Im so excited that this is my final post…i know i shouldn’t be but using the computer this intensly is sending me crazy, i cant wait to pick up a pen and paper and write something…anything.

To finish of here are a few of the songs that i have been listening to whilst blogging. The cassette player witht he playlist was uploaded from myflashfetish.com.

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

Lastly, I need to complete part b of my assignment which looks at the enrichment of my blog so that it caters for different learning styles which are suited to an online active learning environment. The questions are:

1. Which learning style/s does this ICT support?

2. How could this ICT be implemented as a good cognitive tool within the learning environment?

3. How is this ICT enabiling the development of creativity?

Graphics and Images:

1. This will aid visual learners

2. They can be used to support graphic texts and allow visual learners to express their thoughts and in an alternative way.

3. Graphics on the computer or software like pain enables students to create their own images and/or manipulate existing images to represent their own ideas.

A Video Clip:

1. Caters for visual and auditory learners.

2. The ICT could be implemented in the learning environment as it allows for students to see other peoples perspectives or scenarios outside of the classroom.

3. Video clips can be used for creativity as student can be given the opportunity to construct their own video. It may be on a recent topic they are studying in class, a big issue in the community or Just have fun manipulating the environment. Inorder to make a video students need to use teamwork, various resources, other technological skills and have support from their teacher and their school.

A Sound File:

1. A sound file caters for an auditory learner.

2. The sound of music, the sound of environmental elemnts, the sound of a poem being recited or various other sounds can complement a subject that is being learned. It adds further emphasis on the topic and allows for variety in the classroom.

3. Students can construct their own sound files in for a variety of reasons. they could record themselves reading a book and then do a self-analysis; they could talk about a topic; play an instrument or mix already made sound files.

A Graphic Organiser:

1. Supports visual learner

2. A graphic organiser, like inspiration can be used so that students can organise their thoughts in concept maps. This concept map could then be used as a presentation in the classroom or used for further discussion.

3. With the ability to construct your own personal concept map, with information that makes sense to you, students will be able to understand a topic in more depth. Inspiration allows for creativity with the drag and drop actions and the hyperlink functions, students gather research more easily and can see the connection between the concepts.

Online Game:

1. Supports Kinaesthetic learners

2. An online game can support a students learning as they can engage in the situation, using cause and effect or manipulate objects in the game to reach a certain outcome. They allow children to be engaged and have fun…and we all know children learn through PLAY!

3. Students can become creative with the games as they may be able to choose their own characters, level or difficulty. They can control the character on their quest or even build a character from scratch after completing an activity.

The first text we looked at was “The Growth of Enterprise Pedagogy: How ICT policy is infected by neo-liberalism.” by Mark Brown (2005). This text was very eye opening as it contained many views for and against the increased technological use in school settings. Brown offers a critical perspective by questioning some of the basic assumptions about why ICT is so important in our classrooms.

Armstrong & Casement (1998) as cited by Brown (2005) claim that it is ’scandalous’ that so much money has been allocated for computers and internet access with so little evaulation. This comment brings about the steady rise in the number of people questioning te wisdom of the substansial investment in new technologies. ButI dont agree, i feel that investing so much into new technology can only beefit the education system as it allows access to so much more. Students can now have the opportunit to learn the beliefs and views of people all around the world; they have access to various forms of information that without the internet the would never get to use. Therefore, tecnology is a useful investment in moving our students forward,

Oppenhiemer (1997, p.45) then argues that there is no good evidence that most uses of computers significantly improve teaching and learning. However, what he fails to acknowledge  is that such pedagogical enhancements would often be impossible without the capabilities of new technology (Reeves, 1998, p.52). Without technology how would our students be able to play a game that lets them experience the lifestlye that the miners experienced in Ballarat all those years ago, they wouldn’t. Therefore his infamous attitude on computer usage in schools contains some serious flaws.

