The 21st century learner is increasingly one who desires to be engaged with the technologies that have been a familiar part of their world for most their short
lives. Prensky (2005) asserts that many students can quickly become disengaged if modern technologies are not integrated into their learning on a regular basis. With this in mind, it is the responsibility of the learning manager to firstly adopt a positive mental attitude toward incorporating some of these technologies into their own professional tool kit, and secondly understand the methodologies of how to successfully implement them into class lessons in order to facilitate higher order thinking.
Over the preceding weeks, this course has provided me with opportunities to explore some of the digital tools available for learning contexts. This has allowed me to experiment and formulate ideas on how to incorporate them into educational settings. I found the most significant reasons for the pedagogical use of any digital tool to be in their power to engage the student and promote constructivism through student collaboration. This is supported by Kearsley and Shneiderman’s (1999) ‘engagement theory’ which presents the notion that technology can facilitate engagement while creating collaborative learning partnerships in order to solve authentic meaningful tasks.
While experimenting with each digital tool to gain personal knowledge, I was regularly questioning how I could use the tool to support and enhance the learning of students from the Prep years through to year seven and beyond. For the purpose of this synopsis however, the range of tools chosen is more aligned with how these specific tools could be utilised in the context of a Prep class. With this in mind however, the tools that I have chosen for my context, can have different learning purposes according to the pedagogical approach taken by different teachers at the each year level. Importantly, the one constant approach teachers need to take and model to their students at all levels must be the safe, legal and ethical operations of e-learning tools.
Many educators will tell you the importance of gaining the attention of their students to begin a lesson. Regardless of the year level, these are the important seconds when you want them to be ‘switched on’ for the purpose of knowledge acquisition. Many forms of digital tools can perform this function, however I found that the multi-modal format of digital videos engage more of the senses of young Prep learners toward the incoming information. In my blog I refer to such digital tools as vodcasts, YouTubes, and movies, which assist in gaining information on a chosen topic and placing the learner’s cognitive processes in Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development (1962). Well-designed teacher questioning in reference to the audio-visual will help the students to acquire and construct knowledge as they verbalise and construct their understandings in a social discussion format. From a Vygotskian perspective, Gallimore and Tharp (1990) note that the nature of this type of teacher assistance, including modelling and providing feedback, to be highly supportive to cognitive growth.
It is important to note that the learning is not within the audio-visual tools themselves, but how the learning manager utilises them as a stimulus for learning. At this ‘viewing and listening’ stage the students are at the lower order thinking of Bloom’s taxonomy (Bloom, 1956) where the stimulus merely aids in their understanding of ideas and concepts, as students are only able to recognise, name and make interpretations from the information. Prior to any audio-visual being shown, the learning design framework of the Big6 (Eisenberg, 2001) would be implemented by having a key-driving question behind a lesson such as; how do I know if a small sea animal is dangerous? From here the students can move into the task definition stages of defining and identifying the relevant information. A YouTube on the blue-ringed octopus could be shown, followed by questioning toward the types of information required to answer the question.
The advantage of all of these audio-visual tools is that the teacher has control over when to pause and replay important learning moments. From personal experience with using these tools in class, students are eager to see such moments and this is when they construct mental images to help them recall information. The beauty of audiovisual tools is that they have many applications for different learning purposes throughout the year levels; hence their use can be very effective at enhancing learning regardless of the context.
To support and enhance newly acquired knowledge I found the use of learning objects to be of great pedagogical value for students. They can be used for whole class learning, but are better suited for constructivist learning in small groups and can also be used individually. After some personal trials, I found that they have the ability to consolidate, gain insight, refine and clarify misconceptions about personal knowledge. Their use as a learning tool takes the student from a base knowledge to a more in-depth understanding by integrating student knowledge into actions. The number train for example makes the early years student apply their knowledge of ‘number’ in a fun game, where experimentation will help them to discern meaning into the ‘concept of number’ according to the number line. To perform this, they need to adopt the complex reasoning process of ‘abstracting’ in order to identify the underlying general pattern (Marzano & Pickering, 1997). A task like this takes the student into higher order thinking modes of analysis by examining the information. The number train also uses a behaviourist method of reward to stimulate the student’s thinking processes.
The Big6 skills of information seeking strategies are integrated into digital learning objects, as the students are required to find information within the sources in order to solve a problem or make a decision (Eisenberg, 2001). The digital pedagogy incorporated into learning objects encapsulates student-centred flexible problem-based learning using authentic contexts. The tasks are scaffolded in ways that facilitate higher order thinking processes, which unconsciously deepen the understanding as students work towards mastering the task. When students in collaboration solve the problems embedded into each learning object, they are engaged and construct their knowledge in a social learning domain. Thoughtful planning is required for implementation into the classroom for each specific context, as the variables can create difficulties (comment- Lynn Camilleri, 2010).
