e-learning experiences

Due to the changing nature of how we access and use information, the idea of “new literacy”–literacy which goes beyond reading and writing–is something which has been bandied about in educational discourse particularly relating to technology in the classroom. According to Armstrong and Warlick in their article The new literacy, teachers need to help students develop new literacies for a future filled with career paths and technologies which are yet to exist. In the article they put forward four key skills which move beyond the traditional literacies.

In the case of “reading” they argue that is it not enough for students to read information and accept it–students need to evaluate multimedia and assess the value of information. Students will have to improve their writing skills to include not only written texts but also authoring multimedia texts which include images, video, and audio. Thirdly, students need to use information ethically and be aware of IP laws and crediting their information sources. I agree with these three assessments, however I disagree with the authors, who argue that students will need to develop their mathematic skills in order to “read” computer language and binary code. I don’t think these skills will be in demand in the future and the addition of this point seemed a tokenistic gesture to maths literacy. Overall though, I agree that in using technology in the classroom it is essential for teachers to develop the first three skills in students by providing them with meaningful tasks which allow them to best make use of technology to express ideas through their work.

For the Journal of Computing in Teacher Education, Joseph Friedhoff wrote and interesting article titled “Reflecting on the affordances and constraints of technologies and their impact on pedagogical goals”. Although the article primarily dealt with using blogs as a teaching/learning tool in tertiary education courses for preservice teachers, many of the points raised about the value of using blogs in classrooms could also relate to primary school students. According to Friedhoff, tools such as blogs should ideally facilitate collaboration and communication between classmates. Unlike discussion boards, they also mean that an individual’s work is compiled together in chronological order. In a primary classroom, this could be an alternate way for students to record their thoughts like a journal, or in a more formal task relating to a particular KLA.

Having become quite familiar with writing and reading blogs over the last semester, I believe that if the technology were available to students, many stage 3 students would be capable of writing and maintaining a blog of their own, with guidance from their teacher. However unlike Friedhoff I believe that blogs would not be as effective in encouraging collaborative work amongst primary students–a tool better suited to this task would be something like a joint class blog or a wikispace. Therefore I believe that blogs could be useful in the primary classroom as a journal-like tool for students to record responses and reflections in an online medium.

Linda Joseph’s article “Summer excursions” in May/Jun Multimedia and Internet@Schools magazine inspired me to think about how ICT may be effectively integrated with school excursions. Her article describes current typical use of technology on an excursion, for example taking a “guided tour” using an audio CD, as well as the usual internet research visiting the website of the excursion destination to obtain background information, etc. I believe that technology may be used in conjunction with excursions in much more meaningful ways than these, serving as a connecting tool to related the excursion to work done in the classroom.

Joseph suggests using the online mapping tools pre-excursion to allow students to plan their journey. Students could also use technology to record their thoughts and discoveries after an excursion in ways which go beyond a simple recount–for example, creating a digital story which uses pictures and voice-recordings to tell a more personal and meaningful story. In the future, students may even be able to bring hand-held devices on excursions to complete activities an enhance their experience.

Technology should be used in the classroom to enhance learning and promote creative and collaborative responses. When an excursion is planned to fit in with what is already being taught at school, teachers can use technology to support and consolidate experiences and relate them to classroom learning.

Providing schools with the equipment they need in order to incorporate effective e-learning into the classroom is a hot topic for the Australian Federal and State governments, according to this SMH article from early last month. In my experience during prac over the last two years, I have been to two public schools and the disparity between the availability of technology between the two could not have been more apparent. From what I have seen in the classroom, the comment Bob Lipscombe makes in the article that “the use of computers for all age groups is now embedded in the delivery of courses from maths to literacy, science and human society” is a flawed generalisation that does not apply to many schools which do not have the resources to use technology in this way.

I do agree however, with Alexander Roche who argues that technology in the classroom is only beneficial if used in a meaningful way. Part of the struggle for teachers in implementing technology in the classroom is finding time and justification for including new techniques and learning methods in classrooms that are already bursting with crowded curriculum. However I do believe that in time and with carefully thought out and implemented strategies, technology may be used in the classroom in an integrated and beneficial way… I have one idea for using technology in the classroom integrated with one KLA which I will speak about in my next posting!

