Mindmap

I have had a look at some of the mind maps posted, and I am impressed. I am hoping I am on the right track here. My research topic is:

"With access to specific online tutorials, is the way we teach and learn starting to change in educational institutions?"

I am specifically looking at the changes that are happening, have happened or may happen from the introduction of the online tutorials in education. My identified change is the introduction of online tutorials in education. 

In my mindmap you will see that online resources are all the way through, because without these we would not have the need or drive for change in relation to my research. 

Students, Teacher and Technology are at the centre because without at least 1 of these 3 there would be no need for the online tutorials. Technology refers to the resources the students, teachers and school have available. It also refers to internet connectivity, reliability of resources and the ease of using them in an educational context. I still feel as though there is room for teachers, as they would need to guide students to the appropriate online tutorials, and set students tasks to ensure they met learning outcomes. 

In the second part of my ecological perspective I have referred to personal values and personal attitudes. This relates directly to the teacher. I think this is so important because how the Teacher feels about online tutorials and their attitudes and experiences with them has a major impact on their use or non use of these tools. I refer to PD (professional development) here because Teachers will need different levels of support to use online tutorials effectively. The PD may be around spects like the tutorials themselves, or how we can assess using these tutorials, the changes we need to make, or simply sharing different online tutorials to use. MCFCS (Mid Canterbury Fibre Connected Schools) is a huge part of our development towards change in ICT. We are lucky enough to have support from them in areas of PD and advice. We have a say in what we want from them and the MOE funds them to support us as a cluster. The BOT is a vital part of this change (Including the Principal), they come after the students and teachers because I feel as though things need to be trialled and changes need to be made before the BOT can see the advantages of them. I am a strong believer in 'doing' and proving, as opposed to talking around a table (within context).

Our local community are sometimes hard to get together as a community. We have 90% of our students on buses and having parent evenings often ends up with the same 20ish parents turning up. Our local community does not have a lot of say in our education or what goes on in the school. I feel as though the changes are happening without them, although it would be nice to see them more involved. Online communities would be in the same stage as our local community e.g. Partners in Learning, Microsoft IT Academy, UC Learn. I feel as though the change in the classroom using online tutorials would be heavily supported by these outfits, and I would hope that the local community become involved. At this stage I feel as though the local community would be further away in my ecological perspective, but I am hoping for some change in their attitudes and values towards online tutorials this year.

I have added National Standards and Ministry of Education in there. In relation to my research, I don't feel as though they are a central part of the changes that are happening. I feel as though there is no support for online tutorials in relation to the  National Standards or through the MOE directly. 

Although MOE does support TKI, there is still a lot of outdated material on there, and I feel as though the use of this would not affect my research. 

Politics are very far away from my students. In relation to this change in education II feel as though there is no support for or against it from the government.

In my final stage there is the International Market. I have already seen a change in the way UC deliver educational content using online tutorials, I wonder how far this may spread and if places will start marketing and profiting from them.