11.12.08

Can Microsoft Really Create a School of the Future? – A Reaction

Posted in Reactionary tagged , , , at 3:18 pm by

My recent blog postings have been quite positive in response to e-learning literature and practices in the classroom, however, after reading Kathryn’s blog post, I have once again been reminded of how technology, however great and advanced it is, is being used to divide students and schools from those who have it, and those who don’t.

After viewing the news report, ‘Microsoft School of the Future’, I’d have to agree with Kathryn when she states that the social aspect of schooling was diminished quite dramatically. I believe socialisation is a key step in personal development and these students were shown practically glued to the screens of their laptop. The idea behind the school is extrodinary but I believe that maybe the idea should become a part of the school, not the school altogether, just to minimise the risk of creating individuals with limited social skills.

It is suggested in the news report that 30 new classrooms in school will be dedicated to creating such an environment. I believe this is the way to go as, yes, students do need to be tuned in to the developments in technology but ultimately need social skills to communicate outside of school and have a successful career.

What really angered me in some respect is that technology is being use negatively, separating students just as deserving from one another. A response in the new report was that this money should be used to improve technology across the schooling system instead of creating a new school with all the wizz bang gimics. I agree, technology shouldn’t make school’s better than one another, it should be used to connect students and inspire a global social network.

…and I know it seems minor but it saddened me that there were no books within the school, all resources were online. Is this a subtle way of saying goodbye to our libraries and curling up with a book on a rainy day? I just can’t imagine myself curled up on the lounge reading the next Twighlight installment on a laptop, it’s just not the same!

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10.30.08

The 6 C’s of Motivation – A Reaction

Posted in Reactionary tagged , , , at 2:24 pm by

I agree with Emma’s response that often we create learning experiences but we don’t really know the reasoning behind them. For example, from the article ‘The 6 C’s of Motivation’ in which Emma is responding to it Wang and Hun state that:

“Setting a meaningful goal for students is an important factor to promote motivation. Students should be given the opportunity to construct meaning in text as well as to build a rationale for the meaningfulness of literacy activities (Turner & Paris, 1995)”.  

This, in turn, is quite simple. Teachers need to have a reason behind why they impart certain activities upon students in order to determine whether or not aims and outcomes are being achieved. From a student perspective, they themselves need to be able to provide reasoning behind their creations and motivations as this will provide a more meaningful learning experience. Students will be able to critically evaluate their outcome and finished product as well as the steps taken to get there. This will inspire them to draw on previous learning experiences when attempting a new task.

What does this mean for e-learning in the classroom?

It comes back down to constructionism. If we capture students ‘in the moment’ of creation and impart more knowledge or ask for reflection they are more likely to respond critically as it is something personal, interesting and close to the student’s immediate world. Using digital storytelling as a platform, if students are building a task on their upbringing they are more likely to be able to answer questions about why they have used certain techniques as they know exactly what they wish to portray.

I suppose it’s all about providing and implementing these 6 C’s and just letting the imagination and creativity of children run free.

 

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10.27.08

Under the Spotlights at ULearn08 – A Reaction

Posted in Reactionary tagged , , , at 1:31 am by

Wow. That is the only word that can be used to describe Allanah King’s passion towards e-learning in the primary school. I just watched her video message on her blog that she presented at the ULearn08 Conference and can officially say that I am inspired to use e-learning in the classroom to its full extent.

Two elements of her video really touched base with me:

  1. The students download their podcasts on to i-Tunes to take home and show their parents without using the internet. This idea is terrific as it enables those without updated computer technology to listen to and be involved with their child’s learning. There is even a classroom ipod that students can take home. Students are excited about their creations and want to share them with people, especially their parents. I suppose a podcast can be seen as the modern-day finger painting that a child brings home and sticks on the fridge.
  2. I believe as teachers our role is to educate on a global level to a global audience. Allanah King mentions how she wishes to open up her classroom to the world and does so easily through e-learning. Although the case of her students comparing which way the water swirls in the toilet to those in the Northern Hemisphere is amusing it is also amazing that it is able to be communicated across the world. Imagine what could happen if every classroom had this access! What could be achieved is endless.

