The teachers believed that the lack of access to technological infrastructure at Site A constrained their use of Moodle. As only one computer lab was allocated to all levels in the tertiary level English language programme and as this facility had to be shared among several teachers, there were scheduling issues. Each class at Level Five was provided access to this lab twice during the teaching block for a one-hour slot each time to enable the students to word-process their writing drafts. This constraint was highlighted by the Programme Manager during a key informant interview where she explained,
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it's just as I said, computer access is a big issue... During the morning programme we wouldn't have enough computers. We struggle now to just get the writing drafts typed out... We've only got two computer rooms, we have one lab, General English has the other, we fought hard to keep what we've got, really really hard, it's just a nightmare. We really had to squeal to get it. (Key Informant 2/ Key Informant Interview)
For the teacher participants, access to the lab was crucial as it provided the opportunity to encourage students to access Moodle to post their responses online. The students were reminded to access Moodle once they had completed the amendments to their writing drafts to post their responses online. This strategy may have contributed to the students depending on the teachers to take them to the lab to access Moodle as described by T2 earlier. However, many of the students were not able to access Moodle at all during these scheduled lab sessions as they spent all their time rewriting their drafts.
The lack of access prompted T1 to attempt to schedule additional lab sessions to enable students to work solely on Moodle. This was not possible however, as no empty lab slots were available within the schedule. Moreover, they were only assigned one computer lab for the programme. T1 believed that the limited access to computers constrained the use of Moodle at this site,
The computer time particularly the language institute when everyone's writing essays on the computers that was just finding that time and enough computers. When the rest of the university is on holiday that's not a problem! I don't think any of us ever had a problem with that but I can see that could be a potential problem. (Teacher One/Interview Three)
There were opportunities for the students to access Moodle after class at the spaces designated to students from the English language programme. These English language programme students were provided access to designated computer spaces, which consisted of the English Language Resource Centre (seating capacity of 10 students at any one time) and two computer labs (seating capacity of between 18-23 students each at any one time). These spaces were open from 8.30am to 5.00pm from Monday to Friday. However, as the afternoon lessons ended at 3.00, these spaces were often fully occupied with students from other levels in the programme. The students from Level Five had to look for a space and this took time. By the time they secured a computer work space, they
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were left with limited time to get on to Moodle. The limited access to the available infrastructure was described by one student as follows,
I need to find a computer and find an empty lab to work which is hard to get when you finish at 3 o'clock and all the computers are full and everyone is sitting. I should do it for one or two hours but it's hard.
(Student/Focus Group (1) Interview)
The lack of access to computers constrained the teachers’ use of Moodle in the following teaching block. The one computer lab designated to the various levels in the programme was redesignated as a shared institutional facility. The teachers were required to book the lab through a centralised booking system and compete with the degree programmes in the institution for access. This one dedicated computer lab was even more heavily booked during classroom teaching hours than had previously been the case. This made it difficult for T1 to schedule additional lab sessions to enable the students to use Moodle. As a result, the teachers decided not to continue with Moodle in the new teaching block. T1 explained,
It's not as easy to get computer times either because we've lost a computer lab. Well, we have the one over at the other block and then we've got all these classes all timed right there, all writing, typing two essays. So, in terms of, we just don't have as much access to the computer labs. (Teacher
One/Follow-up Interview)
For T3, the use of Moodle was further confounded by the lack of classroom-based computers. Although the classrooms were located in a new building, the only technology to which they had access was a portable audio-cassette and CD player. To obtain access to Moodle, the teacher had to take the students to the computer lab, which was a difficulty as described above.
The frustration of having limited access to computers prompted the teachers to conclude that they would be able to use Moodle only if each classroom was equipped with computers. T3 believed that having one or more computers in the classroom would enhance learning by enabling students to work on a variety of online activities prepared by the teacher. Given the absence of the computers in the classrooms, T3 concluded that using Moodle was a challenge. She argued,
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If we ended up teaching them in more interactive environments where our classrooms actually sort of had computers you know, as you could go to one group, ok, you guys go to the six computers at the back, what you should do dadadadadadada for Moodle and the rest of us be doing something else. Yeah, that kind of primary school type classroom where you can send students off to do things but for us it's taking the whole class to the lab! Or, like when our classrooms are little bit more technological maybe, even if you had one laptop at the back of the room, you could have a group doing it and uploading it and checking with the teacher with the grammar and 20 minutes of class time, it would be up and going. (Teacher
Three/Interview Three)
T3’s perspective seemed to reflect the view that effective classroom teaching with technology was dependent on close computer access. This view further constrained her attempts at using Moodle in the following teaching block. She continued to highlight the lack of technological infrastructure as a barrier to the teachers’ attempts at using Moodle.
