Project number: NPAD-2017/10097 TAU project

Seminar 2 Material [Part 4]

Institutions & Teachers’ role in the digital world
Contemporary methods and forms
of work with adult learner
Document details

Country: Sweden

Company: Folkuniversitetet Kristianstad

Elaborated by: Abdullah Badawi & Åsa Kajsdotter

Seminar details
Seminar date Feb 2018

Partners present
Åsa Kajsdotter – SE
Åsa Hedlin Olsson - SE
Yulia Bazyukina - FI
Marja-Liisa Helenius - FI
Inês Messias - FI
Veronica Gelfgren - FI

Responsible All partner countries. Activity to be held by each partner in their institution for its
participants.

Result Participants will improve their educational and management competence.

Topics addressed

7 The new
teacher profile

8 Institutional support
for teacher training
the new digital skills
Topic 7
The new teacher profile
 Adult Learner’s teacher play an important role in giving them the skills
necessary to use new technology. According to Brooks-Yung there are 10
characteristics that the digital age teacher must:

“Demonstrate proficiency in the use of

“Demonstrate a sound
understanding of the
nature and operation of
technology systems.”
“Use content‐specific tools (e.g.,
common input and output devices; solve
software, simulation, environmental
routine hardware and software problems;
probes, graphing calculators,
and make informed choices about
exploratory environments, Web tools) to
technology systems, resources, and
support learning and research.”
services.”

“Use technology resources to facilitate higher order “Collaborate in a constructing “Use technology to locate,
and complex thinking skills, including problem technology‐enhanced models, preparing evaluate, and collect
solving, critical thinking, informed decision making. publications, and producing other information from a variety
Knowledge construction, and creativity.” creative works using productivity tools.” of sources.”

“Evaluate and select new

“Use technology in the
“Use technology tools to
development of strategies
process data and report
for solving problems in the
results.”
real world.”
“Use a variety of media and formats,
information resources and
including telecommunications, to
technological innovations based
collaborate, publish, and interact with
on their appropriateness to
peers, experts and other audiences.”
specific tasks.”
However not all teachers possess these set of skills or when they do,
actually use them at while teaching adult classes. Conole (2010:3) offers 4
reasons about why the use of web 2.0 tools are still not so much used in
teaching-learning environments:

“Many of the school networking tools have

“Teachers need time to access the been developed to support social
tools and to appropriate them to communication rather than professional
their own practice.” dialogue and so the environments are not
always appropriate.”

“An important dimension of successful Web

“Social networking tools often combine a
2.0 practices is being part of a relevant
confusing array of tools, making navigation
community of users; benefit and relevant
around these sites difficult and a lack of clarity
dialogic engagement is only possible if
as to where to post information or which
there is a critical mass of those with a
channel do use for communication.”
common interest using the tools.”
Moore, Moore & Fowler (cf,. Oblinger et al., 2005) suggest the
teachers must have into consideration and embrace into their
strategies the following aspects, in order to use new technology
successfully with adult learners:

Use the same

Change the faculty
technology the
perception in relation to
students are using at
students’ expectations;
the moment;

Having the appropriate

Use teaching strategies Use teaching
means to handle privacy
that allow different strategies based in
and security issues that
profiles adaptation; active learning;
may happen.
According to ISTE (International Society for Technology in
Education) 2006 standards teachers should:

Define adequate Have knowledge of the

Facilitate and inspire pedagogical strategies present most recent
creativity; to learning in the digital technologies
digital era; and of how they work;

Promote responsibility Be active in their own

and digital citizenship; professional growth.
• In Finland WILMA is used by the public schools
• Students can communicate with the teachers and personnel, examine the
absences and print their course schedule and course grades. The parents have the
same features as the students, but in addition they can clarify the absences
marked by the teachers and inform about future absences. Wilma also has its own
feedback system that is used to implement different kinds of surveys. The
feedback system has different functions for messaging and communication, for
example sending text messages to mobile devices. These aim to facilitate the
information exchange between home and school. In some municipalities also
registering children who are starting school is done via the Wilma system.
• https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilma_(ohjelmisto)
• Teachers have less time for teaching, and more on administration and
evaluation, and having less time to create tailor made lessons for the
classes.
• Sustainable teacher education?
• Combining classes into one to learn several subjects at the same time?
• Teachers who choose to educate themselves with new technology
needs at time to do this on their own account, time and money
• Older teachers vs younger teachers and the role of technology in class.
Topic 8
Institutional support for teacher training the new digital skills
Despite the desired new digital teacher profile, in most cases, young
children and young students are more natural in using technology
than teachers, due to the fact that they did not grow up using them,
and they are not part of their daily activities. As for students, that is
all they know and all they want. As such for an adult to master these
tools, he must train and learn, and change. “(…) our current and
future generation of learners. To them, the smartphone, the internet
and everything technological are not tools at al – they simply are.”
(Rosen, 2011).
Barone (2005:14.14) cite Einstein about the learning needs of today’s students,
referring teachers should use new approaches to new problems: “The significant
problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when
we created them.”

In the same line of thinking, the U.S. Department of Education, Office of

Educational Technology ( 2016), mentions that the institutions responsible for
teaching and training future teachers should have special attention in selecting
the teachers that teach future teachers, whilst they should help make a transition
to a teaching based in technology and for technology, and as such they should
have approaches, tools, techniques, competencies and experience in teaching
with and for these technologies.
“Institutions responsible for pre‐service and in‐service professional
development for educators should focus explicitly on ensuring all educators
are capable of selecting, evaluating, and using appropriate technologies
and resources to create experiences that advance student engagement and
learning. They also should pay special care to make certain that educators
understand the privacy and security concerns associated with technology.
This goal cannot be achieved without incorporating technology‐based
learning into the programs themselves.”
However, the same authors, suggest that for institutions to be ready to this type of
teaching they should:
❖Have conscience of the students’ characteristics and adapt methodologies to satisfy
their needs, approaching the available existing technologies.
❖Give students the set of skills necessary through professional development, so they
can acquire the necessary skills to implement systemic changes.
❖Integrate or have the capacity to shape pedagogy, learning spaces, technology,
support and politics, so that learning is indeed effective.
❖Offer teachers workshops every 4 years so they are updated regarding technology.
❖Substitute computers every 4 years;
❖Support training initiatives.
❖Promote digital literacy among students.
❖Equip classrooms with the appropriate technology.