Investigating Teachers' Future Digital Literacies in L1 Teaching – An Interdisciplinary and International Delphi Study
Submitted by:
Carina Ascherl
Abstract:
Keywords:
Delphi Technique, Digital Literacies, L1 Teaching, Teacher Education
Abstract:
Policy makers, research and educational initiatives call for the promotion of competencies in dealing with new technologies in schools. This is to enable adolescents to become responsible, functional and socially active members of our contemporary and future society that will change even more in the future under the influence of the world’s digitalisation (Döbeli Honegger, 2016). Within this context, the notion of what “literacy” means in educational contexts has significantly expanded, focusing not just on reading and writing anymore but on “digital literacies” as well. As research shows, teachers need to be qualified in the subject-matter related use of digital media in order to prepare students for the world being shaped by digital technologies (Dudeney, Hockly & Pegrum, 2013). They need to be “digitally literate” themselves.
Therefore, the research interest of this project lies within the intersection of two major challenges for educational research: digitalisation and literacy. The underlying aim is to investigate digital literacies that primary and secondary teachers working in L1 teaching need by 2030 in order to develop pedagogies that cater to learners’ digital literacies needs. Aiming at offering a global perspective, both Australian and German L1 teaching contexts are chosen to exemplify this. Using the Delphi technique (Häder, 2014), collection of data is achieved by creating structured interaction amongst a panel of experts. In multiple iterations, these experts answer questions on a particular issue within their domain of expertise. The aim is “to obtain the most reliable consensus of opinion” (Dalkey & Helmer, 1963, p. 458) by creating a dialogue within the panel. The panel includes an interdisciplinary network of people from the educational practice (teachers; teacher trainers; people working in foundations promoting educational offers; people working in the conception, development and production of educational media) as well as from research and science (subject matter teaching; pedagogy; media pedagogy) from both Australia and Germany.
In the synopsis of a literature review and the outcomes of the Delphi study, a framework showing teachers’ necessary digital literacies in L1 teaching is to be developed which should serve to give implications for training prospective L1 teachers in future higher education.
References:
Dalkey, T. J. & Helmer, O. (1963). An Experimental Application of the Delphi Method to the Use of Experts. Management Science, 9(3), 458-467.
Dudeney, G., Hockly, N. & Pegrum, M. (2013). Digital Literacies. Research and Resources in Language Teaching. Harlow: Pearson.
Döbeli Honegger, B. (2016). Mehr als 0 und 1. Schule in einer digitalisierten Welt. Kornwestheim: hep.
Häder, M. (2014). Delphi-Befragungen. Ein Arbeitsbuch (3rd ed.). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.