Goal-Setting and Problem-Solving in the Tech-Enhanced Classroom: A Teaching and Learning Reboot

216 Pages·2023·5.562 MB·English

by  Pete Atherton

Goal-Setting and
Problem-Solving in
the Tech-Enhanced
Classroom
Goal-Setting and Problem-Solving in the Tech-Enhanced Classroom explores how
educators can use technology to create opportunities for more immersive
and rewarding learning. As child-age students demonstrate increasing com-
petence with digital tools, and investment in learning technologies contin-
ues to climb, teachers need grounded, pedagogically attentive insights to
help them leverage these devices and platforms in their profession. This
book offers a variety of ideas for how pre- and in-service teachers can suc-
cessfully deploy today’s educational technology platforms to serve confi-
dent, meaningful teaching and learning. Each chapter includes a concrete
learning goal or problem, a narrative of an instructional experience with a
specific technology, relevant theoretical and empirical underpinnings, and
practical recommendations.
Pete Atherton is Senior Lecturer in Teacher Education at Liverpool John
Moores University, UK, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Goal-Setting and
Problem-Solving in
the Tech-Enhanced
Classroom
A Teaching and Learning Reboot
PETE ATHERTON
Designed cover image: © Getty Images
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Pete Atherton
The right of Pete Atherton to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance
with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form
or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and
are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Atherton, Pete, author.
Title: Goal-setting and problem-solving in the tech-enhanced classroom : a
teaching and learning reboot / Pete Atherton.
Description: First Edition. | New York : Routledge, 2023. | Includes
bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2022041901 (print) | LCCN 2022041902 (ebook) | ISBN
9781032113258 (Hardback) | ISBN 9781032117614 (Paperback) | ISBN
9781003221401 (eBook)
Subjects: LCSH: Educational technology. | Computer-assisted instruction. |
Teaching--Aids and devices. | Internet in education. | Motivation
(Psychology) in children. | Problem solving in children. |
Teachers--In-service training.
Classification: LCC LB1028.3 .A844 2023 (print) | LCC LB1028.3 (ebook) |
DDC 371.33--dc23/eng/20221206
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022041901
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022041902
ISBN: 978-1-032-11325-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-11761-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-22140-1 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003221401
Typeset in Dante and Avenir
by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive)
Contents
List of illustrations vii
1 Introducing the chasm 1
2 March of the robots? AI in practice 9
3 Virtual insanity? Is virtual reality still the future of education? 35
4 Hooked on dopamine? Learning through failure in
game design 50
5 Search smarter? Leveraging Pinterest for learning 64
6 The tip of the iceberg? Social media in education 84
7 What is your edtech journey? Autoethnography and
the importance of learning journeys 98
8 Blockchain, edtech and learning communities 112
9 Rhizomatic learning: Pearltrees and online curation tools 134
10 Podcasting in education 149
vi Contents
11 Edpuzzle: Online video for learning – questioning and
online assessment 168
12 Conclusions: Edtech and education – moving forward together 183
Index 202
Illustrations
Figures
2.1 FirstPass being used at Bolton College, UK 10
2.2 Bolton College and Ada 29
3.1 Google Cardboard 43
3.2 Infographic – VR in the classroom 45
4.1 We Are Human 52
5.1 Pinterest infographic 77
6.1 Flyer for Edtech Thought Leaders 91
7.1 A meme created by me to be used as qualitative data 104
7.2 Creation of a social media persona – edtech double agent 105
10.1 Logo for Edtech Innovators podcast 150
10.2 Podcasting for teachers 163
11.1 Edpuzzle in the classroom 179
Tables
5.1 Questions posed to the sample 70
5.2 In vivo coding of responses 72
6.1 Twitter analytics – quantitative 91
6.2 Page impressions and conventions of tweets 92
11.1 Traditional vs ‘flipped classroom’ 172

1
Introducing the chasm
Teaching and learning problem
There is a significant disconnect between the preponderance of edtech plat-
forms and their leverage in education. There is also very little coherence or
momentum in the policies that support development of edtech or in the
research that is conducted around it.
Introduction
This book will be different from most academic and practitioner books. It
will exist at an intersection between pedagogy and practice and academic
research and theory. The theories that I will explore will be applied to spe-
cific edtech tools in a way that will be transferable to other platforms in
similar categories. For this reason, the book will be designed to have a long
shelf life.
Since COVID-19, the teaching profession has faced an existential cri-
sis. Teachers neither own all of the knowledge nor have all the answers
(Dhawan, 2020; Watermeyer et al., 2020). As schools, colleges and univer-
sities were forced by the pandemic to move their learning online, there was
sometimes an assumption that students were in possession of digital skills.
Moreover, increasing social and economic inequalities have widened the dig-
ital divide (Allier-Gagneur, McBurnie, Chuang & Haßler, 2020).
DOI: 10.4324/9781003221401-1