Assessment 1 ITC

ICTs and how it can scaffold the way we learn.

Education in the 21^st century is transforming the way we use technology in curricula. No longer simply integrated into curricula, technology is now a way to enable student learning. Referred to as eLearning, the stratagem was aimed at engaging and connecting students of the digital generation. The reality though, is that not all students are technologically active or savvy. Research, by Margaryan and Littlejohn (2008, p.1) suggest that there is a difference between using technology for socialisation and using it for learning and education objectives. At its most fundamental, Margaryan & Littlejohn indicate that students are influenced by and conform to traditional pedagogies (2008, p.1). This means, although technologies are transforming the way students communicate, access and consume information, authentic learning remains dependent on the strategies and scaffolding teachers apply.  The objective then is to teach and learn through Information Communication Technology (ITC).

The learning design scaffold I have created, using English guidelines as provided by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), profiles the learning needs of students and selects relevant content knowledge and pedagogical practices. Translating Engagement Theory into the scaffold enables the use ITC by allowing authentic ways in which to interact as well as giving students activities that are meaningful and relevant outside of the classroom (Kearsley & Shneiderman, pg1). Emphasis on the development of literacy, literature and language is integrated with crossover themes of culture, family and gender discourses. Student development includes, cognitive skills such as problem-solving, evaluation, reasoning, decision-making, organisational abilities as well as processing information and collaboration skills.       

Unit of Study: “The Taming of the Shrew” by W. Shakespeare

Bloom’s Taxonomy

	Knowing	Understanding	Applying	Analysing	Creating	Evaluating
	Discuss & list: adjectives used to describe the protagonist.	Explain the theme of sexism within the play: give examples. What genre is the play?	Write about a scene that deals with themes of relationships: spousal, family or sibling dynamics.	Who or what is the antagonist of the play.	Create a story in modern times about a young woman who is asked by her father to date/marry a friend of the family.	Write a newspaper article critiquing the play.
Actions	Think/pair/ share, concept map,  brainstorming	Teacher and class discussion on points of consideration - the how, what, why & who. Allows students to think in steps. Record PMI’s	Role-play: relationship or write as a diary entry. Scene is about a relationship with or incident that has occurred between you and your sister, father or boyfriend.	Pretend you are Katherine and write a letter to your father discussing either your happiness or distress at your marital situation. If unhappy include your plans for leaving. AND Reply to another student’s letter (via a blog comment) giving advice and/or praise.	Perform or write: about diversity either within families, cultural, socio-economic or otherwise. This is to be done in groups and is to be posted on blog.	As a reporter or theatre critic, write or perform (in vein of TV reporter) a critique of the play or individual performance.  Explain and justify what you believed its strengths and weakness were and give your recommend-ation  to the audience.  Post on blog as a professional critique.
Key words & concepts	Reciting, defining, describing, remembering	Interpreting, comparing, summarising, categorising, classifying	Using, adapting changing, illustrating, implementing, executing, editing	Deconstruct, analyse, outline, compare,  structure, identify	Devise, create, design, plan, rewrite, relate, compose, edit, research, observe	Evaluate, contrast, interpret, justify, describe, explain, summarise
Learning style	Verbal, reflective	Verbal, intuitive  sequential, global, active	Active, verbal, visual, sensory, sequential	Verbal, visual, reflective, active	Global, active, reflective, intuitive, visual, sensory	Intuitive, sequential, reflective, active, global
ITC + digital tech. used	Whiteboard to record student output, twitter, social network discussion,	Whiteboard to record PMI, twittering, blog journaling, internet searching, texting, Skyping or video conferencing	Blog- as a diary entry or film role-play upload to blog, email entry, inter-active commentary on blog Equipment-camcorder, digital camera, computer, white board, editing software.	Blog- as a journal entry and, email, Skype, social network- partners for their letter and then post comment.	Record as a blog, mobile phone, Skype, social network- all for connectivity and sharing of information. Mobile, camcorder, white board, computer, editing software.	Blog: as a newspaper article or journalist skit. Equipment- computer, digital camera, mobile phone.
Link to learning theory	Constructivist: through social interaction, dialogical processing, interpreting Cognitivist: categorising information (adjective describing protagonist).	Constructivist: social interaction, dialogical processing  Cognitivism: sequential steps student input- visual, aural and active, through to processing or recognised and then long term	Behaviourist: through repetition- creation of blog entries – commentaries on blogs, accessing email etc. Constructivist: Autonomous, collaborative, self-reflective and interactive   Cognitivist: selecting words and images to create blog, active engagement of exercise	Behaviourist- positive re-enforcement via blog commentary. Cognitivist: Active engagement - embeds learning as does the chunking of information (constructing and writing letter and response). Connectivism: networking through computers- choosing where and how to gain information. Constructivist: Problem based and anchored in instruction. Scaffolds learning through personalisation.	Constructivist: social interaction, dialogical processing, collaborative interactive Connectivism: networking through computers- choosing where and how to gain information. Cognitivist: categorising information, active engagement of exercise Behaviourist: through repetition- creation of blog entries – commentaries on blogs, accessing email etc.

