An Investigation of Influences on Enacted Practice in Online Vocational Education

Abstract

The research being presented in this thesis is concerned with developing an understanding of online pedagogy within the context of Australia’s vocational education (VET) sector. In particular, this research investigated what factors influence enacted practice online. To guide this work, a conceptual model was developed from literature which incorporated conceptions of teaching, the teaching context, and enacted practice. Data and perceptions about online VET teaching were then collected and analysed, and this advanced a new, more complex model of dynamic influences found to underpin enacted practice. This model offers new insights into the unique and expanding teaching context that is online VET. To investigate online VET pedagogy at a single host institution, three data collection stages were designed and implemented utilising a mix of methods. Analysis was completed after each stage to inform and refine subsequent stages. The first data stage was a digital questionnaire completed by 46 online VET teachers. This survey yielded quantitative data to develop an introductory understanding of online VET teachers and their pedagogy. Survey results also identified representative teachers for ongoing research participation. The second data stage observed teaching practices within 22 twelve-week online classes. The captured teaching practice artefacts revealed the range of practices enacted in this teaching context. Within the final data stage, 11 online VET teachers were interviewed. Those teachers reasoned aloud while engaging with a task to create visual representations of their idealised and enacted teaching role. Drawing together the results from these three data stages, it was found that online VET teachers’ conceptions of good pedagogy did not wholly fit established understandings of teacher-centred or student-centred profiles. Conceptions of teaching were found to be a complex mix of both student-centred and teacher-centred ideals, and the nature of VET was found to be related to some teacher-centred conceptions. Notably, student-to-student collaborative learning, one hallmark of student-centred pedagogy online, was not generally idealised as a highly important element of pedagogy in this context. Enacted practice was found to be more teacher-centred than teachers conceived as ideal, and that lack of alignment was significant within this small study. Enacted practice was observed to be competency assessment driven. Dominant practices enacted by teachers were marking assessments, providing assessment help to students individually, and administration including proving curriculum compliance. Enacted practice in the investigated teaching context was found to be influenced by three elements and these were categorised by the researcher as (1) conceptions of teaching: including teacher beliefs and knowledge, (2) education context nature and purpose: the perceived nature and purpose of online education, VET education, and the teacher’s role within them, and (3) teaching context: perceptions about the affordances and limitations of the teaching context. Influences within this third category, teaching context, were found to include class size, the discipline being taught, the intake model, learning materials, learning management system infrastructure, number of classes and students per teacher, organisational expectations, student preferences/needs/behaviour, teacher workload, and work location. Critically, the three categories did not independently influence enacted practice. Instead, complex and dynamic relationships and tensions within and across categories were found. Those categories are represented at the end of this thesis in a theoretical model that represents relationships underpinning enacted practice. That model and associated findings from this research offer new information for researchers and institutions seeking to understand, support, or enhance online VET pedagogy.