The information contained within this case
study is based upon interviews conducted with the SEACERT program head and
the technical adviser. Some information has been omitted to preserve anonymity.
XYZ School Context
The ABC Company is
responsible for moving people and freight internationally using a fleet of ships. ABC tasks the XYZ School to carry out a variety of training courses in order to
prepare new and existing personnel for life aboard a ship. The focus of this
case study is one of these courses, the Sea Certification course (SEACERT) - an
intense course that uses theory and practical lessons to cover fire fighting, saving a sinking ship and hazardous chemical handling. The
company's expectation of each graduate is that they will be able to work as
part of a team to rescue injured personnel and save the ship should an incident
occur - all risky activities making this course high stakes.
Background
The School runs
twenty SEACERT intakes of 16 students every year, a total of 320 students. The
majority of the students have freshly graduated from high-school and therefore
have no sea-going experience. A smaller number are returning graduates who are
conducting re-fresher training prior to returning to their ship.
With every new course, the School has found that students expectations of the learning
environment are evolving. In particular, historical evaluations of this course
highlighted a high level of dissatisfaction with the course handout, a 250 page
student study guide that students are given at the start of the course. This
dissatisfaction prompted the School's management to investigate the use of
technology as a method of increasing student satisfaction and resulted in the
introduction of iPad's into the theory portion of the course. As the first
example of the educational employment of this type of learning technology (for
the organisation), the SEACERT course makes a good case study to inform the
future use of technology-based solutions.
Use and integration of iPads into the SEACERT course
The justification for the introduction of the
iPad into the SEACERT course was primarily based upon the financial cost of
printing the student study guide for each student (XYZ School, 2012); if realised the transfer of this content to an
electronic tablet would result in a saving at the six year mark. As
well as the financial incentive the School saw tablet devices as offering an
opportunity to increase student engagement, increase the ability to
contextualise the content, and offer immediate formative feedback (p. 9). All of these factors resulted in the
purchase of a class set of iPads, with the integration left up to the School.
The current implementation
The current
implementation of this technology into the classroom is as a direct replacement
of the hardcopy student study guide. On the first day of the course, each
student is issued an iPad, which is theirs for the duration of the course.
Students are asked to sign for their iPad with the caveat that if it is damaged
or lost, the student must reimburse the cost to the school - an approach that
has had some unintended consequences which will be explained later. As each
students exposure to technology varies, the School conducts a familiarisation
session on the first day to bring everyone to the same level and therefore
reduce the requirement for in-class support from the instructors.
The devices are
only used for the theory component of the course, during which students access
the re-formatted student study guide using iAnnotate, a pdf application that
allows the user to annotate/interact with the original document. Students use
this application to highlight keywords or phrases, fill in formative quizzes,
and make their own notes. Due to infrastructure restrictions, nether Wi-Fi nor
internet services are currently available in the facility; instead the student
study guide is accessed locally having been loaded onto each iPad by the staff.
At the end of the course, students are given the opportunity to save off the
study guide and their notes which can be used as a reference in the future.
How the use of iPad technology is founded in learning theories and models
The introduction of
this technology into the classroom was justified for its pedagogical as well as
financial benefits. Whereas this pedagogy was founded on ambitious aims to
increase student engagement, the actual implementation has been less
successful.
Increased engagement through a social
pedagogy
One of the primary justifications for the introduction of
iPads into the SEACERT course was the pursuit of increased student engagement.
When considered against the claim that engagement is a prerequisite for
learning (Middlecamp, 2005), and that it
increases the likelihood that new knowledge and skills will be retained (Wolfe, 2010), it can be seen that this is a
worthwhile pursuit. While not a learning theory in itself, engagement occurs in
social conditions like those that exist under social learning and social
constructivist models (Woollard, 2010)
and therefore we must look for evidence of these models to link iPads
technology to engagement.
Despite being espoused by the School, the current
implementation of the SEACERT course does not employ iPad/iAnnotate technology
in a manner that promotes the social conditions required to foster engagement.
Instead the iPad's are utilised under a instructor-lead and overtly
behaviourist pedagogy which uses them as digital textbook's in what Puentedura (2014) identifies as 'substitution' - the
swapping of one tool for another without any change in the function. As well as
deviating from the Schools espoused pedagogy, this approach is also at odds
with workplace expectations of graduates who need to work in cooperative and
collaborative teams - functions of a social constructivist approach. While
engagement certainly occurs under the current pedagogy, it is difficult to
differentiate whether the students are engaging with the content or just simply
with the technology
Adult learners and andragogy
Given that all
students that attended the SEACERT course are adults, it is an obvious leap to
suggest that Malcom Knowles's andragogy (Knowles,
Holton, & Swanson, 2011) may have some application. Key attributes
of this theory are the need to know, readiness to learn, and the students
orientation to learning (p. 139).
Certainly the closeness of the content to the workplace application mean that
most if not all of these criteria are fulfilled.
