Introduction: awakening the mind
In this post I will share my understanding on the relevance of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) in education and explore the function of ICT in my pedagogical design. In doing so I will further ingrain myself as a member of the global community whilst enriching my technological literacy. The digital age and the globalisation of our society, places an imperative on education to prepare our children in the use of ICT and enable them to fulfil their potential in a highly skilled labour market (MCEETYA, 2009). The Australian Curriculum (ACARA , 2010) views ICT competence as being able to investigate, create, communicate and operate as a general capability which is developed across all key learning areas and is done so within social and ethical standards. When viewed as a competence it is easy for learning managers to lose sight of the pedagogic value of ICT. Used wisely they have the ability to transform the way students think and learn and will give students the skill and understanding so their knowledge can be transferred from the classroom to the community and the workplace. My view on ICT is that it is a tool for the student and not for me. The dynamic nature of technology is such that the contemporary world of ICT today is not likely to be that of 2015 when I am qualified to be in the classroom. I suspect this course may be renamed to Managing m-Learning.
ICT: the contemporary world
Today’s world of ICT It is a fast paced information world where learners are bombarded with stimuli from many devices, including; mobile phones, mp3 players, netbooks, note books, laptops, desktops, tablets, interactive whiteboards, digital cameras, GPS, scanners, printers, televisions, and gaming consoles. Each one of these devices may be used for multiple processes including; email, data storage, blogs, wikis, social networking, instant messaging, communication, virtual worlds, games and file sharing. For each of these devices there is software which will manage and enhance the experience. In today’s world technology changes quickly and new tools become available and affordable. The challenge for learning managers is to keep pace with new technologies and the theoretical, professional and philosophical shifts in learning. Our philosophy has moved from instructivist to constructivist and our theory from behaviourist to situated socio-constructivist and our mode of learning from individualistic to collaborative (Herrington & Herrington, 2007). This is likely to change again as we start to understand and adopt the pedagogical value of mobile devices (smart phones, PDA, tablets, ipod) which have evolved into very powerful digital devices and have coined the term m-Learning. A good indicator of this change is the Apple iPad 2 advertisement - ‘Now’.
Learners: who are they and what do they need
Marc Prensky's paper on Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants (2001) and his article on Engage Me or Enrage Me (2005) claims that the amount of stimuli, through technology, that children are bombarded with and need to process is far greater than that experienced by the educators of today when they were children. Prensky refers to modern day children as digital natives who naturally adapt to this, fast paced stimuli and develop a continual need for it. If it is not delivered they do not engage and consider the classroom as downtime. Prensky’s generalisations have received criticism from authors such as Thrupp. Thrupp’s (2010) research shows that whilst modern children have access to various forms of ICTs they do not use or are not engaged with all aspects of the ICT. Thrupp views ICT as artefact and processes. Simply because a child has access to a computer (artefact) does not mean they use it for such things (processes) as; communication, education, entertainment or data storage. The child also has control over the context it would be used. A child's use of a computer at home does not translate to their desire to use it in the classroom. Therefore, diversity exists among digital natives rather than the broad brushed generalisation made by Prensky. What is clear by both parties is that teachers need to develop their understanding and skills to incorporate ICT in pedagogy. Collaborative learning is an umbrella term for a teaching methodology which encompasses a number of learning theories, primarily: social constructivism learning theory; co-operative learning; and, situated learning theory (SICTAS, 2009). With conversation and dialogue at its core collaborative learning is well served by ICT, in particular students would benefit from collaboration tools like wiki, Facebook , Skype and LEGO Mindstorms NXT Robots.
Wiki
A wiki is an online space that allows any individual to contribute by allowing them to create new pages, add content, and edit existing content. Therefore a wiki is created by a group of users or rather created collaboratively. A wiki is simple to create and to add content to and therefore a good tool for the novice student to create an online presence. The ease of creating them within a few minutes means a learning manager can have a group engaged rather quickly. A wiki allows for all types of multimedia content and other items such as discussion area, RSS feeds, polls, links and any other HTML content to be added. Wikis are being used in education for such tasks as, student portfolios, group authoring, multi-author storytelling and classroom scrapbooks. However any coordinating or group task, large or small, could be undertaken. I am particular excited at the task where students create their own textbooks rather than simply reading one. I believe they will learn more from the exercise as it is likely to contain animations, images, video, sound and perhaps first hand accounts of historical events. My concern with the wiki is that it has been in use for a few years now and may not be the collaboration tool of choice in 2015.
My post about the week 1-2 wiki activities.
My post about the week 1-2 wiki activities.
Facebook
The SICTAS report (2009) identified that the use of social networks provided benefits to students adopting a collaborative learning approach due to; their increased level of engagement and participation and a higher standard of work both in presentation and depth of thought. The concern with Facebook is that although the default privacy settings protect minors it is still managed by them, the individual and they could change the settings. Further information about Facebook privacy settings can be found on my blog. Some applications on the use of Facebook include:
· Use the Facebook profile format to create historical figures.
· Create a communication hub for the class as a closed group, which will keep parents informed, distribute homework or permission slips, share photos or video of classroom activities, distribute homework and correspondence.
