The British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET) judges this biennial award for the best presentation on an educational-technology-related topic to be delivered during the BERA Conference. The prize includes an invitation to publish in the journal and other support to maximise the dissemination and impact of the presenter’s research.

2023 winners

The 2023 BJET Best EdTech Paper Award at the BERA Conference is presented to two papers. The winners are:

Gabriella Rodolico and Lavinia Hirsu (University of Glasgow) for the paper Virtual reality (VR) in education: The impact of a short VR-supported intervention on pre-service teachers’ VR technological and pedagogical content knowledge.

The BJET editors, and members of the panel that judged the award, said:

‘This was an interesting exploration into the potential of virtual reality (VR) support lessons in initial teacher education (ITE) courses. We were particularly impressed by the methodological rigour, the use of TPACK and mixed methods that offered valuable insights for professional development in this area. The presentation was engaging, very well-structured, and effectively translated complex research findings into implications for practice. We look forward to future research in this space that would go beyond the teacher’s views into the practical impact in school practice and on student engagement and learning outcomes.’

Troy Meston (Griffith University, Australia) for the paper From deficit to digital strength – Indigenous learning through gaming.

The BJET editors, and members of the panel that judged the award, said:

‘Troy Meston’s contribution provided an insightful examination of the role of digital gaming among Indigenous learners in Australia. We were especially struck by the project’s commitment to Indigenous knowledge and pedagogy, the methodological strength in mixed methods under challenging circumstances. The presentation articulated the Indigenous context and the development of a culturally responsive digital gaming curriculum as a mechanism to address the challenges and opportunities that Indigenous children continue to face nowadays, making the research very timely. We are excited about the potential future research in this space, not only for the scholarly contributions but because it opens up new practical avenues for supporting learners who struggle in mainstream learning contexts, and re-imagining an alternate digital educational agenda for Indigenous communities.’

Nicki Wise (University of Hull) is also commended for the excellent presentation and the novelty and interactivity in the poster Thrive not survive. Using digital technologies and an executive function framework to support the academic success of learners with ADHD and dyslexia.

The BJET editors would like to thank the convenors of BERA’s Digital Education SIG and particularly Dr Koula Charitonos and other members of the SIG such as Dr Maria Margeti and Dr Eirini Geraniou who supported them in the selection and evaluation process.

2021 winners

This year’s winner is Jade Rushby (University of York), for her paper Pre-service Teachers’ Reactions to a Simulated Teaching Intervention.

Her presentation reported the findings from two studies conducted in the UK and Australia that investigated 1,102 pre-service teachers’ reactions to an online scenario-based learning (SBL) intervention completed prior to their teaching placements. The intervention provided these pre-service teachers an opportunity to reflect on their approaches to a range of text and video classroom scenarios and receive immediate feedback from experienced teachers. The results suggested that the SBL intervention may help pre-service teachers to feel more confident and prepared for their teaching placements. The intervention was positively received by participants, who valued the opportunity to engage with realistic classroom scenarios in a low-risk environment.

The BJET editorial board and editors, who judged the award, said:

‘The presentation was very interesting and well-structured, and despite relying mostly on teachers’ perception of the intervention we valued the its overall research focus of the and the qualitative analysis that underpinned its findings. It would be interesting if future work were to look into downstream outcomes of the intervention in terms of teacher competences and, importantly, its impact on pupils.’

The judges also commended Carlos Sanchez-Lozano (Cenfotec), for his paper Understanding Complexity in Online Course Design: Combining Data Analytics, Soft Systems Methodology, and Agent-Based Modelling.

This presentation conceived online learning experiences as networked spaces with boundaries that include different types of resources. It attempted to understand the dynamics of these networked spaces, their emergent properties and their interactions in order to inform their design. An online professional course was analysed as a case study, using a particular form of action research, soft systems methodology and data mining to uncover interaction patterns within the digital space.

The judges said:

‘We valued the high-quality of this presentation from an independent researcher, which included a rich literature review. Despite discussing what appeared to be preliminary work, there was clearly potential to gain interesting insights from this transferable process.’

2019 winners

The BJET editors are pleased to announce the winners of the BJET Best EdTech Paper 2019 at the BERA Conference as Kongkiat Kespechara, Somying Saithanu, Chonlada Sittitoon, Apansarin Kanarat, Pinanong Hakard and Dollaya Hirunyasiri from the Sodsri-Sridwongsa Foundation, Thailand, for their paper ,’Using learning analytics to visualize how different teaching plans affect learning outcomes, focusing specifically on skills, in a rural primary school in Thailand’.

We would also like to commend Rachel Williams and Rebecca Jesson as close runners-up for their presentation on ‘Examining the impact of a digital literacy programme on student achievement in New Zealand: The results of a two-year national study’.

In recognition of the high quality of ECR presentations, a BJET Best ECR EdTech Paper 2019 Award was given to Lesley Sharpe of Loughborough University for her presentation, ‘Utilising technology to facilitate inclusive participatory research with young people with impairments’.