If the criteria are
applied to the iPad/iAnnotate implementation, it can seen that as a pedagogical
support tool this technology enables students to research information specific
to their circumstance, it allows anytime, anyplace access to the content, and
provides the capacity to make notes and access quizzes built into the student
study guide. Despite this alignment to andragogical principles, the current
implementation still suffers from
'substitution' (Puentedura, 2014)
in that these functions were also incorporated into the original textbook.
Regardless of this, it is easy to see how this technology could support
andragogical principals if it was developed further. Indeed the original
proposal suggested the use of contextualised, highly interactive activities
backed up by formative feedback, all initiatives that would create greater
alignment with Knowles's andragogy as well as creating the engagement desired
by social constructivists.
Benefits and issues arising from the incorporation of the iPads into the School
Benefits arising from iPad technology
Just like other departments, the XYZ School has been forced
to explore ways in which to reduce spending while still maintaining normal
outputs. Certainly the introduction of iPads falls into this category with the
projected savings expected after six years. Despite this monetary
focus, this project is also an innovative method of acquiring cutting-edge
technology for the classroom. While some teething issues are apparent, these
are somewhat negated by the practical experience the school is gaining in the
deployment and maintenance of technology in the classroom. The expertise and
knowledge gained through this trial-and-error approach places the School in a
powerful position to take advantage of emerging learning technology should
further funding be released in the future.
Although the current School pedagogy does not fully support the
integration of iPad technology into the classroom, it is heartening that it
does still recognise the potential. The initial proposal highlighted the
ability of mobile learning devices to create engagement, contextualisation and
conduct formative assessment (XYZ School, 2012),
views that parallel those of the wider educational community (Johnson, Adams, & Cummins, 2011; Miller &
Doering, 2014) who see mobile learning as a tool that supports better
learning outcomes. While the potential to realise these benefits still exists,
it would take strong organisational and educational leadership to overcome some
of the current implementation issues that the School faces.
Issues arising from iPad technology
As alluded to
earlier, the introduction of new technology into the classroom has not been
without its problems. Whereas the physical handout allowed students to easily
search for information, the iPad/iAnnotate implementation has been less
successful. Students have commented on the extra time it takes to find simple
information, while instructors have noticed a corresponding reduction in
learning time. Although students are instructed on the effective use of these
devices at the start of the course, searching an iAnnotate document is just one
of many teaching points that the student has to master. Add to this the size of
the document and the skill-set required to efficiently search, filter, and make
sense of the information found (Terras &
Ramsay, 2012) within it and the struggle that students face becomes
clearer.
As with the
original study guides, the School expected that students would use the iPads to
conduct study at home however this has not been the case. Investigating this
issue further, the School has found that as the majority of students live in
shared accommodation, they are reluctant to take the devices home in case they
are lost or damaged (for which they are liable for). This unintended
consequence has been meant that the opportunities to reinforce the day's lesson
or conducted pre-reading for tomorrows lesson have been significantly reduced.
As an interim solution, instructors now hand out question sheets at the end of
the lesson however without the actual course material in front of them students
are forced to rely on memory. Cognitive learning theory tells us that in order
to transition information from our working memory into our long-term memory we
need to revisit the information (Weisberg &
Reeves, 2013), something that is undoubtedly harder without reference
material to study from.
Critical analysis of professional development and other strategies used by the organisation to support the incorporation of iPad technology
Professional development
The introduction of
iPads into the XYZ School occurred over two years ago. Since this time the
original instructors have been replaced by new staff, each of whom require
up-skilling in the use of this new classroom technology. Although in-house
training does occur, it is predominantly based around the manipulation of the
iPad rather than it's effective employment in the classroom. In recognition of
this deficiency, the School has contracted another training department to
provide workshops that will cover the use of this technology in the classroom.
While these will certainly inform instructor practice, there are concerns that
the underlying pedagogy will not alter. As Papa (2010)
highlights, the mere presence of technology in the classroom does not guarantee
good learning outcomes. What is required is educational leadership that
promotes a pedagogy that utilises the technology in a manner beyond its current
substitution. As stated earlier, the original vision and justification for
iPads at the School outlined a pedagogy that acceded to social learning, social
constructivism and andragogical principles. This vision has yet to be realised
and it will take significant leadership to forge a path towards this approach.
Organisational development
The XYZ School is a
small department within a larger organisation (ABC Company) which means its
leadership focus is organisational rather than educational. The implementation
of this approach is evident in the centralised model used by the organisation
(all decisions come from the ABC Company) whereas the XYZ School desires to
have more control over decisions that affect learning outcomes. While both sides have valid reasons for their stance,
Papa (2010) suggests that the
de-centralised model desired by the School encourages creativity and active
student/employee participation; all traits that align with the organisations
expectations of graduates when they return to the workplace.
While it is easy to
suggest that more freedom be granted to XYZ School to implement learning
solutions as they see fit, the reality is that in a commercial organisation
production outputs and pressures will influence what is taught and how. Without
a strong educational leadership resisting these influences, innovative learning
solutions like iPads will struggle to be implemented in a form that supports
better learning outcomes.
