Following my previous post, I wanted to explore the validity of a teacher programming a learning task using with ICT. As I’ve already discussed opportunities a novel study might present I thought id continue down that path. Oh I wont discuss specific texts here, due to copy write considerations, I hope that much of this may be transferable across a variety of texts and hopefully even breath some new life into texts long abandoned as teaching tools.
This is a selection of elements or activities from my novel unit for a year 7 class
Comprehension.
Student written short stories
Characterisation
Thematic perspectives.
A variety of interpretations.
Create a poster that conveys meaning, for the up coming movie.
Some of the Board of Studies syllabus stage 4 outcomes students would of achieve in relation to these activities include;
Respond to and compose texts for understanding, interpretation, critical analysis and pleasure.
Respond to and compose texts in different technologies.
Thinks critically and interpretively about information, ideas and arguments to respond to and compose texts.
Makes connections between and among texts.
Uses, reflects on and assesses individual and collaborative skills for learning.
Beginning Sharples, Taylor & Vavoula (2007) A Theory of Learning for the Mobile Age
Is a quote by Dewey in 1916, who acknowledges the need to renew and maintain ‘The channels of distribution’ or the fine line of ‘you need to know this-and you can apply it in this way’. Importantly the distinctive element Sharples et al. acknowledge is that learning is no longer linear, it is not transference, from teacher to student, it is multifaceted and multidimensional as the realms of space time collide and reshape into a students expression of learning and in doing so learning is a result of community, knowledge, assessment and the learners experience… in this Sharples, Taylor and Vavoula (2007), create a strong case for student engagement in authentic learning processes.
The difficulties in applying these elements in any particular unit are mapped out in Watson, 2001 where logistics, access and ability are highlighted as blocks to ICT inclusion, but what Watson reminds us is that technology is the tool not the rationale of education.
Wenger, et al (2005) Figure 1
Wenger et al,. (2005) illustrates this coming together of community and education, demonstrates what Dewey was saying about meeting the needs of community in education. All of these issues have been raised previously.
What could I do differently in the novel unit I presented.
Firstly as this unit was run at the end of term 1, year seven students were considered to be still settling in to their high school environment, many of the activities needed to introduce particular themes to students, such as our introductory task “You cant tell a book by its cover”, this task was essentially an early guide to referencing, we looked at the typical who why what and when of publication details, students also acknowledged contributors such as illustrators. This task was performed on work sheets in a regular no ICT class room…..in hindsight I understand now why students were always restless…the familiarity with this mundane process really is highlighted, when what I could have got students to do is an electronic search for data, and a representation of the information found. In this they would be occupied with the complexities of the task and I would have had a tangible formative assessment task I could evaluate, instead of busy work that encouraged them to only look as far as they needed for answers.
In beginning our novel, I constructed comprehension exercises students complet6ed at the end of each reading (we thought students needed to read in class to ensure they read the novel), this too was uninspiring….In the 5 questions I had for chapters 1-3, I could have easily suggested students email me a short story, detailing a similar event of their own experience ..or a short cartoon demonstrating their understanding, instead each lesson students read, answered questions and listened to answers, no wonder they squirmed. What Alternatives exist? Well this ACME animation project illustrates one example of something I could have presented, students engaged in brief animations, again would be presenting tangible product I as the assessor would be able to view and evaluate in chunk-ised components or chapters. Students could demonstrate their collaborative skills, narrative understanding and their sustained representative ideas, all much more interesting than predictable, Q & A sessions.
What I notice here is, that the tasks I set for this whole unit, as set out above, are all applicable within this choice of representative context, students could engage with varying degrees of complexity and at completion of the unit, students would have an example of their techniques they could acknowledge and reference as representations of any number of the outcomes they could achieve…instead of the teacher hovering for a return of insignificant value in every class in a predictable and boorish manner I could include elements of ICT and in adapting my teaching style I could witness some incredible talents emerge and facilitate transition and transferable skills.
I leave it here, as this sums up why I want to teach…..why do you?
NSW Board of Studies (2003) 7-10 English Syllabus
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_sc/pdf_doc/english_710_syllabus.pdf
Andrews, R and Haythornthwaite, C. (eds.) (2007) The Sage Handbook of
Elearning Research. Sharples, M., Taylor, J., & Vavoula, G. (2007) A Theory of Learning for the Mobile Age. London: pp. 221-47.
WATSON, D.M (2001) Education and Information Technologies 6:4, 2001. Pedagogy before Technology: Re-thinking the Relationship between ICT and Teaching. Kluwer Academic Publishers. Manufactured in The Netherlands.
