Flexibility and Responsibility in Teacher Education: Experiences and Possibilities in Iceland

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DRAFT © UArctic & Johannsdóttir, Skjelmø

Flexibility and Responsibility in Teacher Education: Experiences and Possibilities in Iceland and North Norway

Þuríður Jóhannsdóttir & Randi Skjelmø

Introduction

The Iceland University of Education in Reykjavík and Department of Teacher Education in TromsøUniversityCollege in North Norway share a long history of obligations towards serving the need for having educated teachers in sparsely populated rural areas in northern latitudes. In order to meet this need, the universities have offered non-traditional types of teacher education. In 1979, both institutions offered off-campus opportunities for people who had been teaching in primary schools without formal education. This provision was in the form of short courses interspersed with longer periods of self-study in which teachers and students communicated by ordinary letter exchange. With the development of information and communication technology (ICT), different models of flexible teacher education have emerged in the two countries. In Iceland, a distance program in teacher education has been offered since 1993 with short on-campus components and all other communication through the Internet. In Tromsø, a decentralized teacher education program started in 1998 using interactive television and a year later, the use of Web-based learning management system was added and is now the main platform for communication.

Until 2000, both these programs were designed especially to serve the need for teachers in rural districts. With the evolution of ICT and new ideas about meeting individual needs in education, demands for open and flexible learning programs have increased. Here the teacher education institutions can build on a tradition of meeting the needs of non-traditional students. However, teacher educators have to consider new obligations, related to their professional status and pedagogical responsibility, when it comes to developing distance teaching and learning. They have an important role to play in the development of an educational discourse about distance learning built on new educational paradigms.

Description and theoretical backgroundThis study reports on two cases that demonstrate how flexible distance teacher education programs have evolved over the last 25 years. The programs have been developed at the Iceland University of Education and the Department of Teacher Education in TromsøUniversityCollege. We describe how different needs, flexible programs, and the important role that the Internet has played in opening up new possibilities for distance teaching and learning have met demands from communities and individuals. We reflect on how the use of diverse ICT tools has influenced the structure of the programs as well as both learning tasks and teaching methods.

Teacher education involves the learning of knowledge, skills, and values and learning through participation. In their studies, the students are supposed to participate both in learning communities and in praxis communities in the schools, where they get their hands-on experience. We will refer to situated learning theories when describing and analyzing the distance learning programs offered in teacher education in the respective universities.

Situated learning is a general learning theory; it argues that learning is a function of the activity, context, and culture in which it is situated (Lave “Apprenticeship” 145; Lave “Situated Learning” 1). Researchers on learning in apprenticeship settings have developed the theory that learners become involved in a ‘community of practice’, which embodies certain beliefs and behaviours to be acquired. We can understand learning as a kind of enculturation where the learner is an active participant in socially situated activity. Jean Lave, in her research on apprenticeship learning, has developed an understanding of learning as participation in social practice in which social interaction and collaboration are critical components (Lave “Apprenticeship” 147). These theories are especially helpful in understanding the experiences of distance teacher-students that are employed during their studies as teachers in local schools where they participate in communities of practice.

A related view of learning lies behind activity theory and is useful in analyzing a complex system - such as an institution that offers flexible teacher education off-campus (decentralized or distance) (CHATDWR 1). The theory provides a holistic approach,

analyzing the activity system instead of the individual learner. Activity theory explores the effectiveness of everyday learning environments in research and can be useful in the design of learning environments (Peal and Wilson147).

Key features of the Activity theory model are that activities are designed to lead to an outcome and they take place within a community that has distinct social and cultural features. Activities take place according to a set of rules and participants use instruments/tools to perform activities. Figure 1 illustrates the complex interactivity of these features.

Figure 1: The Activity Theory Model

The model can be applied to enhance understanding where both learning and teaching are looked upon as activities, performed in a certain context that is historically situated. When teacher education occurs at a distance, the institution, teachers, and students act within social and cultural systems. It is then important to take into account both the community where people act and the tools available in the current culture to mediate and enhance learning.

The teacher’s role is to plan the students’ activities in a way that enhances learning and refers to the proposed outcome. In this planning, it is crucial that the teacher present these activities in a context meaningful for the student. In distance or decentralized models of education, it is even more important to understand the kind of teacher activities most likely to support students’ learning and how available tools, such as ICT can be used in performing teachers’ and students’ activity (Naidu 153).

