Tom and Ben have both expressed concerns that seem to be pretty popular in the (pending) graduate teacher population about the difference between using ICT as a teaching tool or as a learning tool. Tom’s comments about the purpose of using ICT as a learning tool are pertinent and his reflections on prac about the passive use of technology in the classroom were something I encountered as well. Ben’s comments about technology “adding a theme of laziness to the classroom” carry on from this, also something seen in prac especially with the use of ‘Internet research time’ and ‘film’ as a learning tool (although, it was the last week of Term… could have had something to do with it). In answer to Ben’s highly relevant question about whether or not teachers should compromise student interaction and their own teaching styles at the service of technology my answer is still – no. BUT as Tom points out, as teachers we have to see technology as an opportunity “as opposed to an impassable mine field”.
I did find however, that the use of PowerPoint, Internet (transmissionist) pages, and film in an instructional sense, was not always detrimental and although they are not Web 2.0 technologies (the interactive types) I found they were great for motivating kids. More importantly though, they were great for visualizing what would otherwise have been verbal or written. Obviously a fine balance needs to be implemented and the use of these technologies as teaching aides does not meet the requirements of the syllabus that students learn through the use of them. What I found was great is that it is expected to meet the visual literacy requirements of kids these days, and there are plenty of ways technology can assist you with this inside the classroom. After doing this subject though it’s hard to recognize PowerPoint as a form of technology, especially in comparison to some of the crazy intricate Web 2.0 technologies that are out there!
In a reflection on a conference detailing how to use different Web 2.0 technologies, Miriam raises the point that there is a difference between a teacher being exposed to learning tools and a teacher who makes sure they ”extract the learning, the doing, the resultant uses and the possibilities for effectively sharing” from the technological tools. To some end, while the opportunity of technology is exciting and while we can participate in all sorts of professional development, I think that we’re still in the early days of knowing exactly what learning is the most valuable and what knowledge can be gained through technology that takes the ICT curriculum to a level of real world significance. I like this idea of ‘extracting’ learning though, and this really relies on experimentation by the teachers themselves. In a recent English methods tutorial our tutor had us participate in a number of creative writing activities that could be used in the classroom to help kids get creative. I couldn’t believe the different perception of teaching creative writing I had once I had completed the activities myself. It’s a simple thought, but one that just might get this technology fire started.
Something I hadn’t thought much about was the use of technology to teach students with special needs. This seems to be something that more and more research is being done on because certain aspects of technology can breach the communication gap that some students suffer due to their disabilities. Multimedia technologies are an “electronic means of linking various media in new and different ways” and Hasselbring (whose enlightening research I found myself) argues that they can provide students with mild learning disabilities the opportunity to engage in ”higher-level performance and attention to detail” (like interactive games, blogs, web pages etc). I think this is a really important area to consider when planning lessons with ICT and could be quite central to the learning of students with disabilities.
I came across the program ‘Animoto’ while exploring digi-stuff. It’s not the greatest video, but it explains really well how to use the program that helped me. I think something like this would be really useful for some kids with Autism or Aspergers who have skills in technology and can communicate in compositions (in English for example) or to display understanding about a Historical topic. You can view the ‘Animoto’ video at http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=4617d66ea94ec176fc78&msg=You%20must%20be%20logged%20in%20to%20download%20TeacherTube%20Tools!
Seems to be something in the name – both Dominic Williams (UTS blog aficionado) and Clyde William (whose research on ICT I sourced myself) feel very strongly about the integration of ICT into each learning discipline. I don’t disagree with this (but will stick with my plea for ICT staff to assist English and History teachers Dom!) but what I like particularly about William’s (the former) detailed discussion of how to use ICT in the classroom is the link that he draws between alternative methods of teaching and learning and the replacement of ICT, discussing how this replacement actually enhances the learning objectives of the task.
