Abstract

LOPEZ FILARDO, María Guadalupe. Some considerations on the use of XO as a teaching tool: perceptions and attitudes of high-school History teachers. Cuad. Investig. Educ. [online]. 2015, vol.6, n.1, pp.1-1. ISSN 1510-2432.

The inclusion of digital technology in teaching and training processes is particularly relevant to their improvement and, at the same time, challenges both educational institutions and teachers. Many questions have arisen in this sense since the implementation of the new tool. How do teachers perceive the use of technology? How can they integrate technology to their usual teaching practices? Which are the factors intervening in this process? This paper contains the main lines of a research aiming at penetrating the sense and the meanings associated by high-school History teachers with the use of Ceibal Project’s XO laptops in class work. We also take into consideration the pedagogical criteria supporting the use of XO and its implications on both History teaching methods and the role of History teachers. A multiple-case study has been conducted applying an ethnographically-focused qualitative methodology. Ten female History teachers working in state high-schools in Montevideo have willingly participated in this study. A phenomenological hermeneutical interpretation model -including in-depth interviews, class observation and document analysis- has been developed for the purpose of learning, describing and properly understanding the cases in question. The empirical evidence collected has shown remarkably heterogeneous situations concerning the modes of acquisition and integration of the new technology by teachers, as well as the intervention of certain changes in the scope of the teachers’ role. Likewise, the didactical approaches stemming from the use of XO laptops still adhere to traditional curriculum-management patterns. Consequently, it seems necessary to develop new teaching skills, as well as suitable conditions that facilitate and encourage the generalisation of innovative pedagogic practices.

Keywords : Plan Ceibal laptops (XO); high-school education; History teachers; perceptions and attitudes; teaching practices.

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