Overall, give this video a go. My two points are two of many many inspiring statements and ideas. Check it out.

 

10.24.08

Pending the Pencil

Posted in Regular Posting tagged , , , at 1:50 pm by

I must admit I did have a few laughing spurts when reading this article. ‘A Fairy Story – Pencils Across the Curriculum’ accurately highlights the different ways computers are used in schools depending on the context and how much time is granted to their usage. Through the two ‘case studies’ of School A and School B we are shown the measures (somewhat drastic in some cases) that schools go to, or not go to, to incorporate computers in the classroom. Note, the metaphor of a pencil is used to represent the computer.

Although the article is written with a touch of humour, it raised a few issues for me:

  1. Computer effectiveness within the school depends on how much time you spend developing your staff, the right way. For example, School A had a Pencil Studies Teacher that kept a record of the pencils yet taught it solely in that one subject. School B enabled all teachers to use the pencils across the curriculum and trained them to use them effectively.
    Therefore, computer use within schools must be monitored but used across the curriculum to show students subject links and not think of the computer as a technology to be used by itself. This enhances their ability to connect subject areas and thus relate content easily to their own lives. Only downfall with School B was that training was not up to date. This is a MUST as technology is constantly growing and changing, producing new exciting ways for students to learn, and perhaps enhancing the ability to connect with a broader range of student interests.
  2. Not only does training need to be updated but so does that of the ‘pencil’. Students will not benefit from teacher training if there is no equipment upon which to implement this training. In losing its motivation School B began to have less of a student interest and thus reduced use of computer technology. Motivation and updating needs to be ongoing.

It seems almost uncanny that I would post a postive response to an article. However, I believe I am beginning to see the benefits of using computers in the classroom. I suppose what frustrates me the most is that schools often start implementing this technology but do not use it properly, promote it or update it. If this is done, the benefits are endless. This needs to be available to all schools in all areas at the same level so not to separate schools into ‘Technology Savvy’ and ‘Basic Users’.

‘A Modern Fairytale’ -found on UTS Online under KLA/discipline specific use of learning technologies.

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10.20.08

To Construct Further…

Posted in Regular Posting tagged , , at 10:07 pm by

We’ve been touching alot on constructionism in class recently so I thought I’d do another post concerning it. I just read the article Constructionism vs. Instructionism written by S. Papert and must say I agree with everything he puts to the table.
He states that:

“One of the things that is wrong with school is what you learn there, you can’t use and…that there is only one way to do it.”

I believe that this is indeed one of the problems with schools as there is such a wide range of content that needs to be taught that teachers become so concerned with teaching and instructing students that making content revelant to the students’ personal lives and other curriculum areas becomes overlooked.

…What does this have to do with computer technology and constructionism you ask?

Us, as teachers, must make the computer, as what Papert describes as, invisible. This implies that students use it as a part of what they do and not just, ‘I’m using the computer,’ but rather, ‘I’m designing a logo to publish on our school’s website using ___ (program) and ___ (maths technique)’ etc. This allows students to use the technology while, ‘in the moment’, and thus build upon their knowledge while they are in the mindframe to do so.

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10.19.08

Use of Video Medium – A Reaction

Posted in Reactionary tagged , , at 10:43 pm by

In a recent blog posting by Matthew Kearney, he made reference to the production of digital storytelling. He described how these stories can be somewhat powerful and, if created correctly, could be uploaded to different web outlets to ve viewed by a global audience.

Upon viewing The Center for Digital Story Telling website and creating one of these digital stories myself I believe that the benefits for students are endless. A recent class discussion delt with topics such as students expressing their passions, experiences, what has shaped them and the challenges that they face and how digital story telling can indeed assist them with this. Using digital storytelling in the classroom allows students to explore different computer methods (i.e. voice recording, video making, photo uploading etc.) while exposing them to material that is relevant and personal to them.

