A framework for seeking the connections between technology, pedagogy, and culture : a study in the Maldives

Abstract

Educational technology researchers have often overlooked the effect of culture on teachers’ use of digital technologies in their pedagogical practice. Several technology integration models, such as the Technology Adoption Model (TAM) and Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK), have also failed to explain the connections between technology, pedagogy, and culture. This paper argues that teachers’ pedagogical and technological practices cannot be fully understood without considering the social and cultural norms of their specific cultures. An ethnographic methodology, linked to Bourdieu’s (1977) habitus, is used to explore teacher educators’ practices in the Maldives. The author uses interviews, observations, focus groups, and the hanging-out approach to gather data from eleven teacher educators who work in a Maldivian university. Key findings demonstrate that teacher educators’ pedagogical and technological practices are influenced by their own culture, their early learning experiences in the Maldives, and their workplace (institutional context). Through this finding, the paper proposes a framework; namely, Pedagogical and Technological Cultural Habitus (PATCH), for understanding teachers’ pedagogical and technological habitus in various contexts. The PATCH framework provides a theoretical basis for designing technology-oriented professional development for professionals in various pedagogical contexts, including virtual and blended pedagogical spaces. It also contributes to the TPACK framework by adding an outer layer to its current theorisation to represent teachers’ backgrounds and habitus when examining their practices.