Abstract:

In 2010 the Danish government launched a digitalization strategy for 2011-2015, concerning all parts of the Danish society including the Danish school system. The initiatives for the Danish school system were mainly focused on digital teaching aids, access to internet, accessibility to a digital device for every student and research in teaching with digital devices. The effect of the digitalization was that several municipalities invested in different digital devices. It was estimated that a way to educate the students of the Danish “Folkeskole” (age 6-16) was a one-to-one computing environment where each student always has his/her own personal device. In many municipalities much focus has been on the technical issues in the integration of the digital devices. Only little attention seems to have been given the pedagogical and didactic development of teaching in the classrooms using ICT (Information Communication Technology).

The aim of this paper is therefore to understand, how ICT may be integrated in the classroom in form of the one-to-one computing environment. Theoretically the paper is inspired by the concept of affordances in order to analyze the hidden and perceived affordances of the ICT-solution. Further, the concept of teacher agency is used to discuss how the student-teacher relation is influenced and challenged by a technology-rich classroom, and to outline a perspective on ICT integration with focus on increasing the teacher’s and students’ co-creation of learning.

This paper is based on a qualitative study of how 19 teachers from 10 public schools in two municipalities in Denmark create meaning in teaching and learning in a one-to-one computing environment. The two municipalities have chosen different devices, respectively Laptops and iPads. In our empirical research we used Future Workshop as a method to get the teacher's voice heard in the study and to make them address what are the most challenging issues in their everyday work teaching the students. With the knowledge from the empirical research analyzed through Engeström’s Activity System Analysis to analyze the empirical data, we address the issues of teacher agency and affordance to see how the concepts influence the teachers at hand.

Our findings document a double bind in the relation between teacher agency, students of today's society and the affordance of the technology, because of lack of a mutual understanding between teachers and students about what teaching should aim at. This creates a need for expansive learning. Another finding is that the teachers’ agency is challenged by the lack of knowledge of the devices’ affordances in a one-to-one computing learning environment. The students’ participating in online social worlds external to the work in classes, enhanced by the affordance of the devices, are so strong that it challenges the teachers’ agency.

There is a difference between laptop and iPad, whereas the laptop affords going further into details and the use of more complex programs. The iPad supports intuition, creativity and experimental work.

To address this issue a new mindset on teaching in a one-to-one environment is needed. In the framework of Professional Learning Communities we recommend the development of the concept of teachers and students as co-creators of learning. Based on the collaborative learning process, a new mindset is emerging.

Keywords:

One-to-one computing learning environment, Teacher agency, Affordance, Primary and secondary school.