This indeed is another example of constuctionism. Students are using technology as a medium to build and create a personal learning experience. As this is an enjoyable experience for most students it allows other messages and material to ‘sink in’ while they are ‘in the moment’ (referred to in previous blog postings).

I give digital storytelling the thumbs up!!!

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10.17.08

Girly Games

Posted in Regular Posting tagged , , at 5:02 pm by

I have just read the article entitled, ‘Engaging Girls with Computers Through Software Games,’ and must admit, was quite unimpressed.

I suppose this impression came from the opening statment:

“A recent report from the ACM Commitee on Women in Computing noted the alarming decrease of women graduating with computer science bachelor degrees…a 24% drop over the last decade”

From this it went on to explain how it is computer games that have had somewhat impacted this result as they often present girls with a negative experience when they are younger. This article, however then explained to the gaming industry how to market games to the female demographic, touching none what so ever on how this will actually increase participation in computer science bachelor degrees.

However, it can be noted that the several suggestions on page 6 highlight how this article is somewhat relevant to the classroom learning situation. One of the suggestions is that:

“Girls often identify with characters in the video games and mimic the main character. They like to act out other lives but prefer to do so in familiar surroundings with characters that behave like people they know.”

This perhaps can assist the classroom teacher in finding relevant educational interactive activities for students that they will better relate and respond to, thus enhancing learning and memory storage.

Gorriz, C. & medina, C. (2000). Engaging girls with computers through software games. Communications of the ACM, 43(1), 42-49.

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10.15.08

Construction of a Podcast?

Posted in Regular Posting tagged , , at 3:44 pm by

Please ignore my attempt to write a creative heading! Below is a podcast responding to the article ‘Sand Castles Go Digital’ by Harel. Bare with me, as it is my first podcast!

Constructionism Podcast

 

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08.26.08

Teach Your Children Well…Very Well.

Posted in Regular Posting tagged , , at 9:06 pm by

The article, ‘Classroom Online’, presented the idea of online classrooms in which students communicate globally regardless of culture or language barriers. In this respect, nothing new or exciting was presented, but what grabbed me was how the classroom teacher monitored the use of the internet.
An interviewed student states:

‘I’ve learnt to upload pictures from different sites and put them on my own site…but sometimes, when they’re not appropriate, my teacher flags the whole site until I pass a five-question quiz that teaches you what’s appropriate to upload and what’s not‘

I think this is a great idea…if used as a reinforcement. Students must be provided with strict guidelines (sometimes before each lesson) when dealing with anything online. The fact that the teacher has not completely disregarded the student’s image but instead provided them with an opportunity to reason behind its use will enhance the memory of the student as they will remember the details as of why, not just ‘my classroom teacher wouldn’t let me’.

It would be interesting to view this five-question quiz and is a pity it wasn’t included within the article.

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Article found on UTS Online – E-learning – Literature

Inspiring Inspiration??? – A Reaction

Posted in Reactionary tagged , , at 8:35 pm by

After recently reading Jason’s reaction to Freya’s post regarding the article about the mindmapping software, ‘Inspiration’, I feel I have developed a new attitude to the program.

I have used the software and do believe it is an effective way to broadcast information as it allows for interaction and collaborative learning. However, in saying this I whole-heartedly agree with Freya’s opinion when she states:

‘I personally am a big fan of group discussion and brainstorming’

as this enables students to feed off one another as a whole class, there is limited space behind a computer.

To refer to Jason, I agree with his suggestion that butchers paper should come first, mind mapping software second as this will allow students to post what has been discussed as a class and then create further branches with their own opinions. I believe this is helpful for students who are shyer or are slower learners as there is already a basis to go off. Also, this method does not disregard students practicing writing and spelling skills on the butchers papers.

Referring to the article I do acknowledge Gelbhardt and Harrell’s claim that Inspiration assists students who:

‘can’t write fast enough to remember all their ideas’

as typing is indeed a faster recording device. However, in regards to their other claims of making connections between their ideas or organise them effectively, I believe that they should be shown this by the classroom teacher or their peers and then incorporated into mindmapping software. Simply showing them an arrow linking tool provides little meaning as to why they must use it.

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