Abstract
Gathering data on campus-based research-intensive university teachers’ thinking and use of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) theory is a challenge and under researched. This article will report on the first stage of a research project involving university teachers and their TEL literature thinking and use whilst studying an optional blended learning design module of a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE) course at a UK research intensive university. The findings of the first stage of the research will help refine the research approach for the second stage of the project and aims to minimise any bias or assumptions about university teachers’ thinking and use of TEL theory. A descriptive and content analysis of the bibliographic citations of 32 design and development reports provides an insight into how university teachers approach TEL literature and which types of literature they find useful. It concludes that, whilst university teachers engaged with a wide range of published academic literature from four distinct fields, there is variance in the type of literature they found to be the most useful. These research findings provide a robust foundation for the second stage of the project which will explore the thinking behind how university teachers go about making their literature choices and why. The analysis presented in this paper illustrates the beginnings of an encouraging picture where it is possible for TEL theory to be in a mutualistic symbiotic relationship with TEL practice.Keywords: approaches to TEL literature use; university teachers; variance; conceptual frameworksPart of the Special Issue Debating the status of ‘theory’ in technology enhanced learning research
Highlights
1.1 Rationale for the study knowledge and be a researcher of my own practice
I believe that my research project places a high regard for the reality of and influence of the inner world of university teachers that explores their critical engagement with Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) literature as part of their Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE) studies
The reference lists from 32 design and development reports identified a total of 92 bibliographical citations from the 10 module specific TEL literature readings module participants read as part of their coursework
Summary
In the PGHCE modules I convene and teach, participants are given the opportunity to stand back from the everyday reality of their teaching and develop a critical awareness of what they do and why (Ashwin et al, 2015; Trigwell et al, 2000). Participants engage in tasks where they are required to make links between theory and their practice, learn to theorise through practice, and engage with theory to provoke reflection and hopefully enhance their practice They are practitioners first and foremost, evidence is crucial and rigorous analysis and reflection is essential (Dewey, 1933; Stenhouse, 1975; Schön, 1983; Brookfield, 2017)
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