School Group Discussions

In the school context, similar views were offered regarding the content and delivery of the training. Overall, participants felt that they enjoyed and learned from taking part in the course and as ST3 commented: “If I did not take part in this training I wouldn’t have known about

these tools and I would still be unsure of technology use.” They also felt that they had

developed a more open mind to technology as ST1 believed that: “Language teachers should

be up to date with such technologies so that they can try them, they should approach it with

an open mind to the idea of changing their teaching methods.” As with university teachers,

school teachers would have wanted some face-to-face interaction. ST1 and ST4 both felt that: “I think we should have had a mix of face-to-face and online training sessions.” ST4 felt that while online training was useful it made it much more difficult to cope “I felt that I am

uncomfortable at some times.” In describing further parts for development one teacher

stressed the importance of introducing some theoretical aspects related to technology use in the language classroom: “I believe that we needed some evidence before beginning to

discover by ourselves what works and what doesn’t work, I mean sometimes I did not know

why I am doing such and such, if we had theoretical knowledge just to back us up” (UT2).

Similar comments about the lack of focus on theoretical frameworks for ICT implementation were raised in the mid-course interviews.

As with university teachers’ tool use, school teachers were able to match their pedagogical goals through the tools used, and ST1 justified his tool use by indicating: “One of the main

reasons for me choosing focus on tools that make the student practice writing is that they

need to try and communicate in the language outside of the school, and Edmodo, blogs, and

wikis do the job really well rather than using the text book which I think is not that

practical”; ST4 also agreed and added: “What makes me use a tool over the other is what I

intend to do with it, present information or engage the students to collaborate.” However,

ST2 and ST5 both agreed that: “Using the tool for language activities should be challenging

for the students so that they can push their language level; there is no point of repeating the

same text online unless it challenges them more.”

5.6

Summary

To sum up this chapter, the training was seen as having an impact on the participants’ teaching practice as it has resulted in forming new skills and understanding of ICT tools. Furthermore, new pedagogical skills were observed and discussed by the participants as a result of the training. We can say that the intervention was successful in that it had an impact on the participants’ attitudes towards ICT use in the language classroom. Participants

reported being more positive of ICT use in their teaching context. It also can be said that there was an impact on the participants’ tool use for teaching purposes as a result of attending the online sessions. Through such sessions, the participants were able to develop an understanding of how and when ICT tools/applications can be used and for specific pedagogical goals. They were also able to develop strategies experimenting with tool use through trial and error. In terms of content, the training was relevant to the participants’ language teaching context. The online delivery of the training was thought to suit the nature of the group of the training and was praised for being interactive. However, it was also criticized for being based entirely online and lacking face-to-face interaction. A paradox in interpretation was that they may well have preferred face-to-face training but may not have turned up for the actual events. As for the tools used, there was a focus on communicative and presentational tools. Motives for tool/application use was to promote collaborative and individual learning, multimedia use, and authenticity. There was a consistency among the participants and across contexts in regard to the impact and general evaluation. There were similarities in both contexts in terms of uptake of ICT with slight differences, in that university teachers were more prepared for communicative activities for pedagogical justification. Participants in both contexts shared similar concerns and challenges. However, the university context presented more constraint in regards to facilities whereas class size was the most important constraint on ICT use in the school context. One interesting finding was that participants associated ICT use with level of English language. One small criticism of the programme was that it was unsuccessful in striking a balance between technology and theory and thus it was more technology driven.