One statement I found obsurd was by Stoll (1999) who argues ” THAT COMPUTERS SEND THE WRONG MESSAGE BY MAKING LEARNING APPEAR COLOURFUL AND FUN WHEN IT ACTUALLY REQUIRES HARD WORK AND DISCIPLINE.” In the 21st century we find that a more constructivist view of learning is more benefical to childrens education. They need to play in order to learn! Ofcourse you do not want children to go off track and look at irrelavant things but that is the duty of the teacher to keep the children focused. ICT should be used to develop a new kind of digital curriculum where students learn how to be critical thinkers, critical consumers and critical citizens.

The Schools Advisory Group (2000, p.3) has constructed a framework called Learning in an online world, and it states: All students will leave school as a ‘confident, creative and productive user of new technologies, including information and communication technologies, and understand the impact of those technologies on society.’

The second text, “Teacher Pedagogical Beliefs: The final frontier in our quest for technological integration?” by Peggy Ertmer (2005), doesn’t look at societies views like Browns’ text does, it focuses more on the teacers views of using technology in the classroom and whether or not their values can impact the new intergration. According to Becker (2000, p.29), computers serve as a “valuable and well-functioning instructional-tool.”

Some statistics related to technology in schools and teachers (from the US):

• 98% of schools are connected to the internet

• 81% of teachers have either moderate or high levels of access to instructional computers.

• 37% of teachers expressed interest in learning basic computer skills

• while over 80% expressed interest in learning how to inegrate computer technology into the curricular area.

“Technology is now considered by most educators and parents to be an intergral part of providing a high-quality education” (U.S. DOE, 2003, p.3)

And why wouldn’t it be, everywhere we look there is some form of technology staring us in the face, whether it be mobile phones, computers, ipods, satelite navigation or even finger print scanners for access into your home. If we cannot take advantage of technology then the new generation of students will fall behind, instead of keeping up and expanding the world.

Ertmer (2005) said that it is not a struggle of resources but a struggle of core values. This means that teachers are aware of the resources, but are scared that if they attempt to use this new technology in their classroom they will be stepping into unknown territory and for many teachers that is a no go zone. Teachers need opportunities to test their ideas without worrying about jeopardizing their student’s results or making any mistakes. Thye nedd to be able to pilot their technological resources on their fellow collegues, family or even friends so that when it is introduced to the classroom for the first time it is not such a duanting process. Teachers should incorporate technology into their learning engagements to support and offer meaningful methodologies in learning, rather than feel timid or threatened by the notion of it, as students today effectively engage and respond to information presented in this form.

 High level uses of technology are more associated with student centered practices, which should be the aim of a constructivist classroom, where the students have more autonomy and construct ‘own their learning’. This is how most 21st century classroom should be, especially if the teacher feels that he/she believes in te constructivist method of learning. By implementing technology into the classroom a teacher can cater for the many learning styles by intergrating various forms of media, using an interactive whiteboard  for all the children to see the manipulation of a text or even a soundfile to recite a new poem.  

References

Brown, M. (2005). The growth of enterprise pedagogy: How ICT policy is infected by neo-liberalism. Australia Educational Computing, 20(2), 16-22.

Ertmer, P. A. (2005). Teacher pedagogical beliefs: The final frontier in our quest for technology integration? Educational Technology Research & Development, 53(4), 25-39. 

Our focus this week was WebQuests. Before last year I had no idea what they were and i thought that our tutor had made up some crazy activity. But with further research i came to learn about them in more depth and even had to evaulate one. This is a rubric for evaluating webquests.

A WebQuest is an inquiry-orientated activity in which some or all of the information hat the learners need are available to them. They challenge the students to engage in a higher order of thinking as they review various forms of information looking for an answer to some problem. Our first text, “Some thoughts about WebQuests” by Bernie Dodge, looks at the two levels of WebQuests, these are :

Short Term: The instructional goal is based on knowledge acquisition and intergration and is designed to be completed in 1 to 3 classes. Once completed students will have grappled with a significant amount of new information and made sense of it.

Long Term: The instructional goal is based on extending and refining kowledge and can take between 1 week to 1 month. By completing it the learner would have analyzed a body of knowledge deeply, transformed it in some way, and demonstrated an understanding of the material by creating something that others can respond to.

