The Changing Role of Teachers and Students in an ICT English Unit: Is ICT the ‘Harry Potter’s Wand’ for Engaging Student Learning and Developing Pedagogy in English?

Abstract

Responding to the escalation of technological educational tools and the expectation of technology delivering educational miracles, this research addresses the need to understand more about the ways in which technology impacts classroom practice, roles and relationships. It analyses the perceived roles of students and teachers in responding to an ICT integrated poetry unit, responds to the Australian Curriculum imperative for subject English to increase the integration of ICTs, and examines the perceived pedagogical and learning effect on teachers and students regarding integrating ICTs into subject English. The research investigates the perceived professional skills, attitudes and abilities of teachers as they balanced the dual concepts of the facilitation and control of student learning as well as the pedagogical encounters students experience in the world of technology and learning. The research question was: ‘How might the roles and relationships of teachers and students change when using ICTs in a middle school English curriculum, specifically, a Year 9 poetry unit?’ The research setting for the project was a regional, private boys’ secondary school as they engaged with an integrated computer technology poetry unit online delivered. The school was transitioning to a one-to-one laptop program and agreed to the program as a pilot project to inform the transition in regard to student and teacher perceptions to technology integration. The school had not previously engaged in an online delivered unit of work or implemented integrated technology across a year level cohort of English students.