Salter’s article “Making use of online discussion groups” (pages 5-10) outlines some advantages and disadvantages of discussion-board type technologies, as well as some strategies for implementing this technology in the classroom. One of the advantages that stood out to me is the idea that online discussions can provoke deeper thinking by giving students more time to reflect and compose their response. In terms of improving writing skills I believe online discussions could be very useful in the classroom, since publishing or posting messages online gives students practice in writing for a wide audience in a variety of ways. Maria makes a similar point about how technology can enhance writing skills in her post on wikis.

Another important point Salter raised was the need for clear instructions, guidelines for use and marking criteria that must be spelt out to students in the beginning. If students do not know how to use discussion boards or are unsure what is expected of them chaos could ensue, so I think establishing what is expected early on is essential if this is to be used in the classroom. One of Salter’s suggestions that I would hesitate to implement, though, is the idea of anonymous posts, since I think this could create tension if criticisms were made anonymously of students’ work, for example.

If I had the opportunity to use discussion boards in my classroom, I would probably do so with an older primary class, ie stage 3. Before doing so I would definitely discuss the idea with my students to make sure everyone was comfortable with the technology and that it was relevant to the curriculum.

From url: http://www.nofanalone.com/blog/archives/2007_03.html

Prensky’s (2005) article ‘Listen to the natives‘ argues the point that it is becoming increasingly difficult for teachers to engage students in the 21st century classroom. I agree with this point, and also agree that using technology and media that students are interested in is a great way to engage them, provided it is done in a relevant and meaningful way that supports the curriculum. However, I think some of his suggestions could be problematic, such as always letting students choose their own groups or partners for assignments, as well as an emphasis on mobile phone technologies in the classroom. I think that computer technology is more accessible and acceptable in the classroom than mobiles, not to mention the fact that not every student in the average Australian classroom has a mobile phone, but I believe most have access to a pc, at least at school.

Overall, I agree that students should be taught how to use new and emerging technologies at school and that this knowledge would benefit them greatly in their futures. However while peer tutoring and student-lead lessons may be used effectively in classrooms, I tend to think this is best done occasionally, and that it is up to the teacher to learn the requisite skills to teach new technologies to his or her class.

In his article ‘Computer as paintbrush: technology, play and the creative society’ (Resnick, 2006) Resnick argues that most children’s interactions with computers are passive, but that this needn’t be the case. I agree that instead of just interacting with computer technology, students should use media such as garageband, etc, to create and design projects, giving them a greater understanding of how technology works and how they can manipulate it to different ends.

From google images URL here

Resnick’s article cites several examples of how this has been done, for example a marble machine that uses small computers (Crickets) to manipulate the marble’s path through the maze. The experimentation this child undertook to determine where she should place her crickets, how she could time the crickets movements, etc, involved a lot of creative thinking, and was also something she highly enjoyed. I think that technologies like this that can be integrated into the curriculum are great tools that can foster creative thinking in students, and can perhaps engage them in ways that traditional methods cannot.

Podcasting is something I had never attempted until last week’s e-learning seminar. It was an interesting experience and recording a podcast was much easier to do than I had previously imagined, so much so that I can see this being integrated into the primary classroom in a variety of ways. This extract from Will Richardson’s ‘Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms’ gives examples of some ways podcasts have been used, particularly in the United States. I thought the idea of using podcasting to record lessons was a great idea, since students who missed the lesson could catch up on their own time, or those seeking revision or clarification could review the lesson time and time again. I also thought students using podcasts to record information, practice foreign languages, and even to practice speeches or presentations was a fantastic opportunity for them to really gauge their progress in these areas, and be able to see how they could improve their technique.

Overall, I think podcasting has the potential to be used in an extremely relevant and meaningful way in the classroom across a number of KLAs. I intend to do some more research on podcasting to find more examples of its use in classrooms, and to what effect.

McKenzies’ article, Stuffing technology into the curriculum, argues that technology is being used in the classroom in ways which are redundant and counterproductive. He believes that technology should be used meaningfully as a tool to assist learning, not as a series of exercises that must be done to fulfil departmental criteria. I tend to agree with his view, having seen on practicum last semester a few examples of how ICT (Information and Computer technology) is used in an everyday classroom.

One particular example that was not particularly well integrated was a lesson where students copied and pasted data from the ABS into an excel spreadsheet to create a chart. Of course I think its a great idea that students are taught how to do this! The issue I had with the lesson, though, was that the data the students were using was not related to anything else they were learning about at the time. I think it would have been better if the students could have made a graph relating to their COGS topic of machines, after perhaps collecting some data themselves. This lesson was basically done to tick a box, and I think the students would have found it more useful, relevant and perhaps remembered what they had learnt better if it had been incorporated into their current unit of work.