Digital and Cultural Transformation in Primary Education. Teacher Engagement with Minecraft Education Edition

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

Table of Contents

Table of Figures

1. Introduction
1.1 Backgroundof theresearch
1.2 Companydescription
1.3 Problem and opportunity analysis
1.4 Mainresearchquestion
1.5 Organization of the report

2. TheoreticalFramework
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Conceptualframework
2.3 Theoretical perspectives on the topic
2.3.1 Digital transformation in primary education
2.3.2 Changing skill requirements for primary school teachers
2.3.3 Technology acceptance and its barriers in primary education
2.3.4 Internal drivers of ICT self-efficacy in teachers
2.4 Limitations of selected theory
2.5 Selectionof theories
2.6 Conclusion

3. Research Methodology
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Research approach, strategy and design
3.3 Key features of 21st century education
3.4 Skill requirements for 21st century education teachers
3.5 Technology acceptance and barriers of Minecraft: EE
3.6 Teacher engagement and Minecraft: Education Edition in the classroom
3.7 ICT self-efficacy and teachers
3.8 Conclusion

4. Findings andAnalysis
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Topici - 21st century education
4.2.1 Social and emotional learning in the classroom
4.2.2 The challenges of student agency
4.2.3 Teaching personalized and game-based learning
4.2.4 21st century education challenges
4.3 Topic 2 - Skillrequirementsfor teachers using Minecraft: EE
4.3.1 The importance of teacher agency: a role shift in teaching
4.3.2 Minecraft: EE teaching requirements
4.4 Topic 3 -Technology acceptance and barriers
4.4.1 Factors related to technology acceptance
4.4.2 Barriers to technology acceptance
4.5 Topic 4 - Teacher engagement with M:EE
4.6 Topic 5- Factors influencing teachers' ICT self-efficacy
4.7 Synthesisof findings

5. Conclusion

6. Recommendations
6.1 Implementationplan
6.1.1 Primaryschoolteachers
6.1.2 Teacher facing roles at Microsoft
6.2 Limitations and further research

Bibliography

Appendices
Appendix A Gartner's Hype Cycle for Education
Appendix B Arpaci's Technology Acceptance Model
Appendix C Pre-study Draft of adapted Technology Acceptance Model
Appendix D Data Collection - Draft Interview Request
Appendix E Data Collection - Interview Schedule Forms
Appendix F Data collection - Interview protocol template
Appendix G Data collection - Interview questions M:EE teachers
Appendix H Data collection - Interview questions Industry Experts
Appendix I Data collection - Interview questions ICT-coordinators
Appendix J Data collection - Interview questions ТЕМ
Appendix К Data collection - Participant Country Distribution
Appendix L Data Analysis - Color Coding Scheme Interview Transcripts
Appendix M Teacher engagement guidelines

Preface

This thesis served the purpose of providing Microsoft Education with a sound overview of the growth opportunities, challenges and barriers around teacher engagement with emerging educational technology, using their product Minecraft: Education Edition as a case example. It is the final component of the International Business & Management studies at the Amsterdam School of International Business.

I decided to write my thesis about teacher engagement with emerging educational technologies since it is a relevant and important issue in our ever-changing fast-paced world of transformation. With this research, I hope to show teacher-facing managers around the world, how they can help teachers integrate technology in a meaningful manner.

I would like to thank my company coach Martin Diepeveen for his weekly mentoring and guidance as well as my supervisor Jeroen Keip for his frequent and helpful advice throughout the thesis trajectory. Their feedback was invaluable in the composition of this thesis.

Furthermore, I would like to thank all interviewees and observation participants for allowing me to study your expertise on Minecraft: EE and even letting me observe your classroom. Your enthusiasm and motivation around Minecraft: EE have inspired methroughout the research process.

Finally, I would like to extend my gratitude to everyone who provided feedback and encouragement throughout this thesis.

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Natasha Shroff Amsterdam, July 1st, 2018

Executive Summary

With the fast-paced change of society, a transformation of education is vital in preparing today's students for tomorrow's challenges such as a technology-based labor market. A concept named 21st century learning has been developed by various stakeholders, to frame the new type of skills required to succeed in the changing business environment. In this study, an investigation into primaryschool teacher engagement with emerging educational technology has been carried out in the case of Minecraft: Education Edition, a game-based emerging educational technology. The game was selected because it facilitates the learning of 21st century skills and hence provided a suitable choice to test various teacher technology engagement factors on a global scale.

21st century skills were found to focus on students' knowledge adaption and application rather than the traditional teaching, based on knowledge acquisition and assimilation. Concepts are based on a variety of skills such as basic ICT skills, media literacy to support critical thinking in terms of data and conscious decision-making, informational & computational thinking, as well as the social and emotional learning aspect. The latter being a critical component for graduates to thrive and collaborate in a continuously adapting environment. This digital and cultural transformation requires students to take more responsibility, ownership, and agency over their learning. Hence, time and place independent, student-centered, and flexible learning, are encouraged through 21st century education.

