Beginning teacher education and collaborative formative e-assessment

This paper is based on research and development over the last three years that set out to investigate how technology can facilitate interaction and collaborative learning between beginning teachers on a one-year Postgraduate Certificate in Education programme. These developments drew on research into formative assessment and collaborative group work as well as developments in information and communication technology, often now referred to as digital technologies. An action research approach was used with the purpose of developing pedagogical practices and student learning through a spiral process of planning, action, observation and reflection involving the author as a teacher researcher. An activity system framework enabled the complexity to be recognised whilst highlighting contradictions that focused attention on key elements that could act as driving forces for change. The development was successful to the extent of enabling collaborative learning in beginning teachers' own development. Furthermore, it engendered a positive approach to incorporating collaborative learning with a focus on peer feedback within a repertoire of pedagogical approaches in their own teaching practices. Some technologies integrated easily into these approaches and made them more efficient. Barriers to developing collaborative learning further within beginning teachers' own practices in their placement schools were identified. These resulted from a contradiction between the object and the community in the school activity system.