e-learning experiences

Ash made a posting in her blog about some issues raised by Mitchel Resnick in a podcast interview on the value of creative play. Funnily enough, this is the third time I have encountered Resnick in the literature and his metaphor of “computer as paintbrush” seems to be a recurring theme in his work. One of the points Ash made which I absolutely agree with is the fact that engaging in play encourages children to develop confidence and actively participate in society, which are essential skills children should learn. I agree with both Ash and Resnick’s views that technology can enhance childrens’ play, especially since when today’s children reach adulthood they will be living in a world where technology is even more omnipresent than it is now.

Another advantage of playing with technology is that it is also a form of discovery learning for children as they explore technologies in a hands-on and “fun” way, gaining first hand experiences rather than learning how to use technologies by reading a manual. Practical, hands-on play with technology in a safe environment with some guidance or monitoring by a teacher or parent is a great way for children to experience new and exciting things in their play. Incorporating technology into an already useful childhood pasttime can only benefit their futures even more.

Jared makes an interesting point in his blog questioning the safety and suitability of blogging in the classroom. His post What does Microsoft have to say? provided a shocking insight into the realities of children and teenagers who blog. I found this posting really interesting, since I realised that I had not stopped to consider this issue in any depth, instead being caught up in the excitement and challenges of incorporating technology into the classroom. Of course most primary school aged children would lack the presence of mind to eliminate their names, ages, and other personal details from online blogs, discussion boards and the like, so it is the responsibility of teachers and parents to educate children on this new form of “stranger danger”.

This website provides cartoon clips demonstrating internet safety, and is endorsed by the Australian Government for use in primary schools. I actually saw this used in my practicum school last semester, as the school had a heavy emphasis on ICT, and my supervising teacher would play the clips to her 2/3 class while they ate their lunches. I think clips such as these can be used to make students aware of the dangers of revealing personal information over the internet, however I also believe it is the responsibility of teachers to monitor students’ postings if they choose to incorporate this technology into the classroom.

Source: screenshot from video

This video from Kemnal Technology College (scroll to bottom of page) outlines how LAMS has been introduced into lessons and to what effect. Its quite short but the overall impression it gave was that both students and teachers found the software enjoyable and easy to use in the classroom. Soon I will be creating a LAMS task with my partner Maria, so it was good to see this brief example and some positive feedback from staff and students. One particular aspect of LAMS that were highlighted in the video as being beneficial in the classroom was the idea that the whole class was contributing to the task and the teacher was more easily able to evaluate their contributions (for example, on a discussion board) since they were recorded. I think that this aspect of LAMS is excellent since it means that a) students can put more thought into their comments than if they were put on the spot verbally, and b) the teacher can revisit the response to assess it more accurately.

Another point that one of the teachers emphasised several times was that so much could be achieved with LAMS in just a one hour lesson. I think the implications of this for the classroom are huge, since it means that lesson times can be used more constructively than using more traditional methods. Another benefit of LAMS was said to be that it helped to improve students discussion skills, thereby improving learning. If students make use of the LAMS discussion tools such as the discussion board, forum and chat they can work collaboratively in the classroom from their own individual computer, which is also a great help in terms of classroom management.

Wang and Han’s article “Six C’s of motivation” examines an example of the six strategies–choice, challenge, control, collaboration, constructing meaning and consequences–in action. I believe that the six C’s of motivation can be very useful in the classroom, since motivating students can be a difficult task for teachers. I found that three of the strategies stood out for me in relation to using technology to motivate students in the classroom: these were challenge, collaboration and consequences.

Challenge is a strategy that aligns very closely with Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development. I think that incorporating technology into lessons can provide students with challenges in many ways, for example using the technology, particularly if a task involves new learning which the teacher must scaffold. I also think the excitement of using technology in the classroom encourages students to tackle challenges in a positive way, since they may feel that they are learning to use technology in a way that is relevant to their everyday life.

Collaboration in particularly relevant to e-learning when we consider the use of discussion boards and forums in the classroom. These tools may be used to foster online collaboration between students by making postings online, sharing information or even working on texts collaboratively in programs such as Google Docs. In terms of consequences, Wang and Han argue that displaying student work increases motivation. There is no more accessible or public forum for students to display their work in than the internet, so publishing student work online whether it be in the form of written texts, podcasts or vodcasts should enable technology in the classroom to provide students with increased motivation.

Source: flickr