With the transformation of education, new skill requirements for teachers were found to be essential for a 21st century skill transfer in primary schools. Such requirements include high levels of teacher agency, basic digital skills and pedagogical-technological integration competences to take responsibilityfor the EdTech integration. To applytechnology effectively, teachers are recommended to build their ICT self-efficacy, their own beliefs in their digital skills, on a continuous professional learning journey. To increase the latter engagement component, measures such as sharing expertise and experiences in a (global) teacher community as well as pro-actively seeking increased collaboration with teachers and students are recommended.

The integration of these new teacher skill requirements can be limited through external and internal barriers. Study findings have shown that external factors such as teacher education, organizations' openness to change, including time allocation for professional learning, as well as infrastructure & accessibility of technology were the most common factors to limit teacher engagement in the case of Minecraft:EE. However, if these variables are given, teacher engagement can also be limited through own lack of interest or openness to change and willingness to experiment with emerging EdTech.

To study the teacher engagement with M:EE, a qualitative research has been carried out with thirteen semi-structured interviews, two expert conversations and three teacher observations. Findings show that effective use of Minecraft: EE enables students and teachers to collaborate intensively in the virtual and real environment, while acquiring 21st century skills. Teachers were found to increase their pedagogic agency, willingness to learn and experiment, creativity in teaching and ICT self-efficacy through M:EE. Commonly known effects of M:EE were found to increase concentration and focus of players, stimulate creativity through the creation of buildings and facilitate social & emotional learning through two-dimensional collaboration.

Table of Figures

Figure 2.1 Conceptual Framework

Figure 2.2 Digital transformation elements

Figure 2.3 Digital literacy and 21st century skills

Figure 2.4 Rigor Relevance Framework

Figure 2.5 EducationTransformation Framework

Figure 2.6 21st century education overview

Figure 2.7 Adjusted SQD-model

Figure 2.8 ТРАСК Framework

Figure 2.9 Original TAM

Figure 2.10 Revised UTAUT

Figure 2.11 Teacher's belief in technology use

Figure 4.1 OECD Learning Framework 2030

Figure 4.2 Types of M:EE collaborations

Figure 4.3 Overview OECD design principles

Figure 4.4 ТРАСК Momentum Netherlands

Figure 4.5 Tam Independent Variables Importance Rating

Figure 4.6 Tested TAM variables

Figure 4.7 Perceived barriers to M:EE teacher engagement

Figure 4.8 ICT self-efficacy factors in M:EE

Figure 4.9 Adapted TAM in 21st century context

Abbreviations

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1. Introduction

1.1 Background of the research

The topic of the thesis concerns the digital and cultural transformation of primary education. A case study was conducted to find out which factors increase teacher engagement with the emerging educational technology product Minecraft: Education Edition (M:EE). This investigation into the newest digital developments and attitude towards digitalization in the classroom was conducted to explore business growth opportunities for Microsoft and specifically M:EE.

"Technology will not replace great teachers but technology in the hands of great teachers can be transformational."

- George Couros (2015)

Microsoft aims to transform the technological capability of their education customers and end-users to enable the latter to compete on the future tech-savvy labor market. To ensure the international scope and relevance of this study, the primary data collection was carried out internationally.

1.2 Company description

Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975 with a vision for a computer on every desk and in every home and employs more than 150.000 professionals in 190 countries today (Microsoft, 2018a). The company has the mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Microsoft aims to build platforms and productivity services for an intelligent cloud infused with Artificial Intelligence (Al) (Janakiram, 2016; Microsoft, 2017, 2018a). It develops, licenses and supports software products and services with the following strategic initiatives: Al, cloud, diversity and inclusion, education, mixed reality, security and social good. One of the new growing core commercial solution areas is gaming, with a 100+ billion industry outlook.

Microsoft Education serves the purpose of transforming the learning process by enabling well- trained teachers and effective IT systems. Learning solutions range from classroom collaboration tools, virtual labs to practice future-ready skills over to predictive analytics for education and devices with a 44% global market share of Windows in K-12 education (FutureSource, 2018). Customers consist of Museums & Libraries, K-12 as well as higher education institutions. The company also has partnerships with approximately 2000 showcase schools worldwide, which exemplifythe use of Microsoft EdTech. The researcher was part of the Microsoft Education team in the Netherlands for the duration of the study.

1.3 Problem and opportunityanalysis

The study investigates the digital and cultural transformation challenges of primary education regarding the teacher engagement with emerging technologies in Dutch classrooms using M:EE as the primary case example. This study is relevant, since today's society moves towards a digital world in which 65% of today's primary education students will take on new jobs in the future that don't exist yet, while 50% of today's jobs could be automated by 2030. (McKinsey & Microsoft, 2018; World Economic Forum, 2016). In the Netherlands, the primary education curriculum has not been updated in more than 10 years and most lectures in primary education are still given without the use of emergingtechnologies (Ministerievan OCW, 2017; Rijksoverheid, 2017).

