Research - Annotated Bibliography

After getting some feedback from Niki Davis on my assignment, she recommended that I have a look at the Pegasus Digital Devices Project research. What a great find! This report is very useful when looking at change in education, and provides brutally honest stories of success and failure in implementing digital devices in the classroom.

Reference: Taylor, L., Fagan, T., & Dunmill, M. (2014). Disrupting the boundaries of teaching and learning: How digital devices became a resource for transformative change in a time of crisis. The Pegasus Digital Devices Project 2013. Te Toi Tupu, Ministry of Education and Core Education. Retrieved from http://www.core-ed.org//sites/core-ed.org/files/Pegasus-Report-full.pdf

Description: This report focuses on the findings from The Pegasus Digital Devices Project which was a collaborative project set up by the Greater Christchurch School Network (GCSN) after the major earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. The main aim of the GCSN after the earthquakes was to make sure that students and staff of 11 schools in the Pegasus Bay region were supported and had adequate professional development, infrastructure and devices. This report discusses the project and how devices were integrated among schools, and the transformative change and learning that came as a result of using these devices. This change did not just focus on the transformation of students, but also the teachers and community as well. The findings of this report are based on the stories and reflections of those involved, and aims to put equity at the heart of the project. Six principles taken from Bolstad, Gilbert, McDowall, Bull, Boyd and Hipkins (2012) were used to examine the change and affect of digital devices on learning. The key findings from this report showed that after the hard work of initially setting it up was completed, the rewards in terms of students learning was hugely beneficial. Students were actively engaged, collaborated with their peers, experimented and some even improved their literacy skills. Many teachers also had positive experiences, and spoke about their classroom becoming more inclusive and collaborative relationships developing with their colleagues. This said, the integration of digital devices was only successful when there was adequate school leadership, infrastructure, ongoing professional development and positive teacher attitudes. The biggest transformations came when teachers consciously aimed to be more inclusive and allowed change to happen in the classroom.

Evaluation: This is a great report that provides an insight into how digital devices can be used to support schools after a major disaster. It was completed recently and locally so is relevant to my context. Although some of the schools involved in the project are primary schools, the ideas and theory behind the transformations are tangible and useful for all levels of education. It is important to note that the findings are very specific to a community recovering from a natural disaster, so some theories should not be generalised. This said, the report does provide some important themes and principles that may be useful to schools wanting to implement the use of digital devices in the classroom.