Sunday, 10 November 2013

Module 4 - Activity 4

How We Assess - Assessment Methods

This chapter was an eyeopener and it was really tiring to read through all the information presented.  The assessment cycle comprises of 1)  Teaching and learning, 2) Gathering evidence of the learning taking place, 3) Giving feedback to the learners, and 4) Reflecting and planning.

There are numerous ways to go about assessing learning.  These are heavily dependent on the nature/purpose of assessment, i.e. whether its formative or summative in nature.  Formative assessments focus on gathering evidence of learning and giving feedback to learners as the course is in progress.  Summative assessments focus on testing the learners at the end of topics, units or courses, and often aim to provide a numerical grade that reflects the learners' achievements.

Some types of formative assessment methods include peer assessments where learners assess each other's work, self assessments where learners assess themselves, and group assessments where group work is assessed in various ways.

These types of assessment help learners to understand and gain skills in how to critically analyze work and how to give and receive feedback.  They afford learners with a window into the diversity found in learning and thinking between students.  They also gain insight into their own performance and develop a sense of ownership in the assessment process.  All of these foster lifelong learning.

Rubrics and checklists I now view as invaluable assets in the assessment process.  Rubrics give the learner very clear breakdowns of what is expected in order to achieve certain standards and further, gives assessors a more clearcut measure by which to assess students' work, especially in areas prone to being very subjective.  Checklists on the other hand, can provide simple, straightforward lists of what is to be achieved by the student either during a direct task or general observation.  Both rubrics and checklists can be factored into numerous assessment tools such as self, peer and group assessments.

In completing the activities for this chapter, I found the course content severely lacking in deep information and templates for guidance.  To get around this constraint, I did a great deal of online research which helped me get a deeper understanding of the topic and the wider assessment options available to a tutor such as portfolios, journals, observation, projects, writing assessments and more.

Saturday, 19 October 2013

Module 4 - Activity 3 - Catering for Diversity

It is said that variety is the spice of life.  This activity has really illustrated just how spicy the average classroom can be!  There are so many variances in the way people learn.  I clearly have not been effectively tailoring teaching and assessing to suitably meet the diverse needs of students in my classroom.  I guess in a large way I have been tailoring things to my own learning needs!  Good golly!  On the plus side, in planning for this current term I tried to use a greater array of teaching and assessment methods than I did last year!

Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences suggests that a person's collective intelligence is made up of eight different intelligences including linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual spacial, and musical intelligences. Each of these eight are at different levels, with some being much stronger than others.  This means that depending on how strong a particular intelligence is, a person may have an easier time learning certain types of information and a more difficult time learning others.  In a room of 30 students, the assortment of strong and weak intelligences will quite broad.  This has significant bearing on how effective the teaching and learning process will be.  It therefore means that lessons and assessments ought to be fashioned in ways that promote the development and use of as many of the intelligences as possible.  In so doing, learners not only strengthen their overall intelligence but can rely on different intelligences to assimilate information, link new information to previous knowledge, and communicate their understanding of new materials.  Essentially, it is a multifaceted approach that targets individual intelligences to formulate the overall picture.

The spicy stew thickens.  Bloom has categorized educational objective into the domains of cognitive, affective, and psychomotor.   Of course he did not leave it at that.  Nope, Bloom theorized several levels for each of these domains.  Each of these levels target a particular objective that leads to the realization of the domain.  In the cognitive domain for instance, he has given us six levels - Knowledge, Analysis, Comprehension, Application, Synthesis and Evaluation.  


With all these categories that Bloom has presented to us, combined with Gardner's explanations of multiple intelligences, it seems quite overwhelming to fashion teaching and assessment to meet the needs of all the students in a class, when each student processes information differently.  However, by providing us with these theories, they help teachers to examine their content and come up with ways of appealing to the different intelligences during the teaching/learning/assessing processes.  They also provide a good framework for the levels involved in meeting educational objectives.  While these levels are not hierarchical, they allow the teacher to have focal points so that specific skills can be assessed as a part of the overarching assessment process.  


