Champkin, Linda (2022) How Can I Use Personalised, Digital-Based Learning to Enhance my Teaching of Reading Comprehension? Masters thesis, National University of Ireland Maynooth.

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Abstract

This self-study action research project explored: How can I use personalised, digital-based learning to enhance my teaching of reading comprehension? My focus on increased separation and decreased interaction due to Covid-19 restrictions (DES, 2021) caused me to retreat to a didactic approach in my teaching of reading comprehension. Through a combination of critical reflection on the mismatch between my practice and my values, in addition to engagement with Irish policy documents on enacting high-quality teaching (GOI, 2021a; DES, 2022), I realised I needed to teach in a more responsive manner; one in which engagement could be maximised despite the Covid-19 social distancing measures. During the course of a ten-week action research cycle, my students completed a number of digital-based reading comprehension tasks which developed the skill of connecting. The first three weeks of the intervention focused on direct teaching of the digital skills needed to both self-select a text from a digital library and create content to demonstrate learning. Scaffolding was then provided as the students engaged with text and recorded their learning according to their own preferences and needs. The digital library Epic was used, in addition to content-creation software such as BookCreator, GoogleDocs and Jamboard. It was found that the provision of personalised, digital-based learning experiences enabled the children to experience themselves as agentic learners. The enactment of student agency resulted in the students feeling empowered to use their voice, to make responsible choices and to take ownership over their role in the process. The following two elements were found to be important in empowering the learner to engage with personalised, digital-based learning: establishing a supportive climate and enabling student agency by providing meaningful learning opportunities in which responsibility is gradually released. My own stuckness in relation to teaching reading comprehension has evolved as I moved beyond a focus on the acquisition of knowledge and skills, towards a more holistic model of learning. I now realise the significance of adopting a pedagogic approach that offers the students the opportunity to discover information for themselves based on their own interests, needs and preferences when using digital tools.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Additional Information:	M.Ed. Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education
Keywords:	Personalised; Digital-Based Learning; Enhance; Teaching; Reading Comprehension;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education
Item ID:	17259
Depositing User:	IR eTheses
Date Deposited:	01 Jun 2023 10:06
URI:
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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