To achieve a positive learning goal a WebQuest should contain te following:

• An introduction

• A Task

• A set of Information sources

• The Process

• Guidance

• A Conclusion

• Group activities

• and enhanced through Motivational elements (role to play)

Our Second text was a step by step look at the different areas of a Webquest.

The reason webquests are constructed is to promote some form of higher-order thinking and the most important kind of thinking requires these types of questions…

“Once you have learned how to ask relevant and appropriate questions, you have learned how to learn and no one can keep you from learning whatever you want or need to know.” Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner,Teaching as a Subversive Activity 

Another important aspect, of using a webquest or even the internet to answer some question, is to use the research cycle (McKenzie, 2000), which provides the structure and the scaffolding to direct students efforts, helping them to stay on track and work efficiently. The significant use of the scaffolding helps to organize and support the students investigation or inquiry and keeps students from straying too far off the path while seeking the truth about whatever issue, problem or question is driving the project.

The research cycle,McKenzie (2000)

Dodge(1995) believes that the thinking skills that come out of using a WebQuest are:

• Comparnig

• Classifying

• Inducing

• Deducing

• Analyzing errors

• Constructing support

• Astraction

• Analyzing perspectives.

References:

Dodge, B. (1995) Some thoughts about WebQuests. http://webquest.sdsu.edu/about_webquests.html

McKenzie, J. (nd), The question is the answer. http://questioning.org/module/module1.html

The WebQuest Page http://webquest.sdsu.edu/index.html

The internet is connecting our world! from creative commons.

This weeks topic looked at E-learning, and how to prepare students for it. For those who enjoy using computers and don’t get distracted easily by the many distractions on the internet then e-learning would be an effective means of learning independently.  However, for those like me who find it difficult learning online then e-learning is not ideal.

I am not an a confident learner on the computer. I find that I am easily distracted, don’t enjoy reading on the computer, and I don’t enjoy searching website after website for information. My ideal method of learning would be to write everything down. When a lecturer speaks I prefer to be writing down what he or she says as that is the only way fir me to retain information. So doing an online course would be extremely unsuitable for me and I would become just another drop-out of an e-learning program.

An important consideration when looking into online learning is that students have different learning styles- characteristics, strengths and preferences in the ways in which they take in and process information.

The ideal online student would be:

• Self-disciplined
• Mature and experienced
• Have a high emotional quotient
• Willingness to ask for help
• And be independent.

The Content also needs to be well-designed for interaction-in order to keep students engaged as page clicking won’t really motivate them.

The ideal e-learning instructer needs to:

• be aware of the students needs and involvement levels.
• attempt to draw students in to discussion early
• take an online course as a student so they know what to expect.
• famailiariaze themselves with tools and available support.
• Pilot the course- on collegues or friends
• Prepare a back up plane for technical failure
• Prepare the learner through a welcoming email
• Test the assumtions of the students readiness.

E-learning is a good cognitive tool for a student as there are many different forms of information available on a computer, for example, games, videos, soundfiles (like online lectures), images and discussion forums. This will cater for the various learning styles by offerening a range of learning tools. It also enables the development of creativity as a student can adopt a blog as a means of refleting and add effects to emphasize their understanding of the topic.

Reference List:

Preparing students for elearning http://www.elearning.org/Articles/Preparingstudents.htm

Meaningful learning refers to the concept that learned knowledge is fully understood and how their new understanding relates to ideas previously known. The reading for this week, “What is meaningful learning?”, by Jonassen, D., Howland, J., Marra, R.M., Crismond, D. (2008), looks at students using tasks that require intentional, active, constructive, cooperative and authentic learning processes, which will result in more meaningful learning. The text also looks at the role of technology in creating meangingful learning.

Meaningful learning occurs when students have the ability to undertake activities that require them to be active, constructive, intentional, authentic and cooperative. When children undertake activities using these 5 aspects they will gain a better understanding and a greater appreciation with the result. 

