RTL2: Assignment 2

How can ICT be used to engage a diverse secondary classroom, especially the Gifted
and Talented students therein?

Part A: Literature review

Student engagement is one of the big factors determining students achievement of

outcomes (Kahu, 2013). However, engagement being a subjective term, without a concrete
definition it can be quite difficult to provide enablers to improve engagement in schools. Over the
years, there has been a quantity of research done to define engagement and identify ways to
quantify it through observations, surveys, interviews, etc. In their paper, Sinatra, Heddy, and
Lombardi (2015) provide a multi-dimensional perspective spanning emotional, behavioural, and
cognitive dimensions within the school. The emotional dimension comprises the sense of belonging
to the school and valuing the activities and achievements deriving from it. The behavioural angle
consists of attending and participating in school and extra-curricular activities. Cognitive
engagement encompasses student willingness and enthusiasm to engage in effortful tasks, using
strategy and self-regulation. Agentic engagement, another facet of engagement (Reeve & Tseng,
2011), is the conceptual glue connecting student agency (constructive contribution to the flow of
instruction through past and present experiences, knowledge and interests) as well as its ecological
influences of the school, home, and community to the schools culture and organization (Lawson &
Lawson, 2013).

Classrooms these days are a community of diverse learners of varying abilities (Tomlinson,
2015), including indigenous students, students with ASD or other learning disabilities, students from
a low SES background, students of refugee background as well as Gifted and Talented (GAT) students
. This article seeks to address the GAT sector and understand whether ICT can improve cognitive and
agentic engagement for GAT students, while also reaching the rest of the diverse audience to help
improve outcomes across the board.

As Acharya, Rathod and Upadhyay (2016) posit, the world is fast moving to digital
information and media. This highlights the role of ICT in education and its importance will continue
to increase in the 21st century. The Australian curriculum clearly proves this with the new syllabus
placing a high level of importance on increasing ICT capabilities of the students.

ICT for agentic engagement

Working with ICT, especially in more independent settings (such as in project based learning,
or research tasks), allows GAT students to work at their own pace and delve as deep as they choose
into the topic under study, thus being actively involved in their own learning (Fung, Yuen & Yuen
2014). However, Fung, Yuen and Yuen (2014) argue that not all GAT students are capable of
achieving outcomes in a high ICT setting. They explain that disorganization, procrastination, and
possibly weak metacognitive skills decrease some GAT students autonomy and hinder their progress
in more independent settings. Self-regulation, they state, thanks to sufficient motivation in the
learner, leads to increased engagement with the task at hand. Thus, they say that inn high-ICT
settings, self-regulation will allow GAT students, as well as others, to personalize content, set goals,
and dive into topics to the depth that their interest requires.
 Lovin and Lambeth (2014) tout ICT as a great tool to build a positive classroom community,
ease the tight time constraints of a classroom following traditional methods, as well as connect
learning to daily life and bridge student agency to classroom methods. They argue that ICT allows
students to pace themselves when completing assignments, as well as provide students with a
higher level of exposure by allowing them to synthesize their own information rather than being
spoon-fed. Students with a greater access to technology, they state, tend to develop the skills that
tend toward the areas of their needs and interests. Furney, McDiarmid and Bannister (2014) go one
step further and praise ICT tools that enable students to air their curricular doubts on a private
channel without the embarrassment of exposing themselves to peer ridicule as is common in a
traditional setting. Their interviews derived student opinions that valued the relative immediacy of
feedback that some ICT settings provide. However, highly social learners find themselves challenged
in the relatively isolating atmosphere of ICT settings (Furney, McDiarmic & Bannister, 2014). Tolppen
and Tirri (2014) found through their research that ICT can be used to encourage creativity through
project based challenges thus increasing motivation and engagement in GAT students. They also
found that using ICT to show how academic research can enable real life problem solutions
interested the students in the GAT sector.

Tolppen and Tirri (2014) go on to emphasize that the peer-pressure that causes conflict and
evasiveness in a lot of GAT students can be decreased through the collaborative platforms of ICT and
allow for less alienation. This, in itself, will allow for more social intercourse and increase
participation and engagement in students. Lovin and Lambeth (2014) show how using ICT to create
platforms for discussion groups enables student agency, allowing GAT students to choose areas of
learning or depth of dissection of current learnings. Group collaboration through scaffolded wikis
also enabled students to take control of their learning and improved their perceptions of their own
abilities, increasing student efficacy and agency (Anderson & Kennedy-Clark, 2014). Kwan and Yunus
(2014), however, found that collaboration on wikis and other ICT platforms was not at ideal levels,
possibly due to self-regulation and motivation issues (Fung, Yuen & Yuen, 2014). Regardless of not
being at optimum levels, Kwan and Yunus (2014) still show that ICT forums such as wikis foster
motivation, agentic engagement, and collaborative learning among GAT students.

