e-Learning Weekly

I want to take a slight detour back to the beggining.

One of the first, and most important articles I read in this topic was Jonassen’s ‘What is meaningful learning?’  He looked at various ways to use technologies to make learning more meaningful. He uses this diagram to demonstrate those 5 areas:

We should be using technology to engage and allow students to be active in th learning process. Technology to construct their own learning and knowlede rather than reproduction. Technology can bring examples to life, making learning real and meaningful. Technologies allow a new level of interaction and collaboration on projects of learning. If teachers can achieve these elements we have created meaningful learning and we have avoided the old saying ‘technology for technology sake. 

Jonassen, D. et al (2008). What is meaningful learning? In D. Jonassen et al. (Eds). Meaningful learning with technology. 3rd Edtn. pp1-12. Pearon/Merrill Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, N.J.

I think i have found it ……………..

A seven minute video clip which sums up what we have been learning in this digital learning course. It is called ‘Pay Attention’ and it is on TeacherTube. As stated it runs through a lot of the ideas, concepts, content, statistics, applications, examples and possiblities we have been researching and blogging about.  Lets use these technologies to connect with students and provide real and meaningful learning.

I have read a number of articles about teen digital culture. I have also seen lectures and presentations on this topic. One of the common themes I noticed through all this research was, the information was coming from the older generation and not the teens themselves. So what do they really think?

In Miriam’s blog she discusses an ICT presentation given by students. The content of their presentation was similiar to what I have previously read and blogged about. Students actually feel there is a lack of technological presence in classrooms and  are experiencing boredom in our classes.

However, it is not all doom and gloom. We havent completely missed the boat. Miriam suggests by using ICT as one of a number of teaching tools we can extend and deepen learning.

Image: ‘Our Presentation’
www.flickr.com/photos/83955435@N00/12215603

Everyone seems to be talking about the six C’s of motivation. So what are they?

I found this review article by Wang and Han, which explains the six C’s of motivation and how they may apply to a teacher’s instructional design. The Six C’s are:

Choice, Challenge, Control, Collaboration, Constructing meaning, and Consequences

So how does this relate to ICT’s ….. I hear you ask

I believe teachers should consider these six C’s when developing ICT tasks. By incorporating these six elements a teacher can boost a students’ motivation to participate, complete, understand and learn. Choice allows a student to identify an interest and ownership of work. A suitable challenge for student may reduce boredom at one end of the spectrum and anxiety at the other. Giving students control is allowing them ownership and responsibility for the organisation of their task. Collaboration is a great skill for students to develop. Plus group work can create a team based motivation. Another source of motivation is the perceived value of the task. The students will feel motivated if they can construct a meaningful result. Finally the students should be reward with a positive consequence for their efforts. Some suggestions include displaying and publishing their work.

 Wang, S. & Han, S. (2001). Six C’s of Motivation. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved 6th nFeb., 2008, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Six_C%27s_of_motivation

Second Life is a virtual world where more than 5 million people interact and lead parts of their life online. Quin Parker, in her article ‘A second look at second life’, discusses how educational institutions are opening schools and offering classes in the virtual world. Major Univeristies such as Harvard and New York University have been investing into real estate and education on Second Life. Now younger high school students will have an opportunity to experience this online immersion through a new restricted and safe area for teenagers. Parker refers to Gifted and Talented (GAT) students from the UK, who have been attending virtual class rooms with a range of topics including archaeology, physics, ethics and philosophy. It is believed that this virtual environment will allow students to explore such topics, direct their own learning and discussions, plus gain insight into the functioning and regulation of communities. 

This sounds like a valuable experience for those students who wish to participate, such as the extension or GAT students identified. I assume that these students are attending virtual classes outside their regular classes. I am unsure of the willingness of all students to contribute to such activities in their own time outside of school.

Image: ‘love’
www.flickr.com/photos/43626204@N00/2737308271

I have been introduced to a new concept ‘Web 2.0′ and I am trying to get my head around it. I have been led to believe this is the future direction for online activity and will potentially have a large impact on teaching and learning in the future. So I checked out this article by Bryan Alexander ‘Web 2: A new wave of innovation for teaching and learning?’ . This article helped explain and possibly remove some of the myth surrounding Web 2.0.

For many folk it is difficult to distinguish the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 and the moment in time when Web 1.0 was superceded by Web 2.0. Alexanders article basically gives you the examples, the concepts, practices and projects that are uniquley Web 2.0

The major component of Web 2.0 is social software. This includes blogs, wikis, podcasting, videoblogs and social networking sites and tools. These tools make the creation, learning and sharing of information and knowledge more interactive.  Blogs, Wikis and podcasting are tools which can easily be adapted for educational purpose and could have the greatest benefit.