Used effectively technology supports diverse and flexible learning opportunities. However, translating digital pedagogy to the classroom is impacted by various measures, particularly through learning styles. In simple terms, learning styles are the preferred ways in which individuals acquire, use and process information. Recognising that there are multiple modes of delivering learning whether visually, diagrammatically or aurally enables the facilitation of individualised learning. Theories that analyse how we learn identify and show us ways in which to empower individual learning. Behaviourism, Cognitivism, Constructivism and Connectivism are considered the fundamentals of learning theories. Neither ridged in theory nor application, learning theories have evolved along with technology.  In multimedia environments, cognitive learners are particularly enabled in their learning experience.  Through the selection and organisation of words and images from the presented material, cognitive learners build a coherent mental representation and then integrate the resulting verbal and visual representations with one another (Deubel, 2003). The implication is that eLearning has the capacity to facilitate students that have difficulties with traditional pedagogies.

George Siemens, in A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, maintains that learning theories should reflect the underlying social environment (2004). Today’s environment has shifted from the traditional pedagogical areas of reading, writing and arithmetic because societal perceptions have been modified by technology.  Cope and Kalantzis maintain that diversity and the significance of multimodalities have developed new communication practices and with it new literacies or multiliteracies (2009).  Multiliteracies refer to literacy which focuses on variations of language according to differing social and cultural situations and the basic multimodalities of communication, Kalantzis & Cope (2008). In effect, those surrounded by technology since birth or what Prensky labels as “digital natives” (2001), have hybridised communication through social networks, messaging and texting.  These new multiliteracies are embraced in the contemporary classroom through eLearning.    

Learning through and by technology allows for relevancy, clarity and transformation of knowledge. This in turn supports students in their ability to make sense of and develop schema.

References

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), (2010). English and History: Years 8 to 10 syllabus. Retrieved March 7, 2011, from http://www.acara.edu.au/

Deubel, P. (2003). An Investigation of Behaviourist and Cognitive approaches to Instructional Multimedia Design. Journal of Education Multimedia and Hypermedia, 12(1), 63-90. Retrieved March 14, 2011, from http://www.ct4me.net/multimedia_design.htm

Kalantzis, M., Cope, B. (2009) “Multiliteracies”: New Literacies, New Learning, Pedagogies: An International Journal, 4(3),164-195.

Kalantzis, M., Cope, B. (2008) New Learning: Elements of Science and Education. Retrieved March 14, 2011, from http://newlearningonline.com/kalantzisandcope/

Kearsley, G., Shneiderman, B. (1999, May 4). Engagement Theory: A Framework for Technology-Based Teaching and Learning, 1-6.

Margaryan, A., & Littlejohn, A. (2008, December 11). Are digital natives a myth or reality? Students’ use of technologies for learning, 1-30.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, 1(5), 1-6.

