Supporting teachers as they support each other:Lessons concerning mentor teacher feedback to teacher mentees

As teachers of English as a second language (L2) in web communication, our aim is to help L2 students improve their spoken and written English language skills. Teacher feedback has been shown to do this in some cases. However, only using teacher feedback can put huge pressure on the teacher, both in terms of time and resources. This paper describes and discusses our attempt at introducing peer feedback as an additional way of providing students with feedback on their English writing. Before conducting this study, we did not know if peer feedback would be feasible in our teaching environment or whether it would benefit the students and teachers. Our aim was to establish a status quo of our students’ abilities in providing and implementing peer feedback. We introduced peer-feedback tasks and focused on the types of feedback provided by the students, the phrasing of the feedback, both when implemented and not implemented by the students, and the types of revisions made by the students. Our findings allowed us to develop peer-feedback process guidelines for web communication as a way towards improving written feedback processes in higher education, and hopefully for others to adapt and implement in their own communication classrooms.

Download Full-text

Supporting teachers in their use of ICT in teaching mathematics: What kind of support is necessary and when is it required?

Matters of Behaviour ◽

10.26455/mob.v6i7.35 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 (7) ◽

pp. 1-8

Author(s):

Benard Litali Ashiono

Keyword(s):

Public Schools ◽

Primary Schools ◽

Quantitative Data ◽

Mixed Methods Research ◽

Sampling Technique ◽

Simple Random Sampling ◽

Teaching Mathematics ◽

Second Phase ◽

Grade One ◽

Supporting Teachers

This article reports on a study that was carried out to establish determinants of ICT integration in mathematics teaching and learning. This paper focuses on the kind of support teachers require to effectively use ICT in teaching mathematics. An exploratory sequential mixed methods research design was employed to conduct this study in which quantitative data was initially collected in the first phase. Qualitative data was then collected in the second phase to explain the quantitative data collected in the initial phase. The study targeted all the teachers teaching in lower grades in both private and public schools. A sample size of 40 lower primary schools were purposively selected based on the availability of ICT tools for instructional purposes in those schools. Three teachers teaching in grade one, two and three were then selected using simple random sampling technique especially in cases where more than three teachers existed. Teacher Questionnaire, Teacher Interview Protocol and Observation Protocol were used to collect data. Data was analyzed qualitatively using descriptive phenomenological analysis in which data transcriptions were divided into themes and sub-themes related to phenomena under study. The findings of the study revealed that there was a significant relationship between supporting teachers’ use of ICT in the classroom and their actual use of ICT in teaching mathematics. The study findings however revealed that teachers teaching lower grades in Mombasa, Kenya were not adequately supported in their use of ICT in teaching mathematics. It was recommended that teachers must be granted adequate support in their use of ICT in teaching mathematics.

Download Full-text