On the weekend I decided to step back in time, I put my Ipod away and flicked through my CD collection. I stumbled across a Bad Religion album and a particular song that is pertinent to this topic called ’21st Century Digital Boy’. The song considers the effect of technological tools reducing the academic abilities and intelligence of our youth. This song focuses on the value of education and individual thought in our society, which are major concerns of this band. I have embedded a link to a video clip for this song and some lyrics below which demonstrate these points:

cause Im a 21st century digital boy,
I dont know how to read but Ive got a lot of toys,
My daddys a lazy middle class intellectual,
My mommys on valium, so ineffectual,
Aint life a mystery?
I tried tell you about no control,
But now I really dont know,
And then you told me how bad you had to suffer,
Is that really all you have to offer?

The bands name ‘Bad Religion’ misled many people to believe they were anti-religion, but in actual fact they opposed any factors of society that restricted the freedom of individuals to think. These lyrics demonstrate that concern and the bands concerns for our youth. The song suggests many of our youth are not receiving enough support and guidance from their parents and this has been compensated by increasing material and technological posessions. Can our youth rely on such technogies for educational and emotional support?

We need to focus on implementing current technologies into education immediately. If you wait for the future it never comes. We know that the importance of computer technologies in learning will increase. Lets incorporate what we know now and develop our skills. I believe this was a major message of Seymour Papert, when he spoke to a Japanese conference in the 1980’s and said:

“Nobody knows how computers will be used in 10 or 20 or 30 year’s time. What we do know is that they’ll be everywhere, as much as pencils. Everybody will have them all the time….And with everybody having computers all the time….. There will be new ways of learning.”

It has been almost 30 years since this speech, and we still don’t have a computer for each student in each classroom. Computer technology is playing a huge role in our working and personal lives, but is only slowly being introduced into educating our children. I feel not a lot has changed. A lot of talk about the future and technologies, but little action.

Papert suggested 2 ways to implement computers in learning:

1            Instructionism               Educating by instruction. (Old School Teaching)

2            Constructionism            Educating by construction/building/doing. (Learning)

It is this area of constructionism that computers offer so many new opportunities. Students can bring many real life examples and problems into the classroom to work on. With this tool students can easilly acquire, apply and transfer their learning, which is the ultimate goal of education.

Counter to what you may read elsewhere, Australian teachers are doing a good job at using technology in the classroom. Dr Geoff Romeo expressed this in his keynote address to the Australian Computers in Education Conference:

“I think we can be especially proud of the fact that computers in education in Australia is, and always has been, more about teaching and learning, rather than technology.”

This is a very important point. When the media, an easily influenced Government and naïve members of the public all want to flood our schools with computers and technology, how will it be used? Will it improve the education of our students? Our children?

We hope the answer is ‘YES’.

Romeo paints a picture of two schools with large technological resources. One school has a strict regime of computer scheduled classes which are monitored for efficiency, proficiency and compliance. The curriculum is very rigid and restricted as they aim to achieve results.

The second school also has a wealth of technology, but the students are offered freedom and choice in their learning. The technology is used to broaden the curriculum and promote learning. Students can access an unlimited range of sources of information and express themselves in a variety of forms.

This is the right direction for Australian teachers.

  ‘Digital Natives’

 I have been researching this term ‘Digital Native’ as I am interested in the possible ways of incorporating ICT’s into the classroom with my teen students. I am aware of the next generation and their attachment to all forms of information and communication technology. There are many reasons to use these technologies in education and harness their skills. Personally I feel the possible formats of creating and publishing student work are unlike we have ever seen before. But now I turn to some leading researchers, to see why we should embrace these technologies. I read 2 articles with similar themes, the first by Lee Rainie, ‘Life Online-Teens and technology and the world to come’ and an article by Marc Prensky, ‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants’.

Why should we embrace new technologies?

I was disappointed as I read about a generation of spoilt brats who want everything their way. Rainie spoke of parents who have given their “trophy kids” every gadget and technology known to man. These digital natives are able to do what they want, where they want and when they want. It would seem now that they communicate less with their parents and other ‘digital immigrants’ and more with their machines. Presnky believes we should continue overindulging these kids with “edutainment”. Due to thousands of hours of television and video games students can no longer concentrate on their studies. We as teachers have to now entertain them.

It was suggested that as digital natives, they have their own language, their own world which they control and set the rules. Rainie uses scare tactics to imply their world is becoming the dominant, the digital natives are taking over and we have no choice. This is not the approach teachers should be taking.

• We should embrace new technologies, not be scared of them or have them forced upon us.

• New formats should be applied when most useful and best support learning.

• This is not a situation of technology for the sake of technology

• We must focus on education – not edutainment

Digital natives, digital immigrants.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1–2.