In active learning students learn through manipulating objects in the environment, observing the effects of their interventions and constructing their own interpretations. For example, when learning to play T-ball students do not need to learn theories on how to hit the ball. They merely strike the ball with the bat with an amount of force and see how far the ball will go. They can then learn by cause and effect that if you change the force of the swing you change how far the ball will go.

Constructive learning is the child’s ability to reflect on their own activity. A new lesson will cause them to be puzzled which then results in meaning making. As children reflect on puzzling experiences they integrate their new experiences with prior knowledge. For example, when hitting the ball, with little force the ball will just fall off the T, the children then realise that in order to make the ball go the distance they must hit it as hard as they hit it the first time.

Intentional learning allows learners to actively try to solve a task to accomplish a goal. Technology needs to be able to engage learners in articulating and representing their understanding . They will be able to use the knowledge that they have constructed, in new situations. Games on the internet provide real-life experiences to situations that many people will never experience out in the real world. The learning federation as various games that children can play and get involved in the actual experience. One example is a game about the Gold Rush, children become one of the characters whose family came to Ballarat in 1865, at the height of the gold rush. In this game they get to mine for gold; buy miners permits, tools and enough supplies to last a month; and discover how hard life on the Goldfields really was.

Gold Rush Game, from the learning federation

Authentic learning is not just learning a formula and then applying it to the problem just to get the right answer. It is learning tasks that are situated in some meaningful real-world task or simulated, these are better understood and remembered and can be transferred to other real life situations. I feel that authentic activities are the most important activities that a teacher can bring to their classroom. It does not need to be technologically based, but using technology to simulate real life situations is ideal. The Gold rush game is a good example of this as the children get to experience the Gold Rush from a perspective other than books. Another game from the learning federation that I will most probably use in my classroom is called Fish Market. Children get the opportunity compare market prices, supply and demand; explore a range of traders to find the best deals and open up new markets; find a rare fish; maximize their profit and reputation as a smart trader.

Fish Market Trading Game, from the learning federation

Cooperative activities allow children to become part of the knowledge building communities both in class and outside school, they learn that their are multiple ways of viewing the world and multiple solutions to most of life’s problems. Technology supports the conversational process by connecting learners together for discussion, collaboration or even assistance. This can include the use of blogs, facebook, msn, text messages, bebo, myspace or even you tube (as they can watch videos of each other).

In all these areas, technology can be used as it can represent learners ideas, understandings and beliefs and can also be used to access needed information. Students can compare perspectives, beliefs and worldwide views; present meaningful real-world problems and collaborate with others around the world.

Reference List:

Jonassen, D. et.al. (2008) Meaningful Learning with Technology.

This weeks text was “Translating Constructivist theory into practice in primary-grade Mathematics”, by Jody Brewer, and its research was based on interviewing 8 maths teachers on their views of constructivism and to see if their views mirror their teaching methods. 

Before reading the text I thought about my own views on Constructivism and I feel that constructivist teaching allows students to create knowledge, using their prior knowledge and the environment around them to create new knowledge. The students are scaffolded by the teacher to aid their learning process and learn through peer interactions.

Each of the teachers interviewed had similar beliefs but also had other views on what constructivism is. There were four main themes on the teachers perceptions of constructivism these were a) learning is an active, constructive process, (b) new knowledge is built on prior knowledge, (c) autonomy is promoted, (d) social interaction is necessary for knowledge construction and active learning.

Two views from the teachers were “knowledge comes from within the children. They construct it instead of the teacher being the holder of knowledge and giving it to the children” and ” You take what you know and you take what you don’t know and from your perspective you try to learn what it is you don’t know and how it makes sense to you.” This quote was significant for me as it looks at a child’s prior knowledge and their ability to use it to construct new knowledge. However, i believe that children can not construct knowledge on their own and need to be scaffolded by their teachers so that they have some kind of understanding on the topic.

Teacher scaffolding students learning as they learn collaboratively, from “City of Destin Florida” website.

” Autonomy means the ability to govern oneself by taking relevant factors into account.” This theme was encouraged by all eight teachers as the don’t want their students to be limited into just one way to solve a problem, but be able to look at other factors. I believe autonomy should be considered in the classroom so the students have the ability to construct their own way of learning but i believe learning would best be done collaboratively so that the students can discuss their beliefs and consider other students views to a problem.

The final theme was social constructivism, where teachers said they needed to share ideas and receive feedback from others because it clarifies and extends their own thinking. I found this view of constructivism to very effective in a classroom/ learning environment.

Social Constructivism.  From pbwiki, by ms. munroe

All current teachers and future teachers need to “start thinking about their own teaching and ideas about teaching”(Christiansen, 1999) and there will be no limit to the potential for development. I hope that when I become a full time teacher that my constructivist views will mirror my classroom instruction and activity. I don’t ever wish to become on of those boring, monotone teachers that stands in front of the class and feeds the children information, i want to engage my students, make their learning fun and engaging.

Reference List:

Brewer, J., & Daane, C.J. (2002). Translating constructivist theory into preactice in primary-grade mathematics, 123(2), 416-417

The students of today have changed radically and are no longer the people our education system was designed to teach. Today children are growing up with technology and most have spent their entire lives immersed by the various forms of technology, that even their parents have never used before. 

I know that in my own household, for example, my parents tend to ask my brother and I questions on how to use technology such as the computer, internet, ipods, mobile phones and cameras. Also, my brother who is 2 years younger than me, is often better at using new technology than i am. I often find myself asking him how to use new technology or to fix things that are not working. However, when it comes to the technology that I have grown up with, I find that he needs to ask me how to use it as I have had more experience. 

I found a video called  Lost in Time (Foxtel HD) on You Tube. This Foxtel HD commercial serves as a flashback of Australian Technology and cultural evolution, through each era, separated by a whistle.

My brother and I are referred to ask a “Digital Native” because I was born between the 1980 and 1994 but my parents are referred to as “Digital Immigrants” as they were born before 1980.

Many researches believe that Digital Immigrants need to adopt new styles of teaching, which incorporates the use of technology. There are problems, however, with getting digital immigrants to learn to use technology, is that although they do adapt to their environment, they always retain, to some degree, their original “accent”. Prensky (2001) believes that many “digital immigrants don’t believe their students can learn successfully while watching tv or listening to music, because they (the digital immigrants) can’t”. But of course children can learn things watching tv.

At my house this morning my mother opened up the newspaper and was doing a quiz and she thought she would quiz my brother on the questions she thought were difficult. She asked him “how many hearts does and octapus have?” and he easily answered 3. When my mother asked him how he knew that he simply answered “I saw it in a South Park episode.”

Many Digital Immigrants believe that you can not learn by having fun, but of course you can. Play provides natural opportunities to engage in concrete and meaningful activities that enhance cognitive development. It lays the foundation for later academic success in writing and reading. it provides hands-on experience with real-life materials and helps children develop abstract scientific and mathematical concepts. It is critical for the development of imagination and creative problem solving skills.

Tapscott (1998) believes ”there is a growing appreciation that the old approach (of teaching) is ill-suited to the intellectual, social, motivational and emotional needs of the new generation.” Large-scale surveys of teenagers’ and childrens’ use of the internet reveal high levels of online activity by many school-aged children, particularly for helping with homework and for social communication. 

On the other hand, the research also showed that family dynamics and the level of domestic affluence to be significant factors influencing the nature of childrens’ home computer use. Therefore, to focus mainly on technology comes with the danger that those less interested and less able will be neglected and that the potential impact of socio-economic and cultural factors will be overlooked.

Overall, I believe that teachers need to adopt new means of educating their students, making it fun and interactive, but they should not rely on technology as the only means of their teaching. I believe that in the future I will implement various forms of technology into my classroom to make it interactive, fun and allow for various learning styles. It would be much easier for me to implement technology in my classroom as i was born in the digital natives era but by the time I start teaching there will be new technology to learn and I may have to learn from my students.

 Refernce List:

Bennett, S., Maton, K. & Kervin, L. (2008). The ‘Digital natives’ debate: a critical review of the evidence. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39(5), 775-786

Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf