Managing E-learning has taken me on a journey in the last
six weeks to places I could not have ever imagined on my own. My future
classroom has suddenly grown wings and with the wind of technology will be able
to fly to the most exciting corners of the world. I have a new vocabulary with
words that have bought confusion to the faces of the other non-techy people in
my life and while I am not a digital native, and am over forty and only in my first
year of study, I may be on my way to technology enlightenment.
But what is E-learning really? I imagine a class full of
children staring at a textbook full of fuzzy numbers and letters. Then I can
imagine the walls of that classroom disappearing and the scenery changing
wherever the children looked, like portals that they could jump in and out of
as they pleased. Their smiles would be wide and their brains would be connected
with everything and everyone around them.
That’s what E-learning is to me but here is what E-learning
is to…learning. E-learning is collaborative learning in the classroom through
Information Communication Technology (ICT). Its success lies in effective
pedagogy and scaffolding through technologies that encourage and obtain critical
and complex thinking in all students. Learning theory, particularly Constructivism is integral to the
attainment of ICT success (Fasso, 2012). Blooms Taxonomy and TPack are frameworks which suit E-learning best. Blooms taxonomy classifies cognitive complexities and TPack integrates technology, content and pedagogy (O'donnell, Dobozy, Bartlett, Bryer, Reeve, & Smith, 2012).
A Constructivist theory as emphasised by Piaget and Vygotsky
supports learning using prior knowledge to make sense of and understand new
information.The Constructivist theory characterises ICT
with its emphasis on scaffolding, teacher demonstration, collaboration and
acquirement of knowledge (O’Donell et al., 2012). Scaffolding and collaborative opportunities are
available across many Web 2.0 tools including those discussed here.
The class Wiki
about mobile phones we participated in in the first two weeks of this course
used De Bono’s six thinking hats as its scaffold. This was a fantastic example
of how best to encourage the productive pedagogy of higher order thinking in
learners. As a novice to learning theory and its implications this activity
helped immensely to demonstrate the importance of scaffolding in learning
design. Further discussion about the mobile phone wiki activity is here in my blog. This activity would be
fantastic in the classroom to allow students to discover they have the prior
knowledge and the critical thought to construct different viewpoints on a
topic. In an English class I could you use De Bono’s hats in a Wiki to get my
students to think complexly about a contemporary topic such as offshore
processing for refugees. As a learning manager De Bono’s hats is a fantastic
scaffolding tool and joined with a Wiki would be hard to beat. The best thing
of course is the ‘tracery’ a Wiki affords where none of the information can
ever get lost (Fasso, 2012). That can never be said of a hard copy.
I am however most concerned if I would ever need to use a Wiki in class as more than one person cannot post and save at the same time. This has occurred in our own class at university where Wiki activities had to be completed at home so contributions would not be lost. I would have to construct any class Wiki activities with this in mind.
I am however most concerned if I would ever need to use a Wiki in class as more than one person cannot post and save at the same time. This has occurred in our own class at university where Wiki activities had to be completed at home so contributions would not be lost. I would have to construct any class Wiki activities with this in mind.
The constructivist theory is best represented with a Wiki as it explicitly encourages
student interaction with the use of scaffolding and teacher modelling. Wiki’s
as with all ICT’s must be scaffolded to represent good pedagogy. Scaffolding with
Blooms Taxonomy encourages the Productive Pedagogy of ‘higher order thinking,
deep knowledge and deep understanding’ (Education Queensland, 2002). A Wiki ‘gives
equal right to all people to work jointly on a given document’ (Snowman et al., 2009, p. 415). In
this way it is truly democratic with its encouragement of free speech. As a
result public speaking is now for every student and not just those in the
school debating team. I have created my own Wiki
to be found at this link. I found it surprisingly easy to upload onto my Wiki and navigating and
designing was also straight forward. My Voki
explains this in my post about my Wiki earlier in my blog (phew!!). I can’t
wait to set up a debate in my English class where my students research a topic
and the affirmative team kick off the Wiki and negative team respond. Selected
students can adjudicate on the debate in the Wiki as well. There is no end to
the content that can be added to a blog so it would be interesting to see how a
Wiki looked at the end of the school year if the Wiki was started at the
beginning of Term One.
While I understand my Prezi
is not very complex, I still had lots of fun creating it. You can
find it here on my Blog. Apart from
embedding my Prezi into my Blog, I have also thought critically about it on my
Blog here as well which will give
you additional insight into my thoughts on Prezi.
The issue that worries me is when AppError comes up instead
of your Prezi on the Prezi website. This
was the case for me when I went back to embed it in my Blog. All I got was a
sign saying AppError. As I was a non-paying user I used the available forum
to see if anyone could help me. At the time I was wishing I had paid as I could
have contacted a Prezi person straight away with my problem and promised a
quick reply. I didn’t expect much help on the forum but it turned out I was
about one in four hundred people with the same problem in that half an hour. A
staff member got on quickly and assured everyone they were trying to figure out
a solution. My Prezi was available a few hours later which was a great relief.
I didn’t actually think of us this until today when I get a forum message on my
email from a teacher who had hours of Prezi’s unavailable with the same error.
He sounded extremely worried as he had done a lot of lesson planning using
Prezi. I suppose this is always possible with ICT and we shouldn’t let it stop
us but maybe having some back up plans would be a great idea when lesson planning.
I have no doubt my students are going to love Prezi with
such a big point of difference in zooming. In class, we could make a time
line at the beginning of a unit and each group in the class would be
responsible for adding a section. They can add as much content as they want
because as a class we can pick and choose what we zoom in on and how long for. This
will be especially helpful for my global learners who will benefit from seeing
the time line as the ‘big picture’, which helps them to understand. They can
then revisit the details whenever and however helps them best learn.
