastructure and equipment, provide professional training programmes and digital resources for teachers, and foster IT as a learning tool for students. The Second ITEd Strategy was aimed at harnessing the power of IT to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning for teachers and students alike. The Third ITEd Strategy pointed out that IT is only one of many mediators in learning and teaching, and the use of IT should be placed in the wider context of a learning environment (EDB, 2008b:4). Nevertheless, this thesis argues that some challenges or obstacles have emerged during the process of education reform in Hong Kong and are yet to be overcome. These include issues such as: the 'richness' versus 'reachness' of IT, 'information overflow', 'islands of information'; building a repository for managing knowledge and motivating knowledge sharing culture. In order to explore these issues, the thesis problematises the idea of knowledge and information. It suggests that since people have different understandings on the term 'Knowledge', it is more useful to use the taxonomy of four 'Knows' - 'Know Who', 'Know What', 'Know How' and 'Know Why' (Lundvall and Johnson, 1994: 23-42). In relation to Hong Kong and IT, the first three 'Knows' of the new taxonomy have been developed to identify some obstacles encountered under the three ITEd strategic plans in Hong Kong from the viewpoint of Knowledge Management (KM). The fourth 'Know' - 'Know Why' has been developed to identify the reasons to initiate a KM project Secondly, Handzic's (2004) extended KM framework was adopted to study a case study - Wetland Project According to the Third ITEd Strategy, the technological component of the Handzic's framework was further developed to enhance its original attributes. The framework was also revised to testify a student-centred pedagogical approach, KM process and to define the characteristics of knowledge in a knowledge stock with an illustration of the KM project Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) was used to study the significance of all KM practices in the project and to examine its services perceived by the participants. Based on the research findings, some results were considered to be significant (i.e. the significance of transferring knowledge instead of information, examining the constraints/limitations of KM project, and identifying any pedagogical tools). They could be used to tackle the challenges of, or obstacles to, education reform under the three ITEd Strategic Plans (i.e. improve the effectiveness in managing the IT resources, students' learning outcomes; and any shortcomings during project implementation).

This research focuses on a new typology of learning environment referred to here as the high-tech classroonn, which characteristically makes extensive use of information technology and flexible environments. The research concerns the impact of these high-tech classrooms on the behaviour of pupils. The UK Government has recognised the need for radical changes to classroom environments and their facilities in order to improve learning. As an outcome of these new ideas, proposals are being developed and implemented through the UK's "Classrooms of the Future" initiative. Behavioural mapping was used to observe and monitor the classroom environment and analyse usage. Two new classrooms designed by INTEGER (Intelligent and Green) in two different UK schools provided the case study environments to determine whether intelligent learning environments can enhance learning experiences. The behavioural analysis method described in this research is used to examine the interactions that occur in the classroom, as well as the flexibility of the room, the mobility of the teacher and the relationship between these factors with technology. Questionnaires were used to validate data from the observations. The findings from the analyses showed that the interactions pupils were involved in the classroom increased and this indicates that high-tech classroom has a significant contribution to the teaching and learning process. The high-tech classrooms match the demands of an information and communication age where technology is permeating all workspaces and learning environments. The accessibility to and use of information, made easier through technology in the high-tech classrooms, introduces new practices in the classroom. The research concludes by stating that high-tech classrooms provide a new approach to learning environments. A new way of learning is brought about by the high-tech classroom.