Damian Maher

• Doctor of Education
• Senior Lecturer at University of Technology Sydney

The purpose of this chapter is to investigate how the use of social media can support teaching and learning in schools. A social constructivist lens is used to explore how collaboration can facilitate the process. Some of the key concepts of social constructivism are outlined with a focus on the role of the teacher. Ways that social media are used...

The impact of COVID-19 has seen many schools across the globe transition from face-to-face teaching to emergency remote teaching in a short period of time. This has impacted the quality of students' educational experiences. The study reported here draws on data collected from students, teachers, and parents in eight schools in New South Wales, Aust...

Schools are increasingly pivoting to the use of digital technologies to support both teaching and learning. In this study, the educational use of 360-degree video in the primary school classroom is investigated, focusing on a platform that was developed by an Australian university, which incorporates a chat function as well as an analytics tool. In...

This article investigates how the second-year pre-service teachers mentored first-year pre-service teachers to develop their literacy skills via a blended community. While some researchers have investigated blended learning, such research has not focused on how face-to-face and online modes work together to support student learning. Using a qualita...

The rate of change in the use of digital technologies in schools means that professional learning regarding technology-enhanced learning is constantly required for school teachers. The focus of this article is on how an action learning (AL) approach supported the professional learning of teachers regarding adoption of mobile technologies in their t...

The journal this article is published in is called Teaching Science. https://www.asta.edu.au/resources/teachingscience

This article investigates professional learning opportunities in a community of Hazara refugee volunteer teachers. These teachers have no formal teacher training or qualifications and work in Indonesian learning centres. The study investigates the benefits and challenges of mentoring, outside support, and trust using a community of practice framework...

The chapter has two main foci. The focus of the first half of the chapter is to examine the types of literacy practices needed by young people to work in a contemporary digital environment. Policies that impact on the development of digital literacy development are explored. The aspects underpinning digital literacy are examined and a sociocultural...

This study investigates how final year pre-service teachers (PSTs) from several countries use social media to support their online professional learning network (PLN) activities. Adopting a mixed-methods approach, it uses a global survey and interview methods to generate fresh insights into PSTs’ informally-developed online PLN practices and their...

The effectiveness of pre-service teachers’ ICT training during teacher education course is often linked with the teacher educators’ (TEs’) practices. TEs’ digital practices, however, are under-studied, thus, are not fully understood. This study, which draws on the theoretical tenets of Activity Theory, reports on the factors that limit TEs’ digital...

Many contemporary classrooms are now being designed to be flexible and open. Such designs reflect designs that were trialed in classrooms during the mid 1960s to the late seventies when the open plan classroom became popular. Many of these spaces reverted back to closed traditional classrooms with the experiment failing. Starting in the early 2000s...

As the use of both virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) become more common place in society, the importance of including these technologies in schools increases. The focus of this chapter is to explore how these two technologies are being used at in primary, secondary and tertiary contexts to support student learning. In exploring these...

Course management systems (CMSs) have now become firmly embedded into pre-service teacher education courses in many universities around the world to support teaching and learning. This chapter investigates some of the features of CMS and how they are being used. In investigating the use of CMSs, some of the theories/models that underpin online and...

Transforming Teacher Education with Mobile Technologies provides an international, comparative overview of current thinking and research in the field of mobile learning and teaching/teacher education, with case studies from Australia, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Drawing together contributions with teachers and t...

As demands on the environment continue to intensify, it becomes increasingly urgent to act sustainably, responsibly and respectfully, to protect and restore environments. Digital technologies, including videoconferencing, mobile apps and virtual and augmented realities, can provide new ways of engaging students in environmental stewardship. Such te...

This article discusses the use of mobile devices by teachers in two Australian schools. It builds on a theoretical framework which considers the location of mobile learning with respect to time and space. The research used a qualitative methodology in which observations, interviews and document analysis were conducted. The study found that the phys...

Traditionally, learning mathematics has often been limited to pen and paper and sometimes hands-on activities. Mobile technologies offer the opportunity to change practices within primary school mathematics classes. This chapter explores how Year 5 and 6 students worked collaboratively to solve a problem, explaining their mathematical thinking duri...

Interest in how to use mobile devices to support teaching and learning has increased as technologies have become more sophisticated and ubiquitous. A recent focus in teacher education is the use of mobile devices to support teachers’ professional learning networks (PLNs). This study investigates how pre-service teachers (PSTs) use mobile technologi...

The use of mobile devices to support learning is increasing in schools and universities. This increase is having an impact on the types of pedagogies that are supporting learning. This chapter explores the use of mobile devices to support pre-service teachers' professional learning. A constructivist framework is used as a critical lens in conjuncti...

This article examines and theorises the experiences of 12 primary pre-service teachers at an Australian university, undertaking a two week professional teaching experience in Bangkok. This qualitative ethnographic study of our students’ and to some extent our own experiences draws on interviews, questionnaires and observations from the students, as...

