The people at Charles Sturt University say most online and computer-based programs are merely drill and practice exercises, largely based on behaviorist theories (HSC Online, 2008).
I agree with Danny, I think Mathletics is great tool but other than the added benefit of competition, how is it different from text book? Is it just about the experience of maths on the internet? It is the same situation with any mathematics websites on the Internet.
It would be great to concentrate on technologies that truly engage students in meaningful learning (rather than replacing a text-book with notebook)
This is great podcast – three teachers talk about how they used technology in their classrooms.
One of the teachers was from a school with low-funding; he spoke about using the array for free resources on the web – Googledocs, Name, web paint, facebook etc. The students used it to create profiles, share resources and participate in a collaborative learning environment.
The teachers also mentioned that it was important to begin by teaching the features on the tool, establishing good and safe practices, getting parents involved and making the whole process transparent. This helps mitigate the risks and preconceived ideas.
Teachers said social media encouraged students to write more, even if it was using text language. They also discovered that high school students were more forth coming to use collaborative learning technology compared to university students. New media/social technology initially creates excitement for the subject/topic but then becomes a useful tool.
Some great ideas are given in the podcast – worth a listen !!
You can’t help but agree that even the most powerful search engines often waste a great deal of time sifting through irrelevant, inappropriate, or inaccurate material. Charles Stuart University people have come up with something more exciting called the WebDilemma which promote higher order thinking while using the internet. WebDilemma is typically, a single page website that:
§Presents in the form of a question, a real-world problem
§Problematizes knowledge by providing links to websites offering opposing perspectives
§Encourages students to THINK, PAIR and SHARE
Example: “Is Pluto a Planet?”. Students must firstly understand that some scientists believe it is but others say it is a comet caught by the sun’s gravity. To adjudicate this debate, students must understand the difference between planets and comets, how they are formed, and what the typical orbit patterns of different types of astronomical objects are. Thus, to solve the dilemma of Pluto’s status as planet or comet, involves substantial intellectual work that would have students examine Pluto’s orbit around the sun in relation to ‘planets’ in our solar system, and look for evidence about how it was formed, which again might be compared with that of confirmed ‘planets’.
You must agree there is a lot more thinking involved than just reading a random website which maybe completely inaccurate and biased. Great thing is teachers can make their own WebDilemma’s. To find out more: http://continue.to/webdilemma.
There is so much emphasis placed on professional development – and I feel just saying let me become a professional first.However after reading the latest research paper I realized professional development is just a bit like ‘Life’. We grow, sometimes by learning, sometimes by reflecting, sometimes by making mistakes, sometimes by watching others and their mistakes. We don’t know when we started learning, we never really stop learning. No beginning, no end, not a straight line, just a celtic knot all intertwined.
Lloyd and Cochrane (2006) present the Celtic Knots: Interweaving the elements of effective teacher professional development. They say professional development is a journey. Four key elements are critical in creating the most conducive condition for effective growth including: Community, time, personal growth and context. The key elements are interdependent parts of a whole.
We need to reflect about gap between what we are doing and what believe in. Then bring about change which requires and effects our personal growth, is in time and need the help of the community. We learn or improve on one aspect and it influences another part. A never ending iterative loop – sounds a bit like Life?
Reference: Margaret Lloyd and Janet Cochrane, (2006), Celtic Knots: Interweaving the elements of effective teacher professional development in ICT, Presented at ACEC Conference, Oct 2-4, Cairns, Qld
I did 2 Unit Economics and extension Geography in school. We covered the global community greatly – I remember studying about Tokyo, something about dwellings in Nigeria. Hey, I am trying to remember a geography lesson almost 12 years ago !!!
But when Bliss (2005) in article ‘Global education-the growing global movement’ calls for global perspective in our education – I am bit skeptical. Are we not already doing that ??? Weren’t we doing that 10 years ago.
I am sure most humanities subjects in some way or the other touch the global context – it could be as simple as studying about the different foods in Food Technology. Do we need to make our students more connected and proactive global citizens of the world? Yes I would probably agree. But it takes time; awareness slowly leads to empathy and then action.
But we must remember that schools are not the only source of information. Media contributes largely to our knowledge banks. News and many educational programs cover the global community widely. Easy for us to turn the TV on watch a program about how Siberian tigers mate or Humboldt Broncos won Ice Hockey in Canada. If anything we need to re-define our space more. The world has already become much smaller now !!
