Sharing Student Projects

This dissertation explores students' and teachers' perceptions of technology's role in the secondary mathematics classroom. The research used a case study approach to focus on individuals’ views and experiences of using technology to support learning in the case school, where heavy emphasis was placed on using technology in classes. The study aimed to contribute rich, small-sample contextual data to existing research and build on existing research conclusions in the field of education technology. The research demonstrated how students and teachers both aspired to use the technology to access and provide, respectively, more direct and personalised learning than traditional methods would allow. Technology was used in the case school by teachers to leverage students’ engagement and motivation, while both parties leveraged aspects of the technology to improve the accessibility of learning. Students used technology to gain more autonomy and independence. Key barriers and limitations were the high demands on infrastructure to support the technology, friction with the traditional classroom, and the prevalence of off-task student behaviour. The study concluded that to realise the perceived benefits of the technology used in the case school, there must be thorough and precise training in the technology for both teachers and students, an explicit understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of technology that could be leveraged when planning programs of learning, and robust infrastructure.

I disseminated my findings and recommendations to SLT at the case school. This is because these individuals have the capability to enact the recommendations, should they be persuaded. They also do not necessarily have daily first-hand experiences or oversight of how technology is being used around the school, due to the high-autonomy norms of the school and could benefit from the insight given by this research. I had met with some key members of the leadership them – the head teacher, the head of secondary, and the head of maths – before embarking on my project, to discuss and be transparent about my research as I would be using school time and access in part to complete it.At this time, they expressed interest in project and I would like to show my appreciation by involving them in this final stage. SLT has a need to plan effectively with knowledge of how technology is being used in the school. SLT is responsible for planning continuous improvement by making key decisions about the curriculum, staff development and resourcing. In my research, I provide SLT with this insight and knowledge. I also make recommendations, based on the findings, about how this planning and decision-making could be most effective. I have generated knowledge on how to improve the effectiveness of technology in the case school, by drawing upon the experiences and perceptions of individuals in the case school who interact with it daily. I have provided SLT with information about how technology is currently being used and perceived in the school, the potential for its development and how we might begin to bridge this gap. The knowledge will impact this audience by giving them the means to recognise and work towards achieving the potential of technology in the case school. The audience here is in a unique position to achieve this due to the school’s existing priority focus and heavy resourcing for technology. SLT can recognise the impact of my study by enacting the recommendations I set out: initially by acknowledging the findings of the study in determining the value and best use of technology, and then by following the further recommendations on how to realise this in context.