We must also take into account the use of ICT as a mediating tool in learning. Distance educational programs increasingly rely on technology developments. We may enhance our understanding by looking at theories of distributed intelligence that consider the role of tools as cultural artefacts - used to solve a certain task, but at the same time a person learns from the tool how to solve the task (Pea 1993 57). Thus, tools affect the way we learn and both effects with the tool and effects of the tool have been identified (Salomon & Perkins 10). A learner with a tool creates a new intellectual unit – one with increased capacities that can then act to enrich the respective culture.

The Case of the IcelandUniversity of Education

The Iceland University of Education (IUE) was founded in its present form in 1998, when the University College of Education and three smaller tertiary institutions (providing training for sports teachers, pre-school teachers and developmental therapists) were combined to form one university. The institution has been the main teacher education unit in Iceland since 1908, and has obligations to serve the entire Icelandic population of less than 300, 000 inhabitants. There are two other similar institutions in Iceland: the Department of Education at the University of Iceland in Reykjavík, and the University of Akureyri. The Department of Education was established at the University of Iceland in Reykjavík in 1951, and offers a one-year teacher education program for those who have completed undergraduate studies and who wish to teach in lower and upper secondary schools. The University of Akureyri has, since 1993, offered teacher education programs.

The IUE consists of two departments: the Department of Undergraduate Studies (with six programs of study) and the Department of Graduate Studies. In the academic year 2002-2003, the university had over 2000 students, of which more than 50% were enrolled in distance education programs. IUE has played a leading role in the development of distance education on the Internet in Iceland. Graduate programs include courses for professionals in education and developmental therapy/social pedagogy (a specialization in the field of disabilities). Study at this level usually takes place through distance education.

First steps in flexible teacher education in Iceland

In 1979, the University College of Education in Reykjavík started flexible teacher education programs. The reason for this shift was the introduction of stricter legislation on the professional rights of those holding teacher positions, as well as the reality that up to 25% of teachers in primary schools were without formal teacher education (Kristjánsdóttir 321). Teachers with reasonable experience could complete a formal teacher education in a flexible program, which was organized so that they could fulfil their teaching obligations at the same time. Teacher students met their teachers for a maximum of eight weeks a year, and in between they studied at home using mail correspondence to interact with the teacher. It took students two to four years (or more) to complete the study depending on their former education. The program was considered as a one-time opportunity for people that had served mainly in rural schools, though when the first group had finished the problem of teacher shortages in rural communities was still pressing. The institution responded to the continued demand for flexible teacher education with a second group in 1988.

Self-studies played a crucial role in this form of teacher education, although gatherings of students and teachers were also considered important, as these activities enhanced the students’ learning communities. The fact that the teacher students were at the same time participants in the working culture of the schoolteachers was clearly interpreted as a strength. Seen in the light of situated learning theories, all learning can be understood as some kind of enculturation and with that in mind, the advantages of being a part of the school culture while simultaneously learning to become a teacher are obvious.

This form of teacher education served its purpose in rural areas. An informal survey done in Iceland in 1990 on the 1979 group of participants showed that up to 90% were still teaching, with most of them still in rural communities (Kristjánsdóttir 322).

New Possibilities Open Up with the Internet
The experience of flexible teacher education had been positive and teacher educators, as well as the community, recognized the potential of this form of education. The lack of teachers continued to be a problem, mainly in the sparsely populated rural

communities. Thus, it was decided to offer a full Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.) degree through distance education using the new possibilities that were opening up with ICT. In January 1993, the program was launched. The university applied the entrance requirements for the traditional program to the distance education version, with the exception that applications from outside Reykjavík had priority. Eighty-three students – 75 women, 8 men – gained admission from all over the country.

The program was organized as a part-time course over three and a half years, equivalent to three years of full time studies. An emphasis on maintaining similar standards to the traditional program helped to avoid speculation on the possibility that the distance program was of a poorer quality (Mýrdal 46). The organization was such that there would be a two-week session on campus at the beginning of each semester (fall and spring), followed by distance modules where Internet connections were supposed to be the main media of communication between teachers and students. The students would use ordinary mail and phone, as well as fax if convenient. The model in the early days could be described as a correspondence school using e-mail. The on-campus sessions presented an overview of the learning material and learning tasks for the students, and included a number of lectures. Students and staff alike recognized the importance of meeting face-to-face - students have stressed this point in a recent evaluation (Kristinsdóttir, Macdonald & Matthíasdóttir 56).