Wenger, White, Smith, and Rowe (2005) Technology for communities. CEFRIO Book Chapter – Jan 18, 2005
CEFRIO Book Chapter v 5.2 – 1 – Jan 18, 2005
http://technologyforcommunities.com/CEFRIO_Book_Chapter_v_5.2.pdf
Ellis, K (2006) Animating Dreams: The ACME Animation Program. The George Lucas Educational Foundation.
Response to JT
JT
JT said teachers should limit students access to internet studies to approximately 30%
“This is because children do not question the information that they have been given”.
And in a way, this seems reasonable, after all we haven’t all needed technology to learn in the past, but it certainly wasn’t as much fun either.
Recently I asked a student in yr 9 “what types of digital or computer activity do you participate in at school”? His response was fairly typical I imagine, he said he texts between class rooms to friends and does computer class, but cant remember what he does in it. I enjoyed his frank reply, but wondered if ICT was just too hard to program into a class room schedule?
I also thought about the kinds of digital activity I hope students will participate in, within my classroom. Early in practicum one I started to develop a game…I did not have the tools or knowledge at that time so I used the only resource I knew off Power point. It looks a little like this
The features I obtained from the internet, using pictures from the illustrator and the questions I developed from a reading of the book. I intended to make it kind of like snakes and ladders, the doors allowing the students pieces to advance or be taken back depending on the part of the plot I developed the questions from…..as you can see, I didn’t get too far, before my understanding of the technology defeated my desire to produce an online activity…I haven’t given up, I am just attempting to learn the secrets of digital media. In ‘Factors Contributing to Teachers successful implementation of IT’ (Granger et al,. 2002) The finding indicate, my reasoning to be sound, in that I was attempting to use ICT as a tool or vehicle to transfer learning opportunities, What I lacked was the confidence, technological ability and a supportive ICT community to help me shape the process.
What I did have, I unfortunately failed to capitalise upon, for I had a classroom full of interested and eager year 7 students who, already seemed bored by the mundane procedures of classroom etiquette and antiquated teaching strategies. Students rarely have opportunity to design creative learning experiences and by not participating in this inventiveness, students lose the opportunity to test hypothesis Resnick,( 2006) …The corner stone of any valid educational process. Perhaps, what I should have done was program the construction of this game as a learning opportunity for this year 7 class, they would have needed to have read the book to create the questions, they would have needed to understand the concepts and themes being applied as gaming techniques and I would have had a wonderful collaborative exercise for students to participate in and a opportunity to apply formative and summative assessment tasks. Not only that but as Rieber suggests, by making this game, free to access and open source, students can continue to modify it as an ongoing task, perhaps applied to the classics of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ the complexities of the view through the ‘Looking glass’ could ever more evolve.
In light of this I argue with Mr Tan, that opportunities exist for students to be encouraged and enthused by ICT activity and those skills of reading and analysing will immediately follow…as Papert (1980) says ‘We all like to learn so we can use what we learn” if this means the vehicle that learning adopts is digital, shouldn’t I allow my students the opportunity to participate.
Maybe I wont finish the task, just hand it on to some more enthusiastic learners, maybe by this we will both learn something.
http://www.papert.org/articles/const_inst/const_inst1.html
said teachers should limit students access to internet studies to approximately 30%
“This is because children do not question the information that they have been given”.
And in a way, this seems reasonable, after all we haven’t all needed technology to learn in the past, but it certainly wasn’t as much fun either.
Recently I asked a student in yr 9 “what types of digital or computer activity do you participate in at school”? His response was fairly typical I imagine, he said he texts between class rooms to friends and does computer class, but cant remember what he does in it. I enjoyed his frank reply, but wondered if ICT was just too hard to program into a class room schedule?
I also thought about the kinds of digital activity I hope students will participate in, within my classroom. Early in practicum one I started to develop a game…I did not have the tools or knowledge at that time so I used the only resource I knew off Power point. It looks a little like this
The features I obtained from the internet, using pictures from the illustrator and the questions I developed from a reading of the book. I intended to make it kind of like snakes and ladders, the doors allowing the students pieces to advance or be taken back depending on the part of the plot I developed the questions from…..as you can see, I didn’t get too far, before my understanding of the technology defeated my desire to produce an online activity…I haven’t given up, I am just attempting to learn the secrets of digital media. In ‘Factors Contributing to Teachers successful implementation of IT’ (Granger et al,. 2002) The finding indicate, my reasoning to be sound, in that I was attempting to use ICT as a tool or vehicle to transfer learning opportunities, What I lacked was the confidence, technological ability and a supportive ICT community to help me shape the process.