Wikis are a wonderful digital learning tool that has the flexibility to mediate learning through different teaching approaches to suit the context. In a pedagogical sense, they provide opportunities for students to be authors, editors and publishers and are ideal for students to construct their own knowledge through social interaction. When students are placed in this position, their thinking skills move higher up Bloom’s taxonomy (Bloom, 1956) while they formulate new ideas and justify decisions, facilitating deeper understandings.
Marzano et. al. (1997) point out that students are more likely to demonstrate what they have learned when they have transformed information and developed new understandings on a specific topic. To facilitate this in the Prep classroom, a class wiki could be set up and monitored by the teacher or teacher aide having four rotational groups as the collaborative communicators. For example, following some primary information on the topic of the distinguishing features of mammals and fish, the teacher sets up a wiki with a T-graph. Pre written features of mammals and fish are listed for student groups to analyse, discuss and sort (as per my wiki). Each group can edit the features and select examples of mammals and fish species from names or images supplied. More difficult examples of whales, dolphins, seals and whale sharks can be left until the end when they have a better understanding of the distinguishing features. The pedagogical use of this type of wiki would be in the teacher questioning in order to develop new understandings. For example higher order thinking skills such as analysing and evaluating information would be activated through discussions about seals, whales and whale sharks, leading to deeper understanding of the differences.
Through this type of scaffolded task the information is purposely taken apart for the students to become actively involved in the construction of their own knowledge. Using the digital format of the wiki where they have control of the content provides them with the opportunity to share their ideas and make judgements about their knowledge. Students are engaged as they interpret and assess their own ideas and those of their fellow students.
There are many digital tools to present knowledge to an audience. Of these, I feel a movie made by the students would be the most engaging and meaningful. Unfortunately, this would be beyond the skills of most Prep students. However, being put in the position of making my own blog to record my personal e-learning journey, I feel a class blog would be an ideal digital tool to record and present knowledge in the Prep classroom. The ease of adding text, images, movies and hyperlinks makes the task quite simple. After updating the blog with recently learned material, the students (with some guidance and modelling) could present the updated materials from the blog to their peers, presenting further revision of their knowledge. This provides the students with the opportunity to use their knowledge in a meaningful way. The teacher can also enhance their learning by prompting them for other applications of the knowledge that relates to their interests.
The advantage of the class blog is that it is an effective tool for parents to follow their students’ learning at home. A parent and child could view the blog together and talk about it informally, providing a reflective stage for the student. Beyond the Prep years, I can see the advantages of ‘blogging’ for all students. As mentioned in my blog and many others, it provides students with a collaborative forum to voice and share their ideas through a global network and improve their writing and general ICT skills (DET, 2010). The other advantage, which I agreed with Hamish Robb, was that they enable students to think about their learning at their own pace and use their knowledge in more meaningful manner.
Through this course I have developed new technical skills in the process of learning about the digital tools I have utilised. There were some trying times however, and it was in these times of need that I requested the help from my online colleagues. I managed to advance through their help, which helped me to see the value of students working in collaboration on digital tools to construct knowledge. As I still struggle with my personal competence with general ICT skills, I plan to seek professional training to up-skill myself in this area. For it is the attitudes and perceptions of the teacher toward ICT use which ultimately leads to the valuable pedagogical use of digital learning tools. Although I am still learning about these digital tools, I can now look forward with more confidence to my growing use of them in the classroom to meet the educational needs of the 21st century learner.
REFERENCES
Bloom B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc
Department of Education and Training (2010). Resourcing the curriculum. (Electronic resource) Retrieved from
http://www.det.wa.gov.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/weblogs/#collaborate
Eisenberg, M. (2001). Big6 Skills Overview. Retrieved from http://www.big6.com/2001/11/19/a-big6%E2%84%A2-skills-overview/
Gallimore, R. & Tharp, R. (1990). Teaching mind in society. In McInerney D.M. & McInerney V.(2006). Educational Psychology:Constructing Learning. Sydney, NSW, Australia: Pearson Education.
Kearsley, G & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm
Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., Arredondo, D. E., Blackburn, G. J., Brandt, R. S., Moffett, C. A., Paynter, D. E., Pollock, J. E., & Whisler, J. S. (1997). Dimensions of Learning: Teacher’s Manual (4th ed.). Colorado, United States of America: McRel
Presnky, M. (2005). Engage me or enrage me: What today's learners demand. [eletronic resource] Retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0553.pdf
Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and Language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
Links to comments in Blogs
Lynn Camilleri- http://s0140677.blogspot.com/ - Interactive learning objects
- http://s0140677.blogspot.com/-Reflections on using blogs
Hamish Robb- http://s0173788.blogspot.com/ -A simple swot analysis of blogging
Rachel Martin- http://rachelmartin-e-learning.blogspot.com/ - Just testing cyberspace, a wiki
Sheena Stokes- http://sheenas-e-learningjourney.blogspot.com/ - Digital video, Youtube
Nick Lunn- http://nicklunn.blogspot.com/- Changing opinions
Cameron Gibson- http://cameronelearning.blogspot.com/
Jasmin Camps - http://jasminecamps.blogspot.com/- teacher tv
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