Not all the classrooms lacked technological infrastructure, however. Earlier in the year an IWB unit had been installed in three classrooms with two units being in the new building. The IWB might have provided an excellent tool for speaking without involving Moodle at all. As it employs the use of graphics, text, animation, audio, and video in an integrated manner, the IWB could have offered teachers the potential to use it in relation to the object of the activity.
However, T3 did not take the initiative to use it. She cited being unable to attend the training sessions as the reason for not using the IWB. Similarly, T1 did not use the IWB, although T2 did attend training and was using the IWB regularly. The failure of the two teachers (T1 and T3) to take advantage of this indicates that they might not have been interested in using technology despite having easy access to it and the opportunity for training. It also suggests that the real problem might not have been a lack of access to technological tools, but that these two teachers lacked the knowledge of how to use technology and possibly lacked the will and means to learn more.
To summarise, there were five main factors that constrained these teachers’ use of Moodle in Case Study One. These factors relate to the assessment practices, the
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speaking exercises, time, access to training, and availability of technological infrastructure within the educational environment. These constraints as cited by the teachers reflected their perception of the issues involved. Although they were able to address these constraints, there was a sense of reluctance on their part to do so. Such hesitance suggests their lack of knowledge about language learning as well as in the use of Moodle in preparing the students to speak in the classroom.
5.3 Chapter Summary
This chapter reported the findings from one case study, which consisted of a tertiary level English language programme at Site A. The findings were presented based on three main categories in the activity framework – the object of the activity, the division of labour, and the rules. The object of the activity in this case study site was to prepare the students to speak in the classroom to develop their speaking skills. All three teachers who participated in this study considered technology as consisting of only the computer. Moodle was considered as a repository for learning materials to enable students’ asynchronous access to learning materials and was used as an ‘add-on’ to support the traditional teacher directed approach. The use of Moodle to realise the intended learning object challenged these teachers’ preconceived ideas about technology and Moodle, revealing their lack of a clear and valid conceptualisation of the object.
The teachers’ use of Moodle to realise the learning object revealed how they shared their interpretation of the object of the activity with their students and their colleagues. The teachers did not consider it a necessity to interact with their students to provide feedback to the latter’s contributions in the online learning environment. Their view of feedback appeared to indicate their lack of awareness on how to use Moodle to scaffold their students’ learning. Despite working as a team to teach the intermediate level in the language programme, there was a lack of communication among the teachers about their respective roles, which appeared to be assumed rather than negotiated. This sense of a disconnection indicated the need to encourage them to learn from one another.
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The teachers experienced conflicts and tensions within the existing policies and practices as they worked towards realising the object of the learning activity at this Case Study One site. Five main interconnected issues emerged posing constraints to these teachers’ use of Moodle to mediate the object. These issues concerned the assessment practices, the speaking exercises, the lack of time, the limited access to training, and the availability of technological infrastructure within the educational environment. These constraints as cited by the teachers reflected their perception of the issues involved. Although they were able to address these constraints, there was a sense of reluctance on their part to do so. Such hesitance suggests their lack of pedagogical knowledge and limited knowledge in using technology to realise the object of the activity.
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CHAPTER SIX: FINDINGS PART TWO
6.0 Overview
This chapter describes the findings from the second study site (Site B). It was assumed at the outset of this study that as Site B consisted of one language programme, the programme would constitute the study’s boundary. However, two objects were identified in the one language programme, which was unexpected. Each object delineated the boundary for a separate case resulting in two case studies. This chapter reports the findings from each case study based on the same three categories from the Activity Theory framework, as discussed in Chapter Five. These categories concern the object of the activity, division of labour, and the rules. The findings for this case study are presented in the form of description, data, and interpretative commentary.
6.1. Reporting the Findings
The data from Site B were analysed using the same inductive approach as described in Chapter Five and were also interpreted thematically within Engeström’s Activity Theory framework. As with the previous case, the patterns that emerged from the findings relate to three main categories, which are the object of the activity, the division of labour, and the rules.
However, unlike Study Site A, two different objects were identified within the one language programme, which was delivered as two modules (Listening and Speaking; Reading and Writing). In the listening and speaking module the object concerned preparing students to speak in the classroom and it was similar to Case Study One. As for the reading and writing module, the object was to provide students with a resource bank for language learning. The two different modules, with different objects were regarded as the cases and are reported accordingly.