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The project’s aim is to investigate the conceptions of technology held by a group of undergraduate information technology students and how those conceptions change and develop across the period of one semester. The students will be undertaking a subject which aims to help them examine, critique and develop design features of information environments (e.g. web pages). Through close monitoring of what happens during the course of the semester, the researcher intends to examine the perspectives of each of eight students, in detail, and of the rest of the cohort in general terms, on technology and how those understandings develop and change. By observing classroom activities and discussing classroom teaching practices and beliefs about learning and teaching with the lecturer, the researcher also intends to examine links between the students’ development of ideas, and the structure, content and teaching within the subject that they experience throughout the semester. The data will be gathered through a variety of means, including semi-structured interviews, survey instruments, video recordings of classroom interactions, and the collection of artefacts, such as teaching planning notes, handouts and student work. Case studies will be assembled at the end of the data collection period. These case studies will trace the developments and changes in students’ conceptions of technology. Reflection upon the case students will be made in the light of current issues in technology education in school and higher education contexts.
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