ICT for cognitive engagement

Research shows that some GAT students disengage from traditional classrooms due to
repetitive instruction, slow pace of teaching, as well as few opportunities for creativity (Fung, Yuen &
Yuen, 2014). Using ICT platforms to encourage these students to study at a faster pace, acquire more
in-depth knowledge, and address more challenging problems allows the teacher to differentiate
instruction and provide more a more engaging learning environment for all students. At the same
time, ICT tools can be used to target students with learning difficulties to provide more basic
information and improve their key conceptual knowledge (Fung, Yuen & Yuen, 2014). Muthomi and
Mbugua (2014) provide statistical and graphical data to show that differentiating instruction
definitely improves student outcomes. Funey, McDiarmid and Bannister (2014) also corroborate this
information to show how ICT is a great tool to differentiate instruction to meet the learning needs of
the GAT sector.

Anderson and Kennedy-Clark (2014) drive home the point that ICT is a great tool for inquiry
based learning. The collaboration within groups, and between students and teachers, in inquiry-
based classes enables innovation and cognitive engagement in GAT students. They found that ICT
tools, such as wikis, allow for close collaboration between students and teachers to drive the inquiry
process.
 Thus, ICT platforms and tools have been shown to increase student self-regulation,
motivation, group collaboration, and agentic change in GAT students. Many papers also discuss how
these same tools can also increase engagement in all students (Muthomi & Mbugua, 2014) as
differentiation can be used to help not just the GAT students but other with or without learning
difficulties. However, none of the papers have sought direct reflections from GAT students regarding
technology use in a traditional classroom and which tools would be specifically useful in promoting
their agentic and cognitive engagement. This action research seeks to address this need.
References

Acharya, G. D., Rathod, J., & Upadhyay, D. (2016). ICT as a change Agent for Technical EducationA
Case Study of Atmiya Institute of Technology and Science.

Anderson, K. L., & Kennedy-Clark, S. (2014). IScience: A computer-supported collaborative inquiry

learning project for science students in secondary and tertiary science
education. International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education
(formerly CAL-laborate International), 22(1).

Fung, J. J., Yuen, M., & Yuen, A. H. (2014). Self-regulation in learning Mathematics online:
Implications for supporting mathematically gifted students with or without learning
difficulties. Gifted and Talented International, 29(1-2), 113-123.
doi:10.1080/15332276.2014.11678434

Furney, A. M., McDiarmid, C., & Bannister, B. (2014). XSEL virtual selective high school provision:
Delivering academically selective secondary curriculum in regional, rural and remote
NSW. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 24(1), 35-49.

Kahu, E. R. (2013). Framing student engagement in higher education. Studies in higher

education, 38(5), 758-773. doi:10.1080/03075079.2011.598505

Kwan, L. S., & Yunus, M. M. (2014). Group participation and interaction in ESL Wiki collaborative
writing among Malaysian gifted students. Asian Social Science, 11(2), 59.
doi:10.5539/ass.v11n2p59

Lawson, M. A., & Lawson, H. A. (2013). New conceptual frameworks for student engagement
research, policy, and practice. Review of Educational Research, 83(3), 432-479.
doi:10.3102/0034654313480891

Lovin, E., & Lambeth, D. (2014). Effects of Information and Communication Technology on
Engagement and Art Production for Eighth-Grade Students. i-Manager's Journal on School
Educational Technology, 10(3), 13.

Muthomi, M. W., & Mbugua, Z. K. (2014). Effectiveness of differentiated instruction on secondary

school students achievement in mathematics. International Journal of Applied, 4(1), 116-
128.

Sinatra, G. M., Heddy, B. C., & Lombardi, D. (2015). The challenges of defining and measuring
student engagement in science. Educational Psychologist, 50(1), 1-13.
doi:10.1080/00461520.2014.1002924

Tolppanen, S., & Tirri, K. (2014). How an enrichment summer program is meeting the expectations of
gifted science students: A Case Study from Finland. Int. J. Talent Dev. Creat, 2(1), 103-115.

Tomlinson, C. A. (2015). Teaching for excellence in academically diverse classrooms. Society, 52(3),
203-209.
Part B: Data Collection Protocol

Dear Potential Participant:

I am working on a project titled ICT use for Secondary Classroom Engagement for the class, Researching
Teaching and Learning 2, at Western Sydney University. As part of the project, I am collecting
information to help inform the design of a teacher research proposal.