Class discussion for example, which is key to both English and History, is a traditional method of facilitating student learning whether it’s about particular texts or particular periods in History (or a particular historical issue). What William notes is that class discussions can often only involve a few students, be void of any real content at all, can become heated and irrational and almost always end right when the teacher is getting to the main point (due to the looming bells). William suggests as an alternative to class discussion is the use of ‘instant chat’ as a way of getting students to engage with set texts or particular pertinent Historical discussions. I cringed at first BUT on reflection, this is actually quite a brilliant idea. William suggests that you can even use a ‘Video Projector’ to launch discussions on a large screen which would be valuable if you wanted to pinpoint what was being discussed or as a tool for monitoring student activity. Printouts could also be used of the chats to ensure that students stay on task.
What I loved about this idea the most however is that it enables students to practice putting their responses into written format, albeit typing. They are required to communicate their thoughts while develops their typing skills. I am going to try it – I think the activity would focus all students’ thoughts on the task at hand in ways that go above and beyond classroom discussion.
Having said already that I think pod casts would be a great way to make a History excursion more meaningful, this radio interview podcast highlighted one of the dangers in thought behind ICT in the classroom in that just because the technology makes something more ‘exciting’ doesn’t mean that students are learning any more from it. Just because they do it doesn’t mean they are learning from it. Keneally makes the comment that “it makes sense to include education alongside communication and entertainment” medium such as phones and ipods. He goes on to say however, that having students publish their poems from an English class on their phones and share them makes poetry “more interesting and exciting than just reading the words on a page or on a screen.” I would have to disagree. It may make the actual task more exciting, but it doesn’t really have anything to do with how well students write the poetry. I guess the thing that would raise the task to a new level would be having students respond to each other’s, which, the phone does allow them access to. It’d be important though to focus the task on the value of sharing the poetry or any written text that is published because it is so easy to put something online and can often give people a false sense of credibility.
The English classroom is all about developing literacy in students through the study of text types from all different written, visual, verbal, audio and digital mediums. What I’ve discovered from Huffaker‘s concise summary of blogs is that the diverse and dynamic relationship between response and composition that students experience through studying English can be taken to a whole new level through the use of blogs. The point I liked most about what he had to say was that using blogs provides an opportunity to open up a “dialogue between blog author and blog reader”. If you apply this to different compositions that students have to complete in English then the sometimes superficial and sterile relationship between composer and responder can be breached. In a unit on poetry for example, students can publish their poems on an online blog, such as the all wonderful Edublogs, and other students can respond to them with a series of set questions directed at understanding language and meaning through poetry. This gives students the responsibility as authors to be skillfull in their compositions and highlights the importance of audience in the creative process. In addition, using blogs as a means of publishing texts means that students can incorporate visual, digital and verbal literacy into multi-media texts requiring skill development in ICT and contribution to the digital age.
Robinhamman, February 26th, 2007
Retrieved from Flickr on 6th November, 2008
“In this model, we see that blogs become connectors of ideas and people, but also of conversations that flow between them. Blogs of this sort have an audience potentially as big as the numbers actively engaged in the conversation.” (Robinhamman)
What an awesome envrionment for breaching that long standing gap between author and audience!
Dominic makes an interesting point in response to my ‘digital in-betweeners’ jibe, it’s true a ‘digital native’ is not necessarily a ‘digital expert’. BUT there is no suggestion on this end that we wait around until all teachers are digital natives and experts alike. The issue I have is that ICT is becoming central to the syllabus at a rate faster than ‘digital in betweeners’ are being trained up whether they are at University or already in schools. It’s a fact. Many teachers (young and old) don’t know how to do most of what is required of them in terms of ICT on the syllabus and I think we’re kidding ourselves if we think we will have the time as graduate teachers to deal with the intricacies of technology. I’m not talking about standing back and waiting, I’m suggesting that it’s a much longer process to learn how to TEACH with technology than we are allowing ourselves. I’m sticking with the ‘in betweeners’ and I think a lot more money needs to go to schools to support their ICT departments. ICT teachers should be involved in every English and History lesson that uses ICT otherwise, them lions will be sleeping like lambs J
One of the best ideas I’ve seen in terms of WebPage creation was in a Year 9 History class where students had to create a ‘MySpace’ Page for a famous person in History. The task used ICT it was ENGAGING it required application of MEANINGFUL content – name the buzz word, this task had it and the kids LOVED it! You could use this kind of activity when studying any period in History especially Junior Years where studying daily life and all that is central to the course. I hopped on Myspace for a bit before and searched a few famous historical figures – Cleopatra’s there, this is not the best site and it isn’t one you would show your kids but it gives you the general idea of what the task was all about and what you could do with it. Woo!