Research has shown that most primary schools rarely use ICT in lectures, considering the extensive number of educational technologies that are available today (OECD, 2017a). One of the factors that influence the lack of emerging technologies in the classroom, could be attributed to the primary school teacher education with analog teaching methods as the primary choice of pedagogy. As a result, most primary school teachers engage with technology on a basic level that restricts the extent of potential that educational technology currently provides (Lonka & Cho, 2015; OECD, 2017a). Further studies suggested that the well-informed use of emerging technologies in the classroom is crucial to an early, coherent understanding of advanced technology for children (Pijpers, Barneveld, Hol, & Steeman, 2016; Thomas, 2018). The teacher profession is expected grow between 3 and 9% in the upcoming ten years, which increases the urgency to re-evaluate initial teacher training programs (McKinsey& Microsoft, 2018).

In the Netherlands, few primary schools deploy and adopt emerging educational technologies in the classroom. It seems that most of them are reluctant towards the adoption during lectures due to the traditional perception of education by directors, teachers, parents as well as a lack of funds (de Lange & Lodewijk, 2017). As a result, students who will graduate within the next three to five years are not sufficiently prepared for the digital and social skills that the 4th Industrial Revolution requires (Büyükbaykal, 2015; В. Daggett, 2014; McKinsey & Microsoft, 2018; World Economic Forum, 2016). This opportunity is relevant today, since society will have to deal with the economic consequences, if graduates are not sufficiently prepared to take on the challenges that this new type of labor will demand (World Economic Forum, 2016). As STEM graduates, especially in the field of ICT, are known to have better employment prospects, it is of high relevance to facilitate early teacher engagement with the introduction of technology already in primary education (OECD, 2017a).

Microsoft Education has various objectives to increase its technology engagement in primary schools. The mission is to empower students of today to create the world of tomorrow. This mission asks for an increase in teacher engagement with 21st century education tools. Company objectives are i.e. to change the digital capabilities of their end-users, drive awareness of their technologies in education, support product research to contribute to the education industry and grow M:EE engagement together with Office 365, a software as a service (SaaS).

One of those increasingly popular products is Minecraft: Education Edition, an educational version of the commonly-known sandbox game released by Microsoft in 2016, offered in eleven languages with 2 million users located in 115 countries (Microsoft, 2018b). In the Netherlands, the usage of M:EE is comparatively low, as the distribution started only in early 2018 and, therefore, creates a business opportunity for Microsoft to explore the market. The game-based collaboration and learning takes place in a 3D Block-environment (Mojang, 2018). Players can build, explore, gather resourcesto create objects, houses, worlds among others (van der Ark et al., 2017).

Gamers are competitive job market candidates due to their unique skill-set and limited research is available on the engagement of teachers with emerging EdTech games in K-12 education (Riordan & Scarf, 2017). One of the central elements of the game is collaboration among players, catalyzing social and emotional learning, which is found to predict the academic achievement of a student twice as much as the social environment factor and demographics (McKinsey & Microsoft, 2018). To summarize, limited Minecraft literature is available in the educational context which defines it as an emerging technology and therefore builds a sound research gap to study the effects of teacher engagement. Given these opportunities and industry trends, the educational game was selected as the primary case example for this study.

1.4 Main research question

This research aims to explore the growth opportunities for teacher engagement with emerging technology during the digital and cultural transformation of primary education with the following research question:

Which factors can increase teacher engagement with emerging educational technology such as Minecraft: Education Edition in primary schools?

This study will make use of the emerging game-based educational technology product M:EE, to identify engagement factors in the classroom. The study recommendations should provide Microsoft Education with a strategic formula to improve the quality of teacher engagement with their product. ICT drivers and barriers of international teachers as well as the intention towards technology use were explored, since the research considers both digital and cultural transformation as critical factors of technology adoption.

1.5 Organization of the report

The thesis contains seven chapters as visualized below.

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In the introduction, the reader will be provided with a background of the company, industry landscape and the existing opportunity in the market, followed by the main research question. Following that, the second chapter consists of the theoretical framework that includes relevant theories to build the foundation for specific sub questions to deepen the research scope. The research methodology is the next logical step in the thesis and contains the data collection methods that were used to carry out the research. The fourth chapter discusses research findings and provides a sound analysis of the data. To summarize the key findings, conclusions were drafted, followed by an implementation plan, research limitations and further research suggestions.

2. Theoretical Framework

2.1 Introduction

This chapter consists of the theoretical framework and ends with research sub questions in support of the main research question. To add structure to the theoretical framework, relevant theory is discussed in a deductive approach to connect various sources of data together in a sound explanation. The literature review is meant to support the research with existing hypothesis on the digital and cultural transformation topic and dissect the main research question into smaller keywords for clarification purposes (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2007).

The set-up of the theoretical framework consists of a literature review of several theoretical perspectives, followed by limitations of selected theories. The theoretical framework leads to five research sub questions, which are based on the applicable theory presented in this chapter.