Technological and Pedagogical Support in the Community
An important factor in introducing the use of Internet as a communication medium in teacher education was the early build-up of Internet connections in Icelandic primary schools through the Icelandic Educational Network – Ísmennt. The network started as a grassroots movement of several rural schools in North Iceland at the initiative of Pétur Þorsteinsson, headmaster of the small village school in Kópasker. This movement aroused general interest, and by the end of 1995, between 85-90% of all schools and district school services were linked to the Internet through the network (Jónasson 9). The enthusiasm of the innovators ensured that the distance program could rely on their support – an agreement was reached with Ísmennt for the program’s students to have access to the network, either from the schools where they worked or from their

homes. Ísmennt would also offer courses on using the Internet. Most of the network’s staff members were teachers, which ensured a better understanding of teachers’ needs and circumstances. This was a crucial matter in creating a supportive community around the new technology.

The university also reached agreements with district educational offices about supporting the student’s access to necessary technology. These offices were also important promoters of this educational opportunity for rural schools. The offices and schools would assist by taking care of the practicum and the examinations for the teacher students in their communities. In that way, both the schools and the school district offices provided pedagogical support for distance teacher students. Unfortunately, neither the Icelandic Educational Network nor the original district offices exist anymore.

The Use of ICT as a tool in Distance Education

When the University College of Education decided to use the Internet in its distance program, it conceived of distance education as a quick and easy mail exchange between students and teachers. As the ICT technology has evolved, it has affected the way both students and teachers use it. E-mail mailing lists make it possible to communicate in a collective way, and this approach has fostered a community of learners on the Internet. Web-based solutions have made discussion and collaboration even easier. Now a web site is set up for each course taught in the distance program, either in password protected systems like WebCT, or in an open web site that teachers make using general web-editors. Many teachers have learned from their distance teaching experiences that using web sites can be helpful for their traditional students, as well (Kristinsdóttir, Macdonald & Matthíasdóttir 42).

Learning tasks that distance students are supposed to perform on the web are most often in the form of discussions about the learning material (Svavarsdóttir & Macdonald forthcomming). Publishing completed assignments on the course-web is quite common - most often in the form of text documents or PowerPoint presentations, but also in hypertext on the web. Currently, all teacher students learn to make their own homepages in the first semester of their studies. Some teachers have started to ask the students to

keep a digital portfolio on their homepages, which seems to be an interesting tool to use both in the evaluations of distance students as well as for the students to monitor their progress.

A graduate course designed for distance students received a European E-Learning award year 2002.[1]In that course the teacher used digital portfolios with multimodal representations of learning assignments in a creative and successful way. The novelty was also a new way of using blogg(web-log) both to motivate and to map students’ learning as well as enhancing the learning community,as the students were able to follow their fellow students’ learning logs (Gissurardóttir 1). In many courses the distance students are asked to write a logbook to map their learning progress and enhance their meta-cognition as students and some few teachers have followed the mentioned example using open blogg-sites on the web for that purpose.[ÞJ1]

Over the past ten years of using the Internet in distance teaching and learning, we have gained valuable experience. Some innovative teachers have been creative in using the possibilities emerging in web-based ICT. Some interesting examples deserve specific mention, such as history courses where students (and teachers) have used an open web site to publish historical information on the Icelandic turf-house tradition. In the last three years, they have been building a database with information collected from old people in their families or communities, in text, drawing, and photo formats. The students use web editors[ÞJ2] (FrontPage) to write hypertexts andpublishtheir texts, photos and drawings on the web. Both distance and on-campus students take part in this project (Helgason 1).

Another example is a website on children’s literature. In 1999, the project received a three-year grant from the Icelandic Research Council as part of a program promoting the use of ICT in Iceland. The project is built around courses on children’s and young people’s literature aimed at teachers and student teachers, with the Internet playing a key role as a medium and environment for learning. Building on the learning theories of

social constructivism, the web is a common arena for the teacher and the students to construct knowledge on children’s literature and the didactics of literature teaching. At the same time, it is a resource for primary school teachers, supporting them and their pupils to use children’s literature in the classroom. Hjartarson and Jóhannsdóttir write: