Educational technologies occupy a significant and high profile position within higher education with some technologies widely used across the sector. However, although the use of new technologies is often encouraged through institutional policy, training and funding, there is significant variation in actual practices - especially with regards to teaching and learning. Research on teacher thinking suggests that this variation is related to university teachers‟ beliefs and knowledge about technology and learning. A mixed-methods approach was used to investigate university teachers‟ thinking about their use of technology. The first stage of data collection was a quantitative survey of 795 higher education teachers from a sample of 27 UK universities. This identified institutional and subject-related differences in teachers‟ perceptions of impact and use of particular technologies in their teaching. The second stage of data collection was a qualitative multi-site case study of eleven university teachers from three universities that identified their perceptions and beliefs about technology and the contexts in which they act. It investigated how these individuals formed and reinterpreted their beliefs about technology and how they made decisions about when and how to use (or not use) technology. The thesis shows how university teachers‟ thinking about technology is situated in the culture and contexts in which they live and work. It explores the relationships between pedagogic beliefs, beliefs about technology and teachers‟ perceptions of „control‟ over how they use technology. It identifies how some teachers used technology to communicate their personality and build relationships with students but, also, how some used technologies despite believing that these did not have a positive effect on student learning. It shows how, in making sense of their use of technology, academics draw on multiple sources including understandings of the impact of technology on culture and society, perceptions of higher education and their institution, their subject disciplinary background and their identity as teachers and academics.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:601326 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Shelton, Christopher |
| Publisher | University College London (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10018435/ |
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