2.2 Conceptual framework

To provide a visual overview of the presented theories related in the theoretical framework, a conceptual framework has been developed in Figure 2.1. Firstly, several theories on 21st century education will be presented to the reader for contextualization purposes. Based on the 21st century skills definition, the respective change of skill requirements for primary school teachers will be presented to explain which 21st century skills are necessary to facilitate engagement with M:EE. As a third topic, the technology acceptance model and technology adoption theories are brought into the educational context. Finally, frequent barriers of teacher engagement with emerging educational technology and the drivers for teacher ICT self-efficacy will be discussed in the final two sections.

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Figure 2.1 Conceptual Framework. Created by author (2018)

2.3 Theoretical perspectives on the topic

This subchapter provides a comprehensive overview of teacher technology engagement theories. Previous studies on emerging technologies used for primary education purposes are introduced and critically reviewed. To provide several theoretical perspectives, a combination of literature, recently published research studies and peer-reviewed journal articles are considered.

2.3.1 Digital transformation in primary education

In this section, various definitions of 21st century education and skills are summarized and evaluated for a multi-perspective approach on this topic. In addition, examples of emerging educational technology such as the micro-computer micro:bit are included to provide context around the newest developments in 21st century education.

To begin with, the elements of digital transformation are vital to an understanding of today's education and its role in the 4th Industrial Revolution. The new epoch is defined through key elements such as: digitalization, robotics, machine learning, Al and the transition in decision-making from humans to computers. Overall, the human-computer interaction has become advanced and continues to transform the job market with rapid pace (Syam & Sharma, 2018).

In this environment, the teacher role simultaneously undergoes a transformation to adapt to the changes that the 4th Industrial Revolution entails. Digital transformation is a widely used term across various industries. The Conference Board for instance, decided to split up its definition into four elements in Figure 2.2 (2017):

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Figure 2.2 Digital transformation elements. Adjusted from The Conference Board (2017)

As mentioned above, the transformation of industries is also part of the 4th industrial revolution in which the society transitions into the usage of new systems that are based on the digital revolution (Bailer, Dutta, & Lanvin, 2016). Consequently, daily activities in education are fundamentally impacted by technology in a way that changes behavior and learning goals of students and teachers, these are frequently mentioned as part of the 21st century skills. For instance, the European Parliament introduced new policies for innovative education under the term 21st century learning. As stated in their report "Innovative schools: Teaching and learning in the digital era", the main reason for the restructuring was the educational transformation moving from "individualistic knowledge acquisition to rather collaborative knowledge creation" (Lonka & Cho, 2015, p. 9). The policy report further mentions creative problem-solving and entrepreneurial skills in combination with ethical awareness as part of their 21st century skill roadmap.

The term Social and Emotional learning (SEL) was specifically highlighted in the report, requiring both students and teachers to support successful collaboration in education. The increasing gap between current market trends and the use of technology in education was identified and acknowledged by the European Parliament. Instead of simply using common forms of e-learning such as massive open online courses (MOOC), the parliament rather sets out to focus on hybrid methods to increase personalized and meaningful learning in which all types of learning spaces melt into one integrated learning experience based on knowledge creation for students. This new method is also called socio­constructivist learning or deep learning, since student-centered learning is shifting from pure knowledge acquisition towards knowledge construction into various contexts. The key idea of SEL is to emphasize the change in society and reflect it in the educational context with new hybrid collaboration methods.

Furthermore, the assessment practices of teachers were identified as a barrier to educational transformation and should be adapted to the new learning methods. One of the reasons for new assessment methods is the current labor market, which indicates a demand for applicants with 21st century skills instead of high examination scores. In Finland for instance, primary education is based on collaboration and play instead of frequent standardized testing and long teaching hours as demonstrated in the U.S. (Lonka & Cho, 2015). To conclude, the policy report emphasizes the importance of adjusting the education system to the market developments including innovative pedagogical methods and new competences required for teachers. Digital competence was defined as a confident and critical application of information communication technology, but educational technology application still needs to be redesigned to avoid unnecessary technology use.

In the Netherlands, the educational research institution Kennisnet for instance, created its own definition of digital literacy and 21st century education skills. Their concept is based on digital literacy as the overarching term and splits up the components as follows (van Wetering, 2017).

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Figure 2.3 Digital literacy and 21st century skills. Adjusted from Kennisnet (2017)

Kennisnet's annual trend report also included the Gartner hype cycle to visualize the newest technology trends for education, the graphic shows the acceptance cycle of new technologies in five stages. Namely the technology trigger, the peak of inflated expectations, the through of disillusionment, the slope of enlightenment and finally once a product has passed these four stages, the final plateau of productivity will be reached. The hype cycle shows that machine intelligence technologies and smart robots are still part of the technology trigger phase, whereas devices such as the mini-computer Raspberry Pi, used in computer science from age nine onwards (Raspberry Pi, 2017), or educational augmented reality technologies, are already past the peak of inflated expectations. A visualization of the Gartner hype cycle can be found in Appendix A.

Several models were developed to promote 21st century learning apart from the above mentioned definition of Kennisnet, one of these theories, the Rigor Relevance Framework (RRF) by Dr. Willard R. Daggett and the International Center for Leadership in Education, will be discussed here (2016). Teacher behavior directed towards the improvement of student performance was analyzed through two continuums.