What I did have, I unfortunately failed to capitalise upon, for I had a classroom full of interested and eager year 7 students who, already seemed bored by the mundane procedures of classroom etiquette and antiquated teaching strategies. Students rarely have opportunity to design creative learning experiences and by not participating in this inventiveness, students lose the opportunity to test hypothesis Resnick,( 2006) …The corner stone of any valid educational process. Perhaps, what I should have done was program the construction of this game as a learning opportunity for this year 7 class, they would have needed to have read the book to create the questions, they would have needed to understand the concepts and themes being applied as gaming techniques and I would have had a wonderful collaborative exercise for students to participate in and a opportunity to apply formative and summative assessment tasks. Not only that but as Rieber suggests, by making this game, free to access and open source, students can continue to modify it as an ongoing task, perhaps applied to the classics of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ the complexities of the view through the ‘Looking glass’ could ever more evolve.
In light of this I argue with Mr Tan, that opportunities exist for students to be encouraged and enthused by ICT activity and those skills of reading and analysing will immediately follow…as Papert (1980) says ‘We all like to learn so we can use what we learn” if this means the vehicle that learning adopts is digital, shouldn’t I allow my students the opportunity to participate.
Maybe I wont finish the task, just hand it on to some more enthusiastic learners, maybe by this we will both learn something.
http://www.papert.org/articles/const_inst/const_inst1.html
Gaming and Simulations
Richard Van Eck article ” Game Based Learning (2006)” raises an interesting point about games and simulations in contemporary education in that it is a “10 billion dollar per year industry” For teachers to ignore this fact is to poorly prepare students for on going learning opportunities. Van Eck goes on to remind us that meaningful learning is contextual. The applications are not different to trade school students viewing a demonstration, what is important is that students experience what Piagette called ‘Assimilation’ because this leads to the recognition of “something is wrong with this picture” and this implies an understanding of the basic concepts.
I recently had the opportunity to sit in on a simulation within the class room, and although I did not need to know the specifics of the operational decisions being made, I walked away with some knowledge of the behind the scenes support military operations require to make them efficient and I discovered that military might does not necessarily favour the technologically equipped if the battle is being fought within the parameters defined by your adversary.
This is an example of a similar simulation, but this one is a graphic animation of the Western Front during World War 1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/animations/western_front/index.shtml
This second animation, uses topographical photo imagery, an inclusion that may assist in students understanding of geographical features and influences of historic events. Battle of Cedar creek Of course this medium also offers opportunity to exhibit primary resources such as photos and documents, two things a modern historian would relish. The multifaceted approach of this particular piece of historical animation also includes a contemporary reflection on the value of historical artifacts and sites, no other medium could so succinctly bring these two curriculum issues together. This Synergy is only possible because of the quality and validity of the research prior to the release of this resource.
Edutopia’s No Gamer Left Behind presentation (approx 11min) explores the complexities of students engaging in meaningful and authentic learning activities, and demonstrates the many contributions students are able to participate in as a part of the gaming or simulation process. Quinn and Neal from e Learn Magazine recommend that teachers begin with the ‘Objectives’ they intend students to learn, that is digital e-learning is not so much about technique, after all I don’t need to know how a computer works to post this blog, what I need is an understanding of the content I wish to deliver. So it is with students, the tool we apply as teachers may well be digital in presentation, but it means naught without valid research and understanding.
Simulations and role plays
In exploring the Blogosphere Drowning Not Surfing linked to a particularly interesting example of digital poetic interpretation Students of Malet Lambert School in Hull in which students used existing poetic examples in this case of Thomas Hardy,. As a way of exploring Hardy’s possible influences, I found this to be an interesting activity, a way of walking in the foot steps of another.
In a similar concept I have previously set an assessment task for year 12 studying Anglo Irish relations 1968-1998 in which students could create simulated primary sources of that present a specific historiographical perspective of approximately 3 minutes in duration and demonstrative of the kinds of rhetoric experienced within sectarian environment, Examples may include, press conferences denouncing parliamentary or paramilitary activity, or interviewing significant figures, role playing the gendered position of a community member, etc
A quick internet search found sites such as http://activehistory.co.uk in which students can participate in virtual interviews, listen to pod casts, play games and access work sheets and assessment activities ranging in subjects as diverse as the French revolution, through to Stalinism, the interactive component certainly provides students with an on going focus and the possibility of creating a collection of relevant information
One article that I found to be of interest was Monohan, G (2002) Acting out Nazi Germany: a role-play simulation for the history classroom and like Monohan, I tried to keep my students grounded in historical perspectives, this creates opportunities for students to identify particular historical method into the simulation without becoming so engroused that they adopt perspectives from the period in question, some of which could result in terrible consequences such as those recent activities reported Student facebook scandal Sydney Morning herald, 09/10/08 .
