Teacher perspectives on adoption of student-made screencasts as a peer learning approach in secondary school mathematics

Abstract

A secondary school in Melbourne, Australia piloted an innovative programme in Year 10 Advanced Mathematics, in which the students recorded screencasts as a method of student-led peer learning. The four mathematics teachers who piloted the programme were interviewed to gain their perspectives on their experience and the outcomes of the initiative. Thematic analysis revealed the teachers did not recognize a need to adapt their pedagogy to integrate the technology effectively into their teaching. Three of the teachers were also focused on the quality of the screencast product rather than scaffolding the lessons to enable impactful student-led learning. One teacher who did scaffold his lessons felt unable to lead the other teachers in a consistent approach to the project. The study underscores the need for teacher professional development in pedagogical methods for student-centred, technology-enabled learning if the integration of digital technologies in twenty-first century secondary school classrooms is to be successful.