Firstly, the thinking continuum based on Bloom's Knowledge Taxonomy and secondly the action continuum based on the Application Model by Dr. Bill Daggett (2014). The thinking continuum starts with the acquisition of knowledge and evolves to the assimilation of knowledge with increased practice in which students can apply the knowledge to complex cases. Adapted from the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy, the six levels of knowledge transformation include creating, evaluating, analyzing, applying, understanding, and remembering. TheApplication Model describes how to use knowledge on the other axes, five different levels exist in the action continuum pulling the knowledge state forward from acquisition to application.

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Figure 2.4 Rigor Relevance Framework. Adjusted from Daggett (2014)

Levels are split up into knowledge as one discipline, the application in and across disciplines and finally the application to real-world predictable and unpredictable situations. After defining both axis of the Rigor Relevance Framework, the four quadrants represent different degrees of knowledge. Quadrant A stands for a basic understanding of knowledge in itself, such as the fact that educational technology is still unavailable in many parts of the world or to know the definition of software. The opposite quadrant C defines a more advanced knowledge level, for instance the understanding of primary education systems or the comparison and evaluation of several technical sources.

Lastly, the remaining two Quadrants В and D stand for knowledge application and adaptation, in which the installation of a software with the help of instructions would be Quadrant В knowledge while the creation of a manual to install new technology would be Quadrant D knowledge. Recently, the framework has been applied to Google Education products (W. R. Daggett, 2016; Sheninger & Kieschnick, 2016).

With the help of the Rigor Relevance Framework, teachers can adapt their pedagogy and teaching style towards Quadrant В and D, to focus on the application of knowledge, since most preconditioned knowledge for today's and tomorrow's jobs can be found online. Hence, the complex thinking skills to use and analyze data or programs should be emphasized by teachers, rather than to shift the focus on static Quadrant A and C type of knowledge. While the framework explains the different levels of knowledge transfer, little peer-reviewed information was found to prove evidence of its validity. However, the RRF was included because it visualizes the difference between traditional learning versus 21st century learning.

The Rigor Relevance Framework is one of the many approaches to transform teaching in today's primary education. A broader framework for schools to use during their digital transformation for instance, was released by Microsoft. It consists of several focus areas to develop, which are based on real-life cases of successfully transformed schools. The European Schoolnet describes the ETF as a way to promote and enable 21st century learning (2015).

The Education Transformation Framework (ETF) includes whitepapers that cover transformation sectors involved in decision-making around education, such as schools, ICT professionals, policy makers and teachers. Substantial amounts of peer-reviewed topic-relevant studies were analyzed to create the framework. Key ideas behind ETF include the sharing of best practices from countries around the world. The framework prioritizes the engagement of students in deep and measurable learning to increase efficiency, productivity and performance and prepare them for the future labor market. Learning conditions such as flexible classrooms, skilled teachers equipped to share knowledge in various forms of education unlimited by time or place, are defined in the framework (Kennedy, Freidhoff, & DeBruler, 2017).

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Figure 2.5 Education Transformation Framework. Adjusted from Microsoft (2018)

External sources such as the A.T. Kearney K-20 Education Report cite a previous version of Microsoft's ETF as an "all-encompassing education transformation framework, dependent on the adoption of several Microsoft tools that aim to support its vision" (Menon, Teng, Asad, & Pasupathy, 2016, p. 5). While this is a drawback of the framework, the newly released version suggests the company's products during the framework implementation but is not dependent on them anymore. As stated by ETF program director Alexa Joyce, "the ETF can be implemented with any educational technology, it does not necessarily have to be a Microsoft technology" (personal communication, April 10, 2018). To summarize, the ETF in Table 2.5 was considered in the theoretical framework to give the reader another perspective of 21st century education and visualize how Microsoft portrays the challenges of digital transformation in education.

While critics for 21st century education argue that technology reduces the personal contact between teachers and students, which is proven to increase the quality and effectiveness of education, technology supporters rebut the argument with the collaborative technology tools that support social and community-based learning in a virtual environment (Trilling & Fadel, 2009). Further criticism of virtual learning concerns the minimization of human interaction, since it can lead to strategic learning, a phenomenon in which students consciously avoid any courses that could challenge their grade point average (Piccoli, Palese, Rodriguez, & Bartosiak, 2017). However, given the virtual and physical collaboration in Minecraft: EE, students and teachers interact on both levels in a game-based lesson.

To integrate technology into knowledge application, teachers can make use of BBC device micro:bit, a mini-computer for first programming experiences that are simulated via MakeCode, a Microsoft platform for coding applications. The government- subsidized device was distributed to all grade seven students across the UK to encourage students to create, learn and invent instead of excessively consume and indulge in media. The device is also increasingly gaining popularity in the Netherlands and is sparking creative handicraft and coding projects from students (Heidens, 2017). Teachers can find instructions for creative micro:bit projects online in the community forum or on Twitter and YouTube. When integrating the micro:bit in their lessons, 50% (150/300) of teachers have reported an increase in confidence in regard to educational technology according to the BBC research (micro:bit, 2018).

