Technoliteracy, teacher agency and design: Shaping a digital learning culture

Despite educational directives advocating the integrated use of technology, some staff remain resistant to the adoption of computer-mediated classroom practice. As resistance is sometimes akin to lack of confidence or understanding, this thesis sought to illuminate the nature of work for teachers and students in a digital environment. It reports on a descriptive and interpretive case study on the classroom experiences of teachers and senior secondary school students in two humanities subjects where technology use was integrated with literacy practices for learning (technoliteracy). Findings suggest that there is a role for technology in the learning process and that student learning might be enhanced by constructivist-based, computer-mediated activities. These findings seem to confirm the important role of teacher agency in designing classroom experiences that capitalise on the potential of new technologies of communication for effective student learning.

Furthermore, this thesis has synthesised key ideas from constructivism, educational technology and learning theory with study findings to generate a supportive framework that might encourage techno-reluctant teachers to engage productively with technology in meaningful ways. It develops a grounded model for technoliteracy that gains its dynamism from the notion of design. With its related constructs of "teacher-as-designer" of classroom digital learning environment and "students-as-designers" of electronic representations of knowledge, this model suggests a purposeful integration of technology and literacy practices towards a more critical appreciation of subject content. The thesis also offers practical guidelines for applying constructivist principles to promote technoliteracy and a digital learning culture. The evaluative criteria developed from the SOLO Taxonomy and specially designed for analysing the student-created electronic artefacts also offer possibilities for reconceiving the choice of texts, activities and assessment for students of the 21st century.

From the theoretical and practical perspectives shaping this study, this thesis could prompt other teachers to imagine new possibilities for digital learning and to pioneer new models for teaching and learning in increasingly borderless classrooms in the knowledge age. It could encourage techno-reluctant staff to engage in computer-mediated learning practices.