Abstract
The wide use of digital technology for educational purposes opens up some issues regarding its integration within the school curriculum. Our research aims to contribute to the current discussion about how mobile/portable technology can be integrated into formal education. In this perspective, we consider digital technology and media as a potential integral part of school activity that could effectively support educational achievement. However, the way in which it is applied by teachers in a real context can substantially change its impact on effective achievements. In our research, we extensively investigated the role of the teacher in using digital technology for stimulating and prompting classroom activities in class in-line with the school curriculum. In this paper, we first present a model that illustrates the roles of teachers in transforming digital technology as a resource for developing skills as required in educational curricula. The teacher role in introducing technology at school—TRiTS—model has been conceived by combining relevant literature and findings from a case study that we have been running in a primary school over the last 4 years. We then discuss the influence of the different teacher roles on students (their attitude and level of participation), as emerged from our study.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the teachers, pupils and school directors that participated in the study: the project would have not existed without your warm support, incredible insights and cooperative attitude! The creativity of the children and teachers who worked with us is an inexhaustible source of energy. We wish to acknowledge the Hasler foundation that, with a grant, supported part of this study.
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Rubegni, E., Landoni, M. The TRiTS model: teacher roles in introducing digital technology into a school curriculum. Cogn Tech Work 18, 237–248 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-015-0360-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-015-0360-0