This example of 21st century education shows various components such as student-centered learning and consequently, teachers who act as a coach, increased student agency and creativity. To summarize, the following key elements have been defined as part of 21st century K-12 education.

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Figure 2.6 21st century education overview. Created by author (2018)

2.3.2 Changing skill requirements for primary school teachers

In today's new digital reality, the role of the educator is reframed and besides that, there is a new global understanding of digital skill importance for teachers (Bouarab-Dahmani & Tahi, 2015; OECD, 2016). Consequently, 21st century skills such as physical computing increasingly gain more relevance in K-12 education. This chapter discusses new teaching skills required for meaningful use of emerging educational technology in primary schools, specifically regarding teacher training.

Apart from the digital transformation, the education industry has experienced a change in students' priorities which asks for an adaptation from the traditional teaching system to a creative education that engages and inspires students with the learning content (Kennedy et al., 2017; Menon et al., 2016). For instance, decentralized decision making can give flexibility to redesign learning spaces for collaborative team work and focus room if needed (Kennedy et al., 2017). Teachers should thus suggest diverse learning environments to their students to trigger pro-active student agency and facilitate meaningful collaboration. The findings chapter of this study further elaborates on the various engagement methods with Minecraft: EE.

Given the above-mentioned suggestions for 21st century learning environments, integrated use of educational technology should enable students to learn authentically through context-based learning. The latter takes place if students independently decide when and where knowledge acquisition or application takes place, a personalized learning environment therefore places each student as the central figure (Menon et al., 2016; OECD, 2016; Trilling & Fadel, 2009).

With new skill requirements for teachers, a renewed teacher training is required to enable teachers to transfer their knowledge in a manner that is at least contemporary. Teacher training is a complex matter, multiple facets of pedagogy and knowledge of subject areas need to be covered over the course of four years. Apart from that, the integrated use of technology across subjects should be taught according to 21st century education standards.

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Figure 2.7 Adjusted SQD-model. Adjusted from Tondeur et al. (2012)

The Synthesis of Qualitative Evidence model (SQD) visualizes strategies to transfer the required skills for teachers in training to weave meaningful educational technology into their future lectures. The model encompasses the following six micro-strategies. Teacher training facilitators exemplify the use of technology, reflect on the role of technology in education, emphasize how to use technology by design, encourage collaboration, provide authentic technology experiences and finally give continuous feedback (Tondeur, Aesaert, Prestridge, & Consuegra, 2017). This model is considered here because it suggests a balanced overview of components for initial teacher training, based on 21st century teaching skills.

The second inner circles of the SQD model show that exemplary teacher educator role models, reflection, instructional design, collaboration and authentic experience and feedback contribute to a well-rounded initial teacher training. These inner circles emphasize the conditions required for commendable teacher engagement with technology on the teacher educator level, whereas the outer circles indicate factors required on the management level of a school. In her research paper, Tondeur argues that most technology acceptance models tend to focus on individual competence which consequently shifts the responsibility for digital literacy and the likes towards the teacher instead of the educational system (Tondeur et al., 2017). The teacher agency will be discussed further in Chapter 4.

Digital literacy is conveyed as partly technological knowledge for teachers in training and can take place in the form of educational technology courses, workshops or trainings. However, since these trainings mostly touch upon one or two aspects of educational technology engagement, the above visualized SQD model was developed. It can be concluded from the findings that the ease of use of an educational technology positively influences both types of ICT competencies for pre-service teachers and their ability to develop the ICT skills of their students.

The SQD model is based on 19 qualitative studies and its purpose is to explain how to prepare teachers for holistic technology use in their lectures. The researchers have surveyed 931 final-year pre-service teachers in Belgium studying two types of ICT competencies:

1. Using technology in the classroom to instruct students
2. Designing & integrating technology into the environment

The first competency refers to the teacher's technical ability to use technology and the second competency is seen as the broader overarching integration of technology and pedagogical knowledge into the lecture (Tondeur et al., 2017). The intensity of ICT use was not found to be in correlation with the two types of ICT competencies studied, this finding could be derived from the fact that Tondeur's study was merely researching the professional use of ICT from teachers with little evidence for personal use of ICT. Also, gender and age were not found to be related to the ICT competences. The importance of teacher educators as role models for ICT use was brought forward in combination with time for the professional development and coaching of teachers in training.

In the context of Minecraft: EE, the first competency of a teacher would be to understand the major functions, settings and modes of the game and be able to play it independently. The second competency would be the teacher's ability to use M:EE in the classroom to transfer and create knowledge with students, i.e. using M:EE as a tool to teach curriculum content in a specific subject area.

To summarize, the results of Tondeur's study show that it is important to address technology in teacher education together with pedagogy and content knowledge to promote an integration between the two fields. This integration, hence type two of the ICT competences, are further specified in the ТРАСК model, which is explained in the following paragraphs (Harris, Mishra, & Koehler, 2008). According to the ТРАСК framework, teacher education should consist of an equal distribution of technological, pedagogical and content knowledge as suggested in the theory (Harris et al., 2008).

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Figure 2.8 ТРАСК Framework. Adjusted from Harris, Koehler and Mishra (2008)

In this context, content knowledge refers to the subjects taught in class on various education levels. For instance, in-depth knowledge of chemistry theory and the ability to safely conduct experiments to demonstrate chemical reactions. The pedagogies, on the other hand, are defined as strategies, approaches, teaching methods or knowledge creation in the form of confidently guided class experiments. Finally, the technological knowledge aims at confident use of emerging educational technologies.

The latter knowledge form was criticized as difficult to maintain with the proliferation, i.e. frequent updates and product launches, of available technologies on the market and relatively little school- subsidized opportunities for teachers to develop such knowledge (Harris et al., 2008). With the Minecraft: EE Chemistry Update, teachers can simulate chemical reactions and apply all three knowledgeforms in the game. However, because of the increased difficulty to master technological knowledge, more time to practice and apply the technologies should be considered in teachers' trainings (Afshari, Abu Bakar, Su Luan, Abu Samah, & Say Fooi, 2009). Especially in game-based learning, teachers unfamiliar with computer games do require an initially longer period of time to fully understand and make use of the game aspects of i.e. Minecraft: EE's knowledge repetition and creation functions.

It can be summarized that there are multiple types of ICT competences for primary school teachers, most of the reviewed research articles suggested a combination of pedagogical competences and technological competences to lead to an effective, integrated of use of educational technology. The changing skill requirements for primary school teachers are, among others, confident and meaningful use of educational technology in lectures, encouraging autonomous decision-making and student agency to support various collaboration practices for students to adjust quickly to the ever-changing environment.

2.3.3 Technology acceptance and its barriers in primary education

Research has shown that several factors play a role in the engagement of new technology in the primary education context. Some of them can be described as internal variables such as a teacher's attitude towards accepting new technology and their amount of teaching experience, while other factors are based on external influences such as the initial teacher training, the educational institution's openness to change and access to IT infrastructure. In this chapter, supporting and limiting factors for successful teacher acceptance of emerging educational technology in the classroom are brought forward and two technology acceptance theories will be discussed.

The acceptance of new technologies in an organization is a widely researched topic, with the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as one of the most popular research models in use (Arpacı, 2017; Benamati, Fuller, Serva, & Baroudi, 2010; Legris, Ingham, & Collerette, 2003; Mortenson & Vidgen, 2016; Sánchez & Hueros, 2010; Scherer, Siddiq, & Teo, 2015; Sharma, Al-Badi, Govindaluri, & Al-Kharusi, 2016; Turner, Kitchenham, Brereton, Charters, & Budgen, 2010). Numerously cited in previous studies and expert magazines in academia since its first publication in 1989, the model is based on the Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). One of the adapted versions on knowledge management can be found in Appendix В for demonstration purposes.

The TAM in Figure 2.9 was created to investigate the introduction phases of new information systems (IS) into an existing environment. The original version suggests that two main variables are relevant, namely the perceived usefulness, which translates to "the degree to which a student believes that using a system would enhance his or her academic success and performance", as well as the technology's perceived ease of use, defined as "the degree to which an individual believes that using a system is free from effort" (Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1989, p.319-340). It is, therefore, suggested that the perceived usefulness and the perceived ease of use can constitute an obstacle to successful user acceptance and are, of high importance in the process. In the educational context, several adapted variables such as teacher education, experience, organization's openness to change, students' openness to change have been defined and were tested during the data collection phase.

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Figure 2.9 Original TAM. Adjusted from Davis et al. (1989)

Critics of the TAM argue that the original version has been adapted in too many research papers, researchers would create their own adaptation of the TAM instead of building on previously adapted versions. In addition, critics found that the TAM is rather used to measure the intention to use technology than the actual adoption rate (Turner et al., 2010). In this study, the TAM has been used to frame the underlying factors of Minecraft: EE engagement in the classroom based on actual usage data, which is then sublated byTurner's above defined argument.

The further developed Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), factors in the culture aspect when it comes to technology adoption and was previously studied to combine essential variables of previous TAM's as well as the Theory of Reasoned Action (Venkatesh & Zhang, 2010). UTAUT focuses on the integration of individual acceptance of new technology and uses similar variables comparable to previous TAM models, such as the use behavior or the behavioral intention. Following that, three precursory factors of behavioral intention were identified, including performance expectancy, effort expectance and social influence as seen in Figure 2.10.

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Figure 2.10 Revised UTAUT. Adjusted from Venkatesh (2010)

Next to this, the four contingencies age, gender, experience, and voluntariness were determined and found to be correlated with the social influence as visualized in the figure below. For instance, the study exemplifies that behavioral intention of the factor performance expectancy deviated with a change in age or gender and resulted with the strongest effect on young men (Venkatesh & Zhang, 2010).

