Teaching with technology in higher education: understanding conceptual change and development in practice

ABSTRACT

Research indicates that teachers’ conceptions of and approaches to teaching with technology are central for the successful imple-mentation of educational technologies in higher education. This study advances this premise. We present a 10-year longitudinal study examining teachers’ conceptions of and approaches to teaching and learning with technology. Nine teachers on an online Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy and a Master of Pharmacy programme at a Swedish university were studied using a phenomenographic approach. Results showed clear differences between novice and experienced teachers. Although novice teachers initially held more teacher-focused conceptions, they demonstrated greater and more rapid change than experienced colleagues. Experienced teachers tended to exhibit little to no change in conceptions. Supporting conceptual change should, therefore, be a central component of professional development activities if a more effective use of educational technology is to be achieved.

KEYWORDS:

• Conceptual change
• conceptions of and approaches to teaching
• educational technology
• higher education
• teaching with technology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Claire Englund http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3448-7964

Anders D. Olofsson http://orcid/org/0000-0001-8409-0557

Linda Price http://orcid/org/0000-0001-5291-0469

Notes

1 ‘Educational technology is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources.’ AECT committee in Januszewski and Molenda (2008).

2 A commercial VLE, Ping Pong was used. http://pingpong.se/index.en.html.

3 Adobe Connect http://connect-innovation.com/adobe-connect/meetings.

4 A virtual environment including a pharmacy and hospital created in Open Simulator http://opensimulator.org/wiki/.

5 Statistics obtained from the university personnel dept.

6 Statistics obtained from the university personnel dept.