· Clarify the understanding of work material through discussion within the group.
· Build a collaborative peer support network.
With so many students engaged in Facebook, learning managers should explore if their students wished to be engaged this way.
Skype
Skype is an ICT that allows people to communicate via the internet instead of the conventional telephone. The software is free and the calls are free. The appeal of Skype to learning managers is twofold. Firstly it is free and secondly it can visually bring the world into the classroom. The challenge in using Skype is the level of planning and coordination you need to do beforehand. The delegation to class experts should alleviate this. Unlike the wiki and Facebook, this ICT does not teach the student how to learn but rather engages them to learn. Should students propose the use of this tool I would happily facilitate its use. Click here to view my Skype PowerPoint presentation. To share the presentation I had to sign up to an online community called SlideShare. Once uploaded presentations can be embedded into other online pages or accessed remotely from SlideShare. The presentations can be made public which will give you the opportunity to receive feedback for improvement.
LEGO Mindstorms NXT Robotics
When we consider ICT we think of the computer but not about robotics. Programming the robot helps children develop critical and creative thinking. They learn to problem solve and examine how they think when teaching the robot and debugging the errors (Papert, 1993). Children problem solve collaboratively however it is in this environment where genuine student teacher collaboration occurs. Papert asserts that the teacher does not need to pretend as the debugging problem will be unique to both parties. The child will learn through what the teacher does rather than what the teacher tells. Robotics is not free like the other ICT discussed but it does create an engaging hands on way to discover Mathematics, Science and Technology whilst developing problem solving skills.
Learning manager: how do I
Collaborative learning and ICT has redefined the skill set of the teacher. Teachers need to subordinate and transform traditional didactic teaching methods into the collaborative learning manager who is modelling, guiding, facilitating and continually assessing work (Ash & Kluger-Bell). Learning managers need to become lifelong learners and work collaboratively with other professionals to maintain and grow their knowledge regarding ICT. This is not difficult as there are many resources available to learning managers, a few of which are posted here. It is time consuming managing all the ICT sites and applications but there are tools available to help organise and manage time. In particular RoboForm to manage pass words and Delicious which is a social bookmarking site. Eric Frangenheim (2006) outlines that teachers spend 80-90% of time in the lower order behaviours of Blooms Taxonomy rather than developing the higher order behaviours. Teachers argue that collaborative learning approaches and using ICT take up more time and effort (SICTAS, 2009). There are ways that teachers can increase their class time and use it more effectively to guide and shape higher order behaviours by using ICT. The Khan Academy is an online space that utilises YouTube video to teach the mundane one size fits all learning that is the, remember, understand and apply behaviours. Students work through the exercises and videos at their own pace at home, stopping and rewinding when needed. The classroom is then transformed into an energised, student driven, motivated, fun and thinking environment. To enable the students to participate in the digital world I would need to teach and model good citizenship and also show the students I expect that behaviour. Matters I would address are:
· Devote time to ensure the privacy settings for the tools used were set correctly and students understood, especially for tools like Facebook, where the settings are effective yet complex.
· Reporting cyber bullying and inappropriate comments.
· There is no anonymity, posts can be traced.
· How to be respectful and courteous and consider the effects on others before posting.
I need to facilitate the use of safe online pages and not breach the privacy of others and ensure that the classroom material is legal and not in breach of any copyright.
Conclusion: there is no end
The number of ICT and new applications for existing ones will only increase. My best defence is to attack and increase and maintain my exposure to the technology. I need to do this so I can guide and facilitate the learning of my students in an engaging collaborative classroom. That is, by ensuring the ICT used in combination with the content acts to build on the student’s knowledge. I will do this by being an active collaborative member of the wikis and blogs I’ve discovered and of those yet to come. In particular I will follow the developments of m-Learning.
Reference List
ACARA Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2010). Personal and social competence. Retrieved August 11, 2011, from The Australian Curriculum: http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/GeneralCapabilities/Personal-and-social-competence
Ash, D., & Kluger-Bell, B. (n.d.). Identifying inquiry in the K-5 classroom. Retrieved August 10, 2011, from National Science Foundation: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2000/nsf99148/ch_10.htm
Frangeheim, E. (2006). Reflections on classroom thinking strategies. Rodin Educational Consultancy.
Herrington, A., & Herrington, J. (2007). Authentic mobile learning in higher education. Retrieved August 10, 2011, from The Australian Association for Research in Education: http://www.aare.edu.au/07pap/her07131.pdf
MCEETYA. (2009, June 18). Melbourne Declaration. Retrieved August 16, 2011, from MCEETYA: www.mceecdya.edu.au
Papert, S. (1993). Mindstorms: children, computers and powerful ideas (Second ed.). Heartfordshire: Harvester.
Prensky, M. (2001, October 5). Digital native, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5).
Prensky, M. (2005, Sept/Oct). Engage me or enrage me. Educause review, 60-64.
Strategic ICT Advisory Service (SICTAS). (2009). Collaboration in teaching and learning. education.au. Canberra: Department of Education, Employment & Workplace Relations.
Thrupp, R.-M. (2010, September 23). ICT and the contemporarylearner of science, technology and mathematics. CQUniversity.
