Sara Archard
MEd, Faculty of Education, the University of Waikato, Hamilton.
Awards:
2013 Nola Campbell Memorial Elearning Teaching Excellence Award
Research Interests:
My key research interests lie in initial teacher education and, in particular, the use of digital technologies to support and enhance learning, teaching and research in initial teacher education and the early childhood sector.
In initial teacher education my research is grounded in relational eLearning pedagogy that includes the eLearning experience from a student perspective. This is reflected in my current PhD study entitled “How student teachers perceive their relationships over time with teacher educators in an online initial early childhood teacher educator programme in Aotearoa New Zealand. I am also exploring how the use of social media can enhance learning relationships in eLearning environments.
In the early childhood sector my research focus is the digital habitus of children and how it is recognised and responded to in early childhood settings in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Finally, I am exploring the use of digital story-telling as a methodology to capture voices and reflection of research participants. This research includes the voices of children and families with English as an additional language attending playgroups and also the experience and understanding of learning.