Reference: Bliss, S. (2005), ‘Global education- the growing global movement.
As a person who is about embark teaching some of the points raised by Papert made a lot of sense. Papert (1980) focuses on how children can learn mathematics differently, not so much how we can teach mathematics differently. He coined the two phrases: Constructionism and Instructionism.
Instructionism is the theory that says, “To get better education, we must improve instruction. And if we’re going to use computers, we’ll make the computers do the instruction.” And that leads into the whole idea of computer-aided instruction. Constructionism means “Giving children good things to do so that they can learn by doing much better than they could before.”
Papert gives an example of LOGO, a computer program, which allows students to draw/create objects using their mathematical understanding. Example a student drawing the picture of a bird, will not say “I’m programming a computer.” Or “I’m doing mathematics.” They might say, “I’m making a bird, I’m making a picture” .
But really the student was thinking about mathematical description of a curve, descriptions of mathematical shapes etc. She was doing mathematics, like a real person — a real mathematician, an engineer, a scientist. LOGO smartly couches mathematics within a seemingly fun activity. It is a great example of constructionist learning.
Papert says it is important to find ways in which the technology can enable children to use their knowledge. If we like to learn things that can we use later, why is it not the same with children?
Means (2000) made certain predictions in regards to technology used in tomorrow’s school. Well nearly 10 years on – she was right on the mark. She said there improvement in terms of using low-cost, light-weight, portable devices or even hand held devices moving away from cables large units. Which is true – more laptops, mini-books, iPods now. Also stated learning communities will become popular, spaning the district, state, even different countries - again correct.
Two examples: GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit Environment) and Hand-On Universe. These types of projects require students to take part in real environmental research used by universities thereby learning the subject knowledge as well. Hand-on universe requires student to use a automated telescope and looking asteroids or supernovas. It has resulted even papers being published in scientific journals.
I think there will be more of the same – smaller, more compact, mobile technology. Increased global connectivity. What do you think a school in 2050 will look like?
Reference: Means, B. (2000) Technology Use in Tomorrow’s Schools. Educational Leadership, Dec/Jan issue.
When I watched this video a few weeks ago – I realised there was a whole world that I was not aware off. The first question was why don’t kids just get off the Myspace or FaceBook if they are being bullied. But on deeper analysis, a realization that it is large part of their identity and can’t be easily detached from. I mean how many of us can let a day go by without checking the email or using the mobile? We are all hooked on technology and being connected, in touch, networked is part of who we are.
With physical bullying things can be done more easily. If a teacher witness a fight he or she can stop it, put the students on detention, suspension if required. But how do we stop cyber bullies? Where do we begin?
There are answers – a paper by Beale and Hall on ‘Cyberbullying: What School Administrators (and Parents) Can Do’ does provides some excellent solutions for both teachers and parents.
For the benefit of all, I have listed them down here.
Alexander (2008) gives Overview of the Learning Activity Management System describing how it came about, availability, demand etc. Also contains screen shot of the systems, links to tutorial, registration and describes the advantages over conventional learning processes. After having a play around with the system: it is a great tool. It has many useful features, looks cool, user friendly and easy to navigate.
But I often find many tools like LAMS come with excessive features that students are not going. Time spent on LAMS directly depends on how integrated it is with each days school work. If this is additional to school work – students are like use it less during exam time and holidays.
I agree with Margaret on her blog. LAMS is great for designing, managing and delivering online collaborative learning activities. I like that it is intuitive and versatile to use.
Alexander (2008) suggests LAMS was created and improved over time are to enhance students learning and not replace teachers.
Reference: Alexander, C. (2008). AN OVERVIEW OF LAMS (LEARNING ACTIVITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM). Teaching English with Technology: A Journal for Teachers of English. 8(3)
Maree makes an interesting point onSocialising in Cyberspace. I concur with ideas raised by her. Parents: (a) don’t spend same time each on the net as their children do each day
(b) parents are not keeping with quick changes in technology
(c) parents don’t necessarily socialize on the net.
Therefore it is natural for parents to worry about what their children do on the internet. As part of our tutorial work we interviewed a teenager on her usage of the internet. It is interesting see what teenagers had to say. I think parents need to play an active role but still provide enough freedom for children to explore cyberspace friendships.