My third tool is Podcasting
and I have reflected on this tool in my Blog.
A local school’s Canberra trip as discussed there, is a fantastic collaborative
example of how Podcasting can be used for 'social guidance and cooperative dialogue' in a learning
context as per Vygotsky’s Social Constructivist theory (O'Donnell et al., 2012, p. 99). Essentially, Podcasting
is a sound file that can be uploaded onto spaces such as Wikis. While Podcasting
can be useful in a teaching context, Podcasts are of most benefit when students
are making and sharing them (Fasso, 2012). In this way it can be used in both a collaborative
and individual way in the classroom. My English class can choose, write and record a
report on a contemporary issue in society and share it with the class. My History students could also do this with an historical event of their own choosing. A student radio newsroom could be created in this way which would provide an opportunity for students to become reporters, reporting on their own stories. The research involved with such a task would require the students to find, evaluate and use knowledge from experts on their chosen topics and would be best constructed using Blooms Taxonomy to promote these cognitively complex levels (O'Donnell, 2012). This is another example of Vygotsky's social constructivist theory and how it links with technology in the classroom.
I used a Voki in my Wiki as an example of the way Podcasting can be used in other contexts. I really enjoyed using the Voki's but think that an Avatar would work best in the classroom where more recording time is available. Podcasts can also be used in other visual ways such as with video, PowerPoint, Prezi and allows students to perfect their oral skills and build confidence in this area.
This blog has been a fantastic way to journal the last six weeks on this E-learning journey. Posting a written piece on a Blog provides a wonderfully immediate authoring gratification. I particularly like that a Blog posting can be edited to add new information or altered as ideas change and become more complex. However the dates that are included with each posting keep the Blog to its strict chronological structure. This may become an issue if a student wishes to update a posting but would like it to reflect the time of that update.
The ability to add comments is a great tool that allows for other students and the teacher to critique and add value to a students Blog contribution. A Blog is a single author web space that unlike a Wiki allows for full control of the content given by the student. It is very easy to navigate around the features of a Blog and linking and embedding videos, Voki's and images is very straight forward. This tool could allow for a student to reflect as a form of higher level thinking in a learning journal. This would provide the most valuable insight for a teacher to a students thoughts and understanding of their learning journey or particular topic (Fasso, 2012). Blogs are another opportunity to utilise the components of the Productive pedagogy framework such as higher order thinking, deep knowledge, background knowledge and student direction (Education Queensland, 2002).
Here are some other tools I have explored in the last six weeks:
LEGAL, SAFE AND ETHICAL ISSUES:
It is absolutely imperative as a future learning manager that I fully understand and model issues of copyright. Generally the fair use and ten percent rules will apply across most tools in an educational context. Additionally, when students use the Internet in any environment, safety is paramount and must at all times be considered. As a teacher I will always give attribution to any image, text, video or sound file that is not my own. I will also ensure my students are equally aware that this is an expected requirement.
Successful Wiki usage is based around a general sense of trust and the best intentions are expected of all of the participants. It is the duty of the teacher to regulate the Wiki for appropriateness whenever possible. If I am the first to use a Wiki in my school I will have to check the school's policy on web tools before I begin. If the school policy necessitates, I can set the entire Wiki to private view and adjust the editing to protected or members only. Wiki's and Blog's both carry the same copyright expectations. If the student's work is uploaded onto either of these tools then there is no requirement for copyright. If the student's work contains third party material, then the work comes under the 'fair dealing to copy and communicate third party material'. The work must be used for 'fair' use such as for a homework or a school assignment, book or music review and article in the school newspaper. If a Pod cast is used to accompany text, images or other third party material, these are used under the Statutory Text and Artistic License and labelled with 'Copied under Part VB". The copyright owner and author must also be acknowledged (National Copyright Unit, n.d.). With practise and attention issues of legality, safety and copyright can be avoided but only if I as a Learning Manager makes these issues a priority in my classroom.
Exploring the implications of technology for learning has changed the perspective from which I viewed education. Not only is the world now knocking on my classroom door but my students have become learning tourists. Imaginations are passports and class tasks the luggage they travel with.
The ICT tools I have investigated will only be as good as the scaffolding I provide as a learning manager. There are many frameworks for use as discussed in this synopsis when combined with ICT that will help my students achieve higher level thinking, an attribute necessary to function in today's world.
I have learnt that to truly participate in ICT you have to experiment, investigate and play, all without trepidation. Imagination and appropriate pedagogy is the key to how successful students will be when they use ICT in the classroom. As a learning manager the excitement I have discovered on this journey will sustain me through to the end of my degree and beyond.
I am a bit sad to be signing off on this blog for the last time, but know many other Blog and ICT opportunities are ahead of me. Thanks E-Learning.
References
Fasso, W. (2012). Retrieved from CQUniversity e-courses, FAHE11001 Managing E Learning, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/my/
O'Donnell, A. M., Dobozy., Bartlett., Bryer., Reeve & Smith. (2012). Educational psychology. Milton, QLD: John Wiley & Sons.
Snowman, J., Dobozy., Scevak., Bryer., Bartlett., & Biehler. (2009). Psychology applied to teaching. Milton, QLD: John Wiley & Sons.
National Copyright Unit. (n.d.). Smartcopying: The official guide to copyright issues for Australian schools and TAFE. Retrieved from
Education Queensland. (n.d.). A guide to...productive pedagogies classroom reflection manual. Retrieved from