Monohan suggests that students find this kind of extended activity (3 days) beneficial to the students understanding, but I feel that an audio/visual presentation or simulation will be a great application for using as a sumative assessment task, and its grounding in a particular historiographical perspective will allow students to explore focused representations within a difficult and often emotive subject.
end of semester statement
E-learning in 7-12 Education
What have I learned?
Interestingly I’ve learned that despite enthusiasm for any given subject, the structure and presentation of electronic learning is a vital component in its success. Being surrounded by many students who are from the digital generation, I thought many would demonstrate a proficiency that demonstrated confidence and flexibility of applications. This however has proved to be untrue.
During practicum I had the opportunity to present simplistic digital presentations to students and they in turn responded using traditional pens and paper methods, in the environment this worked well, it established a beginning from which to launch future digital learning initiatives with these students. The students responded well to the activity and have continued to request access to similar activities.
A myriad of learning and teaching opportunities seemingly exist in cyber space, a favorite I am currently interested in pursuing is the Living Library project initiated by Wollongong City Council . This project is very similar to the Howard Levine project Making history Come Alive and I believe that it provides an opportunity for me as a History/English teacher to localise the community stories representative of this community. Currently this project travels to schools and I think that this resource has a more significant role to play in the class room, so I would like to pursue the opportunity to digitise the stories of these many interesting local people. Making the learning meaningful like Levine would create opportunities for students to engage in real projects that demonstrate and apply real world projects for students like the leading with laptops project in Maine USA. Students are engaged in all facets of production from script writing to digital production. Of course legislation and policies (DET 2008), exist to assist in appropriate use of technology.
Another project I have begun to develop is are instructional vignettes that students will produce within the Juvenile Justice setting of my practicum, The vignettes will provide information for new students on particular rules they must follow.
The principal illustrated issues we might have respecting the students right to confidentiality. With this in mind the project has been discussed with students and in keeping with Wang & Hans Six C’s of motivation I have provided students with options so they may take ownership of the project, at this stage it would seem we have addressed the C’s of choice and challenge –it will be a clay-mation representation, control – the students will script and decide on events that are important enough to be recorded and the C of collaboration as students will work together in an attempt to produce a meaningful instructional text available on the intranet facility, available to all students. In this way I hope to support the multi-modal representations that A Fellow Student directed me towards, Outcome 5.10 of the History Syllabus (2003:13) and Outcome 3 of the English syllabus (2003:34).
After reviewing what a Fellow student has thought about technological inclusiveness in the classroom, I too felt technology may in fact be a mere distraction of learning. Perhaps what changed this students mind was the link to Prensky who suggests digital learning must encompass all levels of competency, if this is the case and even though I am not a digital native, maybe I can learn the skills necessary to incorporate digital technology in the classroom.
Reference
Board of Studies (2003) English 7-10 Syllabus
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_sc/pdf_doc/english_710_syllabus.pdf
Board of studies, Sydney NSW. Retrieved 06/11/08.
Board of Studies (2003) History 7-10 Syllabus.
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_sc/pdf_doc/history_710_syl.pdf
Board of studies, Sydney NSW. Retrieved 17/03/08.
Department of Education and Training (2006) Policies & procedures
Internet and Email Services: Acceptable Usage for Schools Reference No.: PD/2002/0046/V02 Implementation Date: 03/06/2006
https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/policies/general_man/general/accep_use/PD20020046.shtml?query=confidentiality retreived 06/11/08.
Ellis, K (2003) Leading with Laptops: An Innovative Program Gains Momentum. The George Lucas Educational Foundation http://www.edutopia.org/leading-laptops retrieved 03/10/08.
Gallen, S (2008) Broken Fuzz Pedal Dreaming http://scottgallen.edublogs.org/ Retrieved 06/11/08.
Levine, H (2003) Learning and Leading with Technology. Volume 31, Number 3. Making History Come Alive. International Society For Technology in Education. http://www.howardlevin.com/download/iste-11-03.pdf Retrieved 10/10/08.
Prensky, M (2001) On the Horizon, Vol. 9 No. 5, October. Digital Natives Digital Immigrants. MCB University Press http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf. Retrieved 06/11/08.
Wang, S. & Han, S. (2001). Six C’s of Motivation. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved <insert date>, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/ Retrieved from “http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Six_C%27s_of_motivation” 06/11/08.
Williams, D (2008) Domblog: A Digital refugee seeking asylum http://dominicwilliams.edublogs.org/ Retrieved 06/11/08.