Research suggests that improving student engagement in the classroom directly improves student
achievement of outcomes. Our topic seeks to discover how much ICT use by teachers affects student
engagement in the classroom and use this research to change/improve classroom teacher practices. In
order to obtain the data, we will be seeking consent from students to participate in an interview, which
will be audio recorded for clarity. All responses will be de-identified.

By signing this form, I acknowledge that:

I have read the project information and have been given the opportunity to discuss the
information and my involvement in the project with the researcher/s.
The procedures required for the project and the time involved have been explained to me, and
any questions I have about the project have been answered to my satisfaction.
I consent to participating in the interview, which will be audio-recorded and deidentified.
I understand that my involvement is confidential and that the information gained during this
data collection experience will only be reported within the confines of the Researching Teaching
and Learning 2 unit, and that all personal details will be de-identified from the data.
I understand that I can withdraw from the project at any time, without affecting my relationship
with the researcher/s, now or in the future.

By signing below, I acknowledge that I am 18 years of age or older, or I am a full-time university student
who is 17 years old.

Signed: __________________________________

Name: __________________________________

Date: __________________________________

By signing below, I acknowledge that I am the legal guardian of a person who is 16 or 17 years old, and
provide my consent for the persons participation.

Signed: __________________________________

Name: __________________________________

Date: __________________________________
Data Collection Protocol: Interview (Semi-structured)

The purpose of this interview is to help teachers use ICT in better ways, using your input, to make
lessons more interesting for you.

1. In what ways has ICT been used in your classes to teach new information?
2. How could ICT have been used in a better manner to help you solidify information that you
have already gained?
3. Can you tell me about some situation/s where ICT has improved your skills (not knowledge)
(specify which skills) in the classroom?
4. Has it always been a positive experience when ICT has been used in your classes? Explain
with examples.
5. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and whether or not increasing ICT use in the
classroom might benefit or hurt you?
6. Can you think of anything that might be concerning if the teacher were to implement high
levels of ICT in your classes?
7. Suppose you have been assigned to a group to work on a research task, what would be your
steps in engaging with the task? Think of a task that has been assigned to you previously and
use that to give concrete examples of these steps.
8. Have you heard of the concept of the flipped classroom? (If yes, ask the interviewee to
confirm that they understand the concept correctly, else explain it to them.) What about this
concept attracts you or makes you wary?
9. What are your feeling about a traditional classroom setting? Describe what this means to
you and what parts you like/dislike?
10. Would you like to be able to connect with your school community or class members through
an online platform? If so, how often would you connect, what situations would you connect
in, and how would it help you? If not, what makes you feel that this is not for you?
Part C: Data collection protocol explanation.

This action research project focusses on solely one step: that of analysing the validity of the
hypothesis (Beck, 2017) and whether the use of ICT has been useful in improving student outcomes.
Initially, artefact analysis had been chosen as the data collection protocol due to the idea that
different items of student work from different KLAs could be studied. However, due to the subjective
nature of the idea of engagement, it was found that surveying pieces of work would be insufficient
as a means of studying student engagement. Understanding engagement from student perspectives
was decided as the better approach. A semi-structured interview with an audio recording (for data
analysing clarity) proved to give the researcher sufficient freedom to probe deeper as needed while
working through the main questions that address the topic (Cooper, 2014).

Since the research focusses on discovering whether agentic engagement (through

collaborative efforts and exposure to a wide array of topics through ICT, as well as self-regulated use
of ICT in GAT students) and/or cognitive engagement (through targeted differentiation by using ICT
tools and platforms) is in any way related to ICT use in the class room, the interview questions all
relate to classroom ICT practices and student reactions to them. The questions vary from those
trying to understand how ICT has been used in classes that the interviewees have attended, to
questions that probe the participants views about how ICT should be used in the classroom.

The data collection protocol for the interview data analysis assumes that the interviewees
are a mix of GAT and non-GAT secondary students (or university students speaking about their high
school memories) in order to identify the differences and similarities between their reactions. This
data can then be used for both the specific sub-topic addressed in this article as well as the umbrella
topic of ICT use to engage a diverse secondary classroom. There is also the underlying assumption
that their classes (regardless of KLA) have used/introduced the use of ICT to explain concepts.
References

Beck, C. (2017). Informal Action Research: The Nature and Contribution of Everyday Classroom
Inquiry. In The Palgrave International Handbook of Action Research (pp. 37-48). Palgrave
Macmillan US.

Cooper, K. S. (2014). Eliciting engagement in the high school classroom: A mixed-methods

examination of teaching practices. American Educational Research Journal, 51(2), 363-402.