In brief, the UTAUT brings in new variables when it comes to the acceptance of new technology, yet lacks the adaptability to the educational context, as it still is difficult to integrate the learning factors into the model. The model was considered here because it can be viewed as an advanced version of the TAM and provides the reader with an in-depth understanding of the generic variables that influence technology acceptance. Additionally, the UTAUT variables gender, experience, facilitating conditions, as well as social influence, were considered during the data collection for the TAM adaptation in the findings and discussions chapter.

While the external factors are found to be time-consuming to change due to a dependency on various stakeholders and budgets, technology engagement barriers are often part of the individual's decision-making space. Especially in primary schools, teachers are pre-occupied with lesson plans and struggle to make additional time for professional learning. Theory showed that the perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of new technology as well as social influence and expectancy variables are found to influence the intention to use a technology.

2.3.4 Internal drivers of ICT self-efficacy in teachers

The term /СТself-efficacy will be defined in this section, followed by an overview of several influencing factors including the perceived ease of use regarding technology engagement of primary school teachers. In the final paragraphs, another critical review of the TAM was added to give more perspectives into the socially influencing factors for teachers' technology engagement.

Albert Bandura defined the term self-efficacy, based on social cognition, as a self-belief in personal capabilities. According to his book "The Exercise of Control", self-efficacy can largely affect self­development and one's individual psyche as to plan and carry out certain behavior (1997). While one's self-efficacy is a subjective self-belief, the factors that influence this level of self-efficacy are mostly external, such as the student performance or student motivation. Often times, self-efficacy is found to impact a teacher's intention to integrate technology into their lectures (Scherer & Siddiq, 2015) and is hence considered in the theoretical framework of this study.

While the term self-efficacy, according to Bandura, can be applied to any subject area, a multidimensional ICT self-efficacy has been previously defined by researchers in the educational context. The latter includes the beliefs in various capabilities of a teacher to integrate different technologies with a diverse blend of teaching methods into the lecture. This means that the teacher ICT self-efficacy is not only perceived on a high or low level, but instead varies between the purely operational skills to use technology and the pedagogical skills to effectively use technology in class.

However, Siddiq's study concluded that teachers with high levels ICT self-efficacy in one factor, either operational or pedagogical, are likely to have high levels of ICT self-efficacy in other factors as well (2015). The research paper further suggests that gender differences are relatively small in regard to ICT self-efficacy and differences in pedagogy and teaching competence should be studied beyond descriptive research.

The teacher's emphasis on developing students' digital information and communication skills, also referred to as TEDDICS, is a key component of 21st century education and suggests the use of ICT in combination with pedagogical methods. It strives to create a connection between the teaching and students' abilities to use ICT for effective education. The TEDDICS construct will be reviewed in the following paragraphs to develop the ICT self-efficacy theory.

Siddiq's study found that the perceived usefulness, a variable that has been defined as part of the TAM in Chapter 2.3.3, is seen as a teacher's beliefs in ICT tools. Therefore, researchers also studied the beliefs of teachers in their own abilities, hence the above defined ICT self-efficacy. The latter was found to be an impactful variable for technology acceptance in schools since teachers who perceive themselves as ICT confident, integrate educational technology more effectively into their lectures and is visualized below (Siddiq, Scherer, & Tondeur, 2016).

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Figure 2.11 Teacher's belief in technology Adjusted from Siddiq et al.(2017)

Furthermore, TEDDICS provided evidence for the importance of ICT self-efficacy and can be generalized over gender and main subjects, since data were collected from a diverse sample population. It was constructed for subjects in humanities and languages because of its emphasis on teachers' digital skills regarding data processing, mining and analytics. Study results showed that frequent ICT use and ICT self-efficacy were positively correlated to the teacher's emphasis on developing students' digital information and communication skills (Siddiq et al., 2016). This positive correlation was also tested in the case of Minecraft: EE engagement research, further elaborations can be found in the findings chapter of this study.

In summary, TEDDICS was suggested for qualitative use of ICT-in-education research, especially concerning technology acceptance and integration. TEDDICS and ICT self-efficacy were hence studied in the case of Minecraft: EE. The construct contributes a valuable perspective towards teachers' emphasis of digital skills and the importance of ICT self-efficacy and was thus included in the theoretical framework.

Apart from TEDDICS, the research paper "Beyond rational choice: how teacher engagement with technology is mediated by culture and emotions" by Carlo Perrotta, suggests that the culture and social environment also influencesthe use of technology in the classroom. Perrotta's study concerns the "relationship between rational beliefs, culture and agency in formal school settings" and was carried out to study the adoption of new emerging technology innovations in the classroom (2017, p.l). Perrotta argues that the rationality and emotionality of teachers are strongly correlated with teacher agency and technology. In other words, teachers act not only based on their rationality, the economic logic and reason, but are strongly influenced by the media and their socio-cultural environment. Hence, the social context of teachers is not to be considered a side factor but instead seen as the determining force for new competing business strategies when it comes to educational technology.

2.4 Limitations of selected theory

In this section, limitations of several theories will be acknowledged and supported with further research. The order of limitations aligns with the theories discussed in the theoretical framework. An overview of theories and alternatives is visualized in Table 2.1.

Table 2.1 Alternative theories

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