Developing Educators for The Digital Age: A Framework for Capturing Knowledge in Action

by Paul Breen

Evaluating skills and knowledge capture lies at the cutting edge of contemporary higher education where there is a drive towards increasing evaluation of classroom performance and use of digital technologies in pedagogy. Developing Educators for the Digital Age is a book that provides a narrative account of teacher development geared towards the further usage of technologies (including iPads, MOOCs and whiteboards) in the classroom presented via the histories and observation of a diverse group of teachers engaged in the multiple dimensions of their profession. Drawing on the insights of a variety of educational theories and approaches (including TPACK) it presents a practical framework for capturing knowledge in action of these English language teachers – in their own voices – indicating how such methods, processes and experiences shed light more widely on related contexts within HE and may be transferable to other situations. This book will be of interest to the growing body of scholars interested in TPACK theory, or communities of practice theory and more widely anyone concerned with how new pedagogical skills and knowledge with technology may be incorporated in better practice and concrete instances of teaching.

218 pages, Paperback

Published February 21, 2018

About the author

Paul Breen is an Irish author and university lecturer based in London. He has written several books, including 'The Charlton Men' published by Thames River Press in May 2014. This is a modern work of fiction set against the world of football and the London riots. His second work in this intended trilogy, 'The Bones of a Season', was subsequently published in September 2016. While the first is a work of romantic fiction, the second is a crime thriller sweeping from London to the south coast of England.
Alongside these works of fiction, Paul has also written several textbooks and one edited collection of chapters in the area of teacher education. He has had articles published in sources as diverse as The Huffington Post, The Independent, The Football Pink, Irish Times, Impartial Reporter, Huddersfield Examiner, Voice of The Valley fanzine, Middlesbrough Evening Gazette, The Conversation, and various academic journals in the field of education.
Outside of his literary output, Paul works as a university lecturer specialising in the areas of language and culture, teacher education, and academic writing. He now lives in the Greenwich area of London but has lived and worked overseas in Korea, Australia, and Japan.
Apart from writing, reading, and travel, his main interests are film, music, and sports. In his work he draws influence not just from Irish literature but also Irish music and the tradition of folk tales and storytelling. Growing up on a farm also influenced him to become vegetarian, and he strongly supports a number of causes related to the welfare of animals. One day he aspires to writing a children's book based on stories of London's cats!