Teachers in rural and remote schools face many challenges including those relating to distance, isolation and lack of professional development opportunities. This article examines a project where mathematics and science teachers were provided with professional development opportunities via video conferencing to help them use syllabus documents to d...

Emerging evidence suggests mobile devices have the potential to deliver students with disabilities a more equitable education, which is one of the goals set down by the United Nations (United Nations Division for Social and Development Disability, 2006). The focus of this chapter is to explore how mobile devices can be used to support young people...

This article reports on a study in which teachers, university teacher educators and a software company formed a learning community which provided a mechanism for knowledge exchange regarding pedagogical approaches using mobile technologies. The study employed an interpretivist methodology. The findings indicated that the collaboration promoted refl...

Background: The use of 1:1 and Bring Your Own Device strategies in schools is in its infancy and little is known about how mobile devices such as tablets are being used to support educational practice. Purpose: In this article, two suburban primary schools in Sydney, Australia were focused on with an aim to understand how mobile device strategies w...

Many schools in industrialized and developing countries are now using mobiles devices. This has the potential to connect learning that occurs in classrooms and museums. This article focuses on the use of iPads by a year 6 class (12 years old) in Sydney Australia, which were used both in the classroom and on a museum excursion. The study uses a qual...

Adjustment to university is challenging for students as they navigate a path through new academic, social and cultural practices. Some may feel on the borders, marginalised by their background. Issues such as adjustment to university life, independence, performance expectations, establishing friendships, technological competence, cultural capital,...

Online learning originally focused on busy working adults or students living in remote areas. Over the years though, students of all ages and backgrounds have begun using online learning to support their educational needs. In fact, online learning is now used to support the education of many primary school students in an increasing number of school...

An emerging body of literature explores mobile learning in teacher education contexts. A common theme is the facilitation of collaborative, authentic professional learning experiences, often leveraged by the immediate and spontaneous nature of learning in informal settings. This paper takes a snapshot of current developments with mobile learning in...

The chapter examines the use of the Internet by young people aged between five and 18 years of age, both in their homes and at school and explores issues relating to cyber safety as a result of this use. To begin, the Internet usage of young people is overviewed and then the types of networked media they use, with a focus on Social Networking Servi...

This paper reports on an evaluation undertaken of the potential impact of a Network for Educators: the Pathways for Learning, Anywhere, Anytime (PLANE) website. The evaluation was undertaken in New South Wales, Australia with teachers in Government, Catholic and Independent schools in both rural and suburban areas. The benefits and challenges assoc...

Whilst many transitions in a child's life are expected - such as that from primary to high school for example - the transition from regular (and presumably a normal school situation) to a hospital school is likely to be unexpected and potentially difficult. Students are often dislocated from their regular schools for extended periods of time, causi...

Much of the research conducted on the use of interactive whole-class technologies in primary school classroom focuses on teacher-to-student interactions. This paper, drawing on a social theory of learning, reports on a qualitative case study undertaken with two primary school classes in one school in New South Wales, Australia where the interactive...

As interactive whiteboards appear in increasing numbers in primary classrooms, questions will continue to be asked about the effectiveness of these devices in supporting teaching and learning. It is not the board itself, however, which is likely to make a difference to student learning outcomes, but the resources which teachers choose to use in con...

ABSRACTThe Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) is a recent innovation and with it has come a renewed discussion of the nature of interactions in the primary school classroom. In this chapter the interactive affordances of the IWB, where users can physically manipulate two-dimensional objects on the board, are discussed. In focusing on this aspect, the typ...

The purpose of the study reported on here was to explore ways in which the interactive whiteboard (IWB) can support students’ understanding of texts. A Year 3 and a Year 4 primary school class in New South Wales, Australia, is the focus of the research. A qualitative case study was carried out using multimodal analysis focusing on the use of an e‐b...

This paper reports on a transition project where the Internet as a communication tool was used to facilitate interactions between primary school and high school students. The qualitative case study involved capturing the online interactions of the students and teachers as well as the use of questionnaires. Results of the study demonstrate that the...

The Internet is increasingly being used as a tool for communicating and learning in primary schools across many developed and developing countries. The place of social chat as part of online interactions has as yet not been fully recognised as an important component of learning.In this paper, the interactions of students in a Sydney primary school...

The use of writing groups to support students undertaking post-graduate research within universities has begun to receive attention from academic supervisors and doctoral researchers. Very little has been written by doctoral students themselves on the benefits of working within such writing groups. In this article, the experiences of working within...

The issue of cyberbullying has been reported on widely in the press with extreme cases generally presented as the norm. In this article, the interactions of Australian primary children aged 11 to 12 years are presented to illustrate some bullying practices that young people engage in. The findings suggest that while cyberbullying occurs, it is gene...

Increasingly computers in primary schools are being used to support the interactions and learning of students online. Gaining access to online spaces gives students new ways of interacting, not possible in a face-to-face setting. For example, interacting through online environments allows students to interact more informally with each other and wit...