This Viking Quest from the BBC History Online site is a fabulous fabulous fabulous interactive game for junior Historians that my supervising teacher showed me while I was on prac this year teaching Year 7 Medieval History. There is so much written about the importance of using simulations and interactive games in our KLAs and I have to admit I was oh-so-skeptical until I actually saw what they are able to achieve. The graphics in this one aren’t even that crash hot but the kids absolutely loved it. As part of the syllabus they have to learn about what life was like for the Vikings and where it would usually be text book this task enable the kids to actually go on a Viking looting quest that they were so famous for. The game requires the students to make several decisions along the way that impact on the success of their looting missions including what kind of boat to build, what kind of crew to recruit, where to assemble the fleet (keeping in mind necessary resources to build and stock the ship for the voyage), what route to take and how to go about attacking a Monastery losing the least number of men and gaining the most treasure. While it doesn’t cover all of the serious content in the course, it provides a great opportunity for the kids to get inside the shoes (and minds) of the Vikings with all of their prior knowledge plus more. It’s a perfect example of Papert’s theory of Constructionism in practice, kids having to ‘do’ in order to learn and they are so subconsciously engaged that the ‘ICT blinkers’ are dimmed and the kids don’t even realize they are fulfilling the ICT requirements of the syllabus as well. This absolutely kicks arse when compared to instructionism and although couldn’t be overused was a welcome break in the Unit.
Dan Schmidt had some great points in using Web 2.0 technologies with this awesome pod cast about using pod casts to re-vamp ‘field trips’. Excursions at school are a “departure from the regular patterns of our school life” which is what makes them so exciting but the question is -how can pod casts make them more meaningful? I actually didn’t think he would have anything useful to say BUT he did and here’s how I think it’d apply to a History excursion.
Scenario One:
A group of year ten students jump on a bus with their packed lunches and head on down to Canberra to visit the War Memorial as part of their history studies. Their teacher gives them a handout with a series of questions they need to answer while they listen to the tour guide and walk around the museum. They fill in all of the questions, the nerdy kids ask more questions and the not-so-nerdy kids copy whoever is sitting next to them. They go and sit in a park, drink their poppers, jump back on the bus and head back to Sydney. Somewhere between walking out of the museum and getting on the bus half of the kids lose the sheets they were filling in and by the time they’re back in Sydney and the 99th bottle of beer has fallen off the wall pretty much everything they learned has been forgotten.
Scenario Two:
A group of year ten students jump on a bus with their packed lunches, ipods and microphones and head on down to Canberra to visit the War Memorial as part of their history studies. While they are on the bus they interview each other about what it is they know about the War Memorial and what kinds of things they will be interested in finding out about. When they arrive at the War Memorial, they go on the guided tour making sure they ask the tour guide questions that they have formulated previously and new questions from any information they weren’t expecting to hear or find particularly interesting. They go and sit in a park, drink their poppers, jump back on the bus and head back to Sydney. On the way back they interview each other about what they find most interesting during the excursion and any information they would like to pass on to the students back at school. By the time they are back in Sydney and the 99th bottle of beer has fallen off the wall, the students have a great collection of data from the excursion that they have ready to make into interesting pod casts to be made available on the school Intranet for all the other classes to access.
Through pod casts, students can “move beyond being a casual observer” – what a great idea!