Siemens, G. (2004) A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, Retrieved March 12, 2011, from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

Shakespeare, W. (1993). The Taming of the Shrew. London, United Kingdom: Wordsworth Classics.

Learning Styles

Reflections of a manic educationalist

The mobile phone activity asked us to look at the value and application of mobile phones within an educational context. De Bono’s hats http://www.kurwongbss.eq.edu.au/thinking/Hats/hats.htm helps us to organise and share our thinking from various and individualised perspectives.  De Bono’s theory constructs a holistic view, factually, emotively, historically and futuristically of a particular subject matter.

Reading the wiki I can’t help but giggle at the “slate board” comment, mostly because my husband, in a 26 student school in Brisbane, also had used slates in year one. I was absolutely gob smacked when I heard this for the first time. Wow, it’s positively pre-historic!  All jokes aside, the realism is that we, as students, are a multi-generational group with multi-dimensional perspectives, attitudes and realities.  The mobile phone wiki bought home this fact. What it also did was enlighten me on the functions some mobile phones have. Yes I read the article and watched the video for the tutorial but I don’t really think I had a true idea of its applications. In an effort to achieve greater learning outputs the idea of decentralising learning away from the classroom (BN) has merit.  This exercise has given me the opportunity to re-evaluate my perception of mobile phone use in education.  For now the jury is out.

Pedagogies that integrate ICTs can enhance achievement and create new learning opportunities. The extended communication I gain from other students has allowed me to reflect and revaluate my notions of education, teaching and learning.  All the wiki’s, the mobile phone wiki included, supports eLearning through the discussion forums.  The integrated learning of ICTs and course work is consistently reinforced, as is the scaffolding of my knowledge.

Students are supported in their learning preferences, visually- through the pictures, reflectively- through the processing of new information, actively via dialogical processes, intuitively- by the discovery of new relationships between mobile phones and education, verbally- through written commentary and even globally- where the concept of using mobile phones in an educational context, is understood without necessarily understanding possible associations. 

By using an evaluative schema (De Bono’s hats) it used a strategy where you considered and reconsidered about a particular issue. Applied within a school environment, students would be stimulated through active thought processes like creativity, examination and evaluation, question and think logically as well as intuitively.

Reflections of a confounded educationalist

Learning Theories Wiki

I particularly enjoyed the learning theories wiki as it was very interactive. Having the option to choose partners enabled, in my case, the reconnection of students I had previously met at Residential school. We contacted each other initially through CQU email and then through various other technological methods. Working within this group, I felt at ease. This encouraged me to extend my technological boundaries and experience Skype.  After downloading the program, I then needed to identify how the program operated. As a new experience I found it motivating and fun, though what was oddly interesting was one of our group member’s talked me through a few of the features.  Though Skype was working, I only had aural contact and no visual contact. Essentially it was a personalised tutorial.

The nuts and bolts of the activity required time management and organising.  A meeting time was arranged on Skype via email and the odd phone call, date and time were set.  An exchange of our separate research was via email and then through Skype we discussed as a group what we should integrate, from the differing perspectives, to form a cohesive structure.  Naturally the final product was uploaded to the Learning Theories wiki.

The content itself synthesised areas of learning that, for a long time now, had niggled me. You see, I have a son who has learning issues. Diagnosed with a cognitive disorder, he had problems with the short term to long term memory pathways.  I remember it like it was yesterday, years spent playing words association games and eye spy (yes, can you believe, it worked a treat) and the weekly trips to the speech pathologist.  I’m emotional just thinking about it. So yes, I was aware that there were learning styles and that learning is an individual experience. Personally, the learning wiki expanded my knowledge of learning theories which in turn transformed my perceptions of teaching and learning. 

Understanding the relationship between information accession, retention and integration, for a class of students, requires teachers to have an understanding of class dynamics and ultimately the individual levels and learning styles of students.  To gain an initial overview of class knowledge a simple question and answer situation (aural, active, verbal, interpersonal) where the class participates either individually or in groups, would suit. Other methods could include brainstorming (active, verbal and intuitive) or concept mapping of subject material (visual and intuitive).