Exploring pedagogical strategies in a low-technology context

This study is an exploration of the perspectives and practices of lecturers and students in two English language teacher education institutions in Indonesia. The purpose of this investigation was to examine their perspectives about the types of technology tools and applications in low-technology context, lecturers’ pedagogical practices to implement the teaching and learning process using those technology tools and applications and students’ perspectives of the benefits they gain when technology tools and applications are used.

This study took place at a time when the Indonesian education policy started promoting constructivist learning and encouraging the use of technology and internet-based learning materials to improve the delivery of content and the process of teaching and learning. At a higher education level, particularly in teacher education institutions, lecturers are expected to be technology literate as part of their professionalism and be able to integrate its use in their teaching.

The study adopted mainly qualitative research methods to investigate five lecturers and fourteen students in two teacher education institutions. Semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and questionnaires to the students were incorporated to investigate the issues related to pedagogical strategies and learning opportunities gained by the students. The study indicates that teaching with technology tools and applications can be applied in the low-technology context. This possibility was supported by some conditions, including the situations where the lecturers and the students both recognised the positive use of technology tools and their application for learning purposes and were able to provide their own internet quota, use free or less costly and widely used technology applications, or use already downloaded online material.

The study found that the limitation implies on the use of out of classroom learning environment as support to help students collaborate and work on the learning tasks. In-class teaching learning activities were oriented to clarify learning activities conducted out of classroom and as a compensate to dispense and transmit knowledge, to provide mindful guidance when executing learning tasks and to foster reflection. The teaching with technology showed that the implementation was combined with general instruction strategies that include lecture-based instruction, group work and classroom discussion as well as involving activities that were done outside of the classroom both by the lecturers and the students.