Wollongong City Council (2008) Living Library Launched.
http://wcc.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/MediaReleases/Living%20Libraries%20Launch.pdf
Retrieved 10/10/08.
Unsure why technology has failed me
But all my links disappeared when i posted my culminating statement…iam tired and ill figure it out another day. Thanks
Culiminating statement
E-learning in 7-12 Education
What have I learned?
Interestingly I’ve learned that despite enthusiasm for any given subject, the structure and presentation of electronic learning is a vital component in its success. Being surrounded by many students who are from the digital generation, I thought many would demonstrate a proficiency that demonstrated confidence and flexibility of applications. This however has proved to be untrue.
During practicum I had the opportunity to present simplistic digital presentations to students and they in turn responded using traditional pens and paper methods, in the environment this worked well, it established a beginning from which to launch future digital learning initiatives with these students. The students responded well to the activity and have continued to request access to similar activities.
A myriad of learning and teaching opportunities seemingly exist in cyber space, a favorite I am currently interested in pursuing is the Living Library project initiated by Wollongong City Council . This project is very similar to the Howard Levine project Making history Come Alive and I believe that it provides an opportunity for me as a History/English teacher to localise the community stories representative of this community. Currently this project travels to schools and I think that this resource has a more significant role to play in the class room, so I would like to pursue the opportunity to digitise the stories of these many interesting local people. Making the learning meaningful like Levine would create opportunities for students to engage in real projects that demonstrate and apply real world projects for students like the leading with laptops project in Maine USA. Students are engaged in all facets of production from script writing to digital production. Of course legislation and policies (DET 2008), exist to assist in appropriate use of technology.
Another project I have begun to develop is are instructional vignettes that students will produce within the Juvenile Justice setting of my practicum, The vignettes will provide information for new students on particular rules they must follow.
The principal illustrated issues we might have respecting the students right to confidentiality. With this in mind the project has been discussed with students and in keeping with Wang & Hans Six C’s of motivation I have provided students with options so they may take ownership of the project, at this stage it would seem we have addressed the C’s of choice and challenge –it will be a clay-mation representation, control – the students will script and decide on events that are important enough to be recorded and the C of collaboration as students will work together in an attempt to produce a meaningful instructional text available on the intranet facility, available to all students. In this way I hope to support the multi-modal representations that A Fellow Student directed me towards, Outcome 5.10 of the History Syllabus (2003:13) and Outcome 3 of the English syllabus (2003:34).
After reviewing what a Fellow student has thought about technological inclusiveness in the classroom, I too felt technology may in fact be a mere distraction of learning. Perhaps what changed this students mind was the link to Prensky who suggests digital learning must encompass all levels of competency, if this is the case and even though I am not a digital native, maybe I can learn the skills necessary to incorporate digital technology in the classroom.
Reference
Board of Studies (2003) English 7-10 Syllabus
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_sc/pdf_doc/english_710_syllabus.pdf
Board of studies, Sydney NSW. Retrieved 06/11/08.
Board of Studies (2003) History 7-10 Syllabus.
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_sc/pdf_doc/history_710_syl.pdf
Board of studies, Sydney NSW. Retrieved 17/03/08.
Department of Education and Training (2006) Policies & procedures
Internet and Email Services: Acceptable Usage for Schools Reference No.: PD/2002/0046/V02 Implementation Date: 03/06/2006
https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/policies/general_man/general/accep_use/PD20020046.shtml?query=confidentiality retreived 06/11/08.
Ellis, K (2003) Leading with Laptops: An Innovative Program Gains Momentum. The George Lucas Educational Foundation http://www.edutopia.org/leading-laptops retrieved 03/10/08.
Gallen, S (2008) Broken Fuzz Pedal Dreaming http://scottgallen.edublogs.org/ Retrieved 06/11/08.
Levine, H (2003) Learning and Leading with Technology. Volume 31, Number 3. Making History Come Alive. International Society For Technology in Education. http://www.howardlevin.com/download/iste-11-03.pdf Retrieved 10/10/08.
Prensky, M (2001) On the Horizon, Vol. 9 No. 5, October. Digital Natives Digital Immigrants. MCB University Press http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf. Retrieved 06/11/08.
Wang, S. & Han, S. (2001). Six C’s of Motivation. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved , from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/ Retrieved from “http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Six_C%27s_of_motivation” 06/11/08.
Williams, D (2008) Domblog: A Digital refugee seeking asylum http://dominicwilliams.edublogs.org/ Retrieved 06/11/08.
Wollongong City Council (2008) Living Library Launched.
http://wcc.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/MediaReleases/Living%20Libraries%20Launch.pdf
Retrieved 10/10/08.
