Gestión de Portafolio de Proyectos

The first stage of the EEA facilitated a process of searching for, discovering and articulating my values of creativity, collaboration and courage as outlined in chapter one. Unearthing my values also reignited my passion for technology as I reflected on how it can enhance creativity and collaboration. Whitehead and McNiff (2006) advocate understanding our values as our standards of judgement asking to what extent we show that we are living in the direction of our espoused values. Upon reflection of my workplace practice I identified a lack of application of these values in my work. I could relate to Whitehead’s (1989) description of experiencing oneself as a “living contradiction” where a conflict occurs between the aspirations of one’s values and the reality of one’s life and work practices. As evident in the previous section I endeavoured to collaborate with my colleagues and students in my work by inviting them to be a part of my research from the outset. However, I was disappointed to observe a lack of creativity in my use of technology in the teaching of RE. My initial use of the iPads mirrored what the literature indicated to be a common starting point in iPad adoption, reducing the iPads to an eReader (Hallissy et al. 2013). The training day we had prior to the iPad adoption was limited and didn’t include anything on the use of iBooks. There was nothing exciting about the eBook version of the RE textbook, with no obvious additional or interactive features. In spite of this I found using it a big adjustment, noting that ‘it was intimidating to go into a class feeling unsure of what you are doing’ (Journal entry extract,

04/01/14).

In my previous role as a ‘Digital Specialist’ in Veritas I provided training for teachers on the use of technology and I developed interactive websites for RE. I have always valued the potential that technology has for education when used well so I questioned why I was struggling to use it effectively in my own teaching. Sharing my concerns at a validation meeting with my supervisor, Dr. Crotty in DCU on 25 February 2015 she felt that I was being too hard on myself, pointing out that my passion for the creative use of technology was evident in my conversations with her. However, the challenge was to bring this into my teaching. Following Dr. Crotty’s advice I began to further reflect on my value of creativity and came to the realisation that I have often struggled to see it in myself.

Once again, I seem blind to my own creativity, struggling to see it without others pointing it out. There is always vulnerability in creativity and I am quick to shy away from it… I can still recall Dr. Elaine McDonald, my teaching practice supervisor during my undergraduate degree in MDI telling me that I was creative and later Maura Hyland, the director of Veritas, told me the same thing and encouraged my creative use of technology. They saw something in me that I had been blind to, and helped me to see it for myself. My appreciation of this value is deepened by the fact that I have struggled to fully embrace it and I am grateful for this opportunity to reaffirm my creativity (Journal entry

extract, 26/02/15).

This journal entry encouraged me to embrace vulnerability as an opportunity to live out my value of courage. It also showed me the importance of being open to listening to others and learning from their insight. This was a fundamental component of my other value, collaboration and the EEA’s collaborative nature (Crotty 2014). I could now see how my journal was becoming an important place to record the feedback of my co-creators as well as my own perspective on the research.

The SAMR framework (Puentedura 2006) would categorise my initial use of the iPads at the most basic level of substitution. In the early phase of 1:1 iPad adoption I often didn’t even reach that basic level as I taught topics on autopilot, doing what I had always done without much consideration for the new devices. A moment of clarity came unexpectedly and I reflected upon this in my journal:

After asking students to write down five facts they would like to find out about the life of Jesus one student asked me if Jesus had a surname and what it was. I told her to wait so we could go through all the questions and answers together to which she replied, “you know we have iPads here don’t you.” In that moment she just wanted to look up the answer but her words really resounded with me. As the lesson progressed I was showing the students a map of the Holy Land when I noticed one student on her iPad. In response to my inquiry about what she was doing she announced that she was “just checking out Nazareth on Google Earth.” I was impressed with her initiative but equally uncomfortable that she did it without asking. Today was a wake up call. It was interesting to notice my own discomfort with student initiative. Was the problem that she didn’t ask or that I just felt a loss of control? And the question “you know we have iPads here don’t you?” seems to be at the heart of things. I hadn’t thought about what I could do differently with the iPads and I slipped into my regular teaching plan for this topic. (Journal entry extract, 08/01/15).

Upon reflection it was evident that my lack of integrated planning for the new context in which I was teaching was the problem. Conversations with my colleagues revealed similar experiences. Our practice mirrored what the OECD (2015) report concluded; that the presence of ICT in a school does not equate to its effective use. It is clear to me now that in the beginning the very presence of the iPad had become an unpleasant dominant force in my thinking. By the end of the first year, any time we used the textbook, I would read from the physical book while the students read from their iPads. If I saw the iPads as an eReader then I could have concluded that they have failed and we may as well say goodbye to them. However, I aspired to take action and make changes to my practice. The key to achieving this was revisiting my educational values. Through the reflective journaling practice established at the beginning of this research I clarified my educational values and they became the guiding principles for this work. Upon reflection I decided that I not only want to embrace these values myself but my aim was to foster these values with my students encouraging their collaboration and creativity through the use of technology.