Introduction
The incorporation or use of technology in learning and teaching presents pedagogical challenges and concerns to educators. One of these challenges for example is the lack of adequate knowhow on technology by the teachers. The combination of multimedia technology and internet has led to the emergence of new possibilities when it comes to developing instructional materials for delivering course content. However, one question that has persisted and that is often explored by education researchers is when and how to utilize various educational technology tools and how to incorporate them appropriately into the classroom. It is said that using education technology as a constructivist tool or device can help students exemplify their ideas, articulate their knowledge, explore, process and manipulate information while at the same time engaging in active collaboration with each other. However, there has been mixed perceptions among students as well as faculty members regarding the use of technology in a constructivist learning environment.
I will conduct my research at the Princess Nora bint Abdurrahman University I Riyadh Saudi Arabia. I chose this place to be my research as I am quite familiar with it and the authorities at the institution were very co-operative when I enquired about conducting the research there. The research will be conducted in a period of 3 weeks
The goal of my study is explore the different perspectives of students and faculty members regarding the use of technology in a constructivist learning environment. I want to find out what the students and the faculty members think about this topic and whether they support the use of technology in a constructivist learning environment .Therefore, the study will present me with information on the perspectives of these two stakeholders of the education system.
This study is very important especially in Saudi Arabia whereby the constructivist learning environment has only in recent decades started gaining pace after many years of the traditional form of leaning.
The study will adopt the exploratory mixed method design that incorporates qualitative and quantitative research. This design enables me to draw viable conclusions from a large number of students and faculty member’s perspectives on the issue at hand. The main data collection tools that will utilized in this study are surveys and interviews. These tools have been chosen because of the nature of this study that requires students and faculty members to give their opinions and it has already been proven that in this kind of research, these are indeed the best tools to utilize. Interviews will be recorded by an audio recorder and they will then be translated from Arabic to English. The interviews will be able to offer more insight and explain more on why they have adopted a certain perspective in regards to the topic at hand. In addition, the mixed method design will also assist me to make conclusive integration of the information and data from the interviews and surveys.
The survey will comprise a total of 25 questions while the interview will be comprised of a total of eight questions. In regards to the survey, the total number of students that will be surveyed will be 50 while the number of faculty members will also be 50. The participants will chose randomly and both genders will be represented equally. Interviews will be conducted with six students and six faculty members. Once again, these will be randomly selected. The age of the students will be between 20-22 years while the age of the faculty members of 35-40 years. For the survey, the interview will comprise of two open ended questions and the rest will require a yes/no response. In the case of the interviews, the interviewees will be required to provide more insight into their yes/no response.
The research will commence with a visit to the Princess Nora bint Abdurrahman University in Riyadh Saudi Arabia. During the first week where I will meet with the students from the university’s department of art education. I will meet with three different classes from this department on three different days where on each day during these meeting sessions, the goals of the research will be comprehensively explained to the students. The questions contained in the survey sheet.
After this, the survey sheets will be distributed to the students, and they will have approximately one hour to fill their answers and responses and then hand the sheets back me.
The survey on the students will then be followed by a survey on faculty members. The survey sheets will be handed to the faculty members for them to fill during their free time and they will then hand them back.
The next step of this research process will involve the interviews. Interviews will be conducted with six students and six faculty members. The interviews will enable me to establish more information about the perspectives of students and faculty members about the use of technology.
The interviews will commence with six students randomly selected from the university’s department of art education. Each interview session will take approximately 30 minutes to one hour whereby each student will be asked to a total of eight questions.
Later, interviews will be conducted with six faculty members and once again, the interview sessions will be between 30 minutes and one hour long. Faculty members will also be asked a total of eight questions.
After the survey and the interviews are over, the data will be compiled. The results from the student surveys and interviews will be kept on one section while those from the members of the faculty will be kept in another section.
The results will then be narrowed down and comprehensively analyzed to detect any stand out patterns..
The quantitative data will then be subjected to statistical analysis using a program such as SPSS. Later on, the quantitative data will then be analyzed using the MAXda program will then be used be used to perform more analysis of the data to show the differences or similarities. These will then be noted and recorded. Descriptive analysis will then be used to explain the perspectives of students and faculty member’s perspective on the use of technology in a constructivist learning environment. Inferential statistics will then be used to draw comprehensive conclusions.
The data will then be presented graphically. A bar graph and ta line graph will be used to show the differences and similarities in the perspectives of the students and the participants. Conclusion will then be made.
As common with any other study, there are several expected limitations and challenges in regard to this study. The primary challenge and limitation arises from the participants. Some of them may be unwilling to take part in the study. In addition, for those who do take part in the study, some of them might take the study to be literally irrelevant and might, therefore, give inaccurate answers. This research however hopes that these limitations and challenges will not exhibit themselves.
The anonymity of the participants will be maintained throughout this study. None of their real names will be used. The participants will also sign letters of consent to show that they have agreed to take part in the study.
Survey QuestionsStudent
- What degree are you currently pursuing?
- What do you understand by the constructivist theory?
