Integration of emerging educational technologies by teachers of students who are deaf or hard of hearing in New Zealand

New Zealand teachers of students who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) integrate emerging educational technologies (EET) in their pedagogy in varying ways. There is limited research related to the unique influence of incorporating these technologies into the curriculum to support student-centred inquiry, communication, and social growth for students who are DHH. This explanatory research had a fourfold purpose. First to examine how New Zealand teachers of these students integrate EET into teaching; second, to ascertain the challenges of integrating EET in teaching; third, to identify the teachers’ perspective on the significance of school leadership when integrating EET in pedagogy and; fourth, to consider the element of theoretical frameworks that underpin the practice of integrating EET into student-centred inquiry when teaching students who are DHH. The research used mixed methods for the analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data. The data analysis resulted in five recommendations and five proposals for fields of further research. The data findings - on grounding the practice of EET integration in teachers’ pedagogy of students who are DHH into a framework, such as the Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) model - concluded the requisite of four additional contexts and an expanded one. These contexts are access to language and information, lifelong learning, the importance of leadership, and the recognition of rapid change and developments in technologies for education. The expanded context adds lifelong learning to the context of teacher training.