Restructuring Schooling With Digital Technologies: Implications for Policy and Practice

• In Event: Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Strategies for Maximizing the Impact of Educational Research in Information Technology on Practice, Policy, and Future Directions

Abstract

Purpose of the study
Traditional forms of schooling remain resistant to change. However, new forms of schooling that depend on communication technologies have emerged, including virtual schools and networked classes across collaborating schools (Davis, Eickelmann & Zaka, 2013). The purpose of this study was to identify how technologies have resulted in the restructuring of many schools and what implications this has for teachers, and local and national policymakers.
Perspective and theoretical framework
Educational systems and ecologies are co-evolving with digital technologies. This is the theoretical framework that continues to be clarified as an arena for change with digital technologies in education (see http://wikieducator.org/Change_with_digital_technologies_in_education/Arena_of_change/Video_signpost). This framework can inform change and assist in research design, which can inform research applications and practice in many educational contexts.
Modes of inquiry and sources of evidence
This paper, which has been informed by the literature, and participation in national and international debates such as EDUsummIT 2011 (e.g. Davis, Eickelmann & Zaka, 2013), draws on a range of qualitative evidence from multiple applied research projects examining change (or lack of change) in education conducted in schools in Germany, New Zealand and the USA, plus further analysis applying the co-evolutionary framework.
Results
Research into the restructuring of schooling with digital technologies reviewed by leading researchers in the EduSummIT identifies that, although further complex systemic research is clearly indicated, leaders involved in school restructuring should examine and carefully design perturbations in the multiple embedded and networked ecosystems that make up schooling to inform their strategic work.
Scientific and scholarly significance of the work
The goal of this presentation is to promote more effective and systematic ways to conduct and disseminate research on restructuring of schooling. The co-evolutionary framework enables multiple theories and outcomes to be drawn together, both to inform change and enhance design of research in this area.
References
Davis, N.E., Eickelmann, B. & Zaka, P. (2013). Restructuring of Educational Systems in the Digital Age from a Co-evolutionary Perspective, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, In Press.

Authors

• Niki Davis, University of Canterbury

• Birgit Eickelmann, University of Paderborn, Germany