- Is the kind of learning in your degree program constructivist or traditional?
- Mention one technological related tool that you have being used? (For instance, the ArtWeaver) Did you enjoy the use of the program?
- Has technology been incorporated into your university’s constructivists learning environment?
- Are you contented with the use of technology in their university’s teaching and learning?
- Do you think the incorporation or usage of technology has been beneficial or harmful?
- Has the total performance of the university been positively affected by the usage of technology in the learning environment?
- If you university or your department has adopted the usage of technology, would you recommend other universities to adopt the technology?
- Would you want your university to reinforce the current level of technology usage
- Do you think the current type of technology has been adopted at your university is appropriate?
- Would like to see the university employ technological experts assist with the adoption of technology into the constructivist learning environment?
- If your university already uses technology within the constructivist learning environment, do you think that other universities will catch up naturally?
- If a comparison was done on education outcomes your university some three years ago when technology had not been incorporate into university and three years from now when technology has been fully incorporated you thing the future education outcome would rank higher?
- Apart from yourself, do you think other students favor the use of technology in the constructivist learning environment?
- Are you familiar with current technological devices that have been incorporate into the university environment?
- Do you sometimes find it hard to use technology when learning/teaching?
- Do you think that all students should undergo a special technology training to understand all the aspects of technology that have been incorporated not the learning environment?
- Do you think that technology has made the general education process easier or harder?
- Do you think that technology has made students lazy?
- Do you think technology should replace all manual aspects of learning and teaching?
- Have you ever heard fellow students/faculty members bad talk or discredit technology
- Given the high pace of technological advancement, do you think the current tool or education devices incorporated into your university’s environment will become outpaced by new emerging tools?
- Do you think that the usage of technology in teaching and learning should be legally enforced in every university?
- Do you think that technology tools in your university are sometimes utilized inappropriately for purposes other than teaching and learning?
- Do you think that guideline that dictate on exactly how technology should be used in the classroom including the limits is necessary?
Survey Questions
- What subjects do you currently teach
- What do you understand by the constructivist theory?
- Is the kind of teaching in the subjects you teach constructivist or traditional?
- Mention one technological related tool that you have being used in class when teaching students. (For instance, the ArtWeaver) Did you enjoy the use of the program?
- Has technology been incorporated into your university’s constructivists learning environment?
- As a member of the faculty, are you contented with the use of technology in their university’s teaching and learning?
- Do you think the incorporation or usage of technology has been beneficial or harmful?
- Has the total performance of the university been positively affected by the usage of technology in the learning environment?
- If your university or your department has adopted the usage of technology, would you recommend other universities to adopt the technology?
- Would you want your university to reinforce the current level of technology usage
- Do you think the current type of technology has been adopted at your university is appropriate?
- Would like to see the university employ technological experts assist with the adoption of technology into the constructivist learning environment?
- If your university already uses technology within the constructivist learning environment, do you think that other universities will catch up naturally?
- If a comparison was done on education outcomes your university some three years ago when technology had not been incorporate into university and three years from now when technology has been fully incorporated you thing the future education outcome would rank higher?
- Apart from yourself, do you think other faculty members favor the use of technology in the constructivist learning environment?
- Do you sometimes find it hard to use technology when teaching?
- Do you think that all faculty members including yourself should undergo a special technology training to understand all the aspects of technology that have been incorporated not the learning environment?
- Do you think that technology has made the general education process easier or harder?
- Do you think that technology has made faculty members lazy?
- Do you think technology should replace all manual aspects of teaching?
- Have you ever heard fellow faculty members bad talk or discredit technology
- Given the high pace of technological advancement, do you think the current tool or education devices incorporated into your university’s environment will become outpaced by new emerging tools?
- Do you think that the usage of technology in teaching and learning should be legally enforced in every university?
- Do you think that technology tools in your university are sometimes utilized inappropriately for purposes other than teaching and learning?
- Which is your favorite education technology tool as a faculty member?
Interview Questions
- Do you support the use of technology in the constructivist learning environment? Why
- Has technology been incorporated into your university’s constructivists learning environment? Explain how
- Are you contented or satisfied with the current level of technology use in the learning environment?
- Has you’re the performance of the university been positively affected by the usage of technology in the learning environment? Explain
- If you university or your department has adopted the usage of technology, would you recommend other universities to adopt the technology? Why?
- Which particular technological devices have been incorporated into the learning environment
- Do you think the technological tools and devices adopted are appropriate? Explain?
- What are your general views about the usage of technology in a constructivist learning environment?
Interview Questions
- As member of the faculty, are you in the favor of using of technology in the constructivist learning environment? Why
- Has technology been incorporated into your university’s constructivists learning environment? Explain how
- Are you contented or satisfied with the current level of technology use in the course of your teaching?
- Do you think that teaching has been improved by the usage of technology in the learning environment? Explain
- Would you recommend other universities to adopt the technology? Why?
- Which particular technological devices are currently used in the University for teaching?
- Do you think the technological tools and devices adopted are appropriate? Explain?
- What are your general views about the usage of technology in a constructivist learning environment?