Having said all that, I know that much more analysis is needed of my teaching/assessment methods.  I now need to study my course content and learning objectives, and find ways in which to craft lessons around some of the intelligences outlined by Gardner.  It is also necessary, using Bloom's Taxonomy, to come up with assessments that address the domains he laid out so as to have a more rounded approach that caters to the diverse learning abilities that exist in a group of learners.  It will be long and hard work, that's for certain.



Tuesday, 15 October 2013

Module 4 - Activity 2

This activity has exposed me to an array of things that can be assessed in learners.  Some of them I have been doing already, others I have never even thought of.  This array seems overwhelming to say the least.

Many institutions (and most of my own learning) focus on measuring output with an assigned grade that ought to reflect 'how much' a student has learned.  The system revolves around grades, hence, testing is often viewed as the legitimate assessment method.  Most often, such testing is either written or oral and may involve some group work.

In looking at the list of things brainstormed by my colleagues, I recognize a number of things that I do 'assess' in my students like; how well they work with their peers; are they applying strong thinking skills; are they self-motivated; and so on.  However, I never really perceived these areas to be actual assessment.  Having been socialized in a system that revolves around grades, if I assess without a grade being affixed, it appears as if no assessment has been done.

One of the main challenges for me going forward, would be finding ways to meaningfully incorporate some of the assessment areas identified.  As the module progresses, I hope to garner more information in that regard.  Further, a true appreciation of how these assessment areas factor into the wider teaching/learning relationship, would help me to legitimize them in my own mind and use the information gathered to better foster that relationship.

The question still remains, how do I translate these assessments into a measurable dimension since the system is hungry for grades?  Maybe, through this wider array of assessment, the place of tests remain secure and they will still readily provide the summative data required to sate the system.  Maybe this wider array of assessment areas really targets the process of learning, which, at the end of the day, takes students towards the learning outcomes.

Sunday, 13 October 2013

Module 4 - Assignment 1

This assignment was very interesting!  In analyzing my assessment methods, I realized that my scope has been too limited. More variety is needed to effectively assess students from a variety of vantage points.  In doing so, I would be better equipped to help them learn and to be a more effective instructor.  By having a wider variety of assessment methods, students are also exposed to a wider set of learning dimensions and more of the overall abilities are assessed and encouraged.

Using more varied methods requires careful planning.  The curriculum objectives must be clearly understood with lesson plans and assessment methods being crafted side by side.  This allows for a more seamless program in which the lesson plans, lesson delivery and assessments all tie in seamlessly to foster the learning process as students move towards the learning outcomes.  Careful crafting also allows for assessments to be an interesting part of the learning process instead of the dreaded WRITTEN TESTS that make many learners nervous.

In doing my write up, a number of specific assessment ideas came to mind.  I would be reexamining my assignment submission when I make my next term's plan!!  Already excited about implementing some of those ideas.

Thursday, 3 October 2013

Module 4 - Activity 1

In Activity 1, I was required to carry out a self-activity which looked at my current assessment methods for my students.  It was done in two phases, the first was from the point of view of me as the teacher answering a questionnaire about things like do I assess the whole class at the same time, do I use written tests, do I assess team work, do I assess the learners' abilities to think and so on.  The second phase was from the point of view of me as a learner, answering the same questions.

In answering each questionnaire, certain questions were grouped and scored (two groups), then subtracted from each other.  My resulting score was fairly low, placing me in the fourth of five categories.  Such a score suggests that my assessment methods are too similar from day-to-day and can use some variance to make assessments more effective.

While I encourage my students to think and in many instances guide them into answering their own questions systematically, I realize that their ability to think doesn't usually form a direct part of my assessments.  In some ways it is assessed indirectly when one question feeds into another on a test (where children should see how the previous question could help answer the next) but it is not often a focused designed to assess their thinking ability.

Collaboration and group work is used more rarely since it often requires a lot of mediation by the teacher to keep the group on point and settle personal squabbles.   Take for instance a group project that was to be submitted by my first form.  One particular group was to submit one sheet of bristol board with a diagram they collaborated on.  The members of the group ended up submitting four different sheets because they couldn't agree to work together on the project.  In this regard, of course, they will lose marks for their lack of cooperation.  However, I am aware that encouraging students to work as a group is a key lesson for life and will make greater efforts to incorporate group work in varying ways.

It is clear that my methods are in need of adjustments.  By the end of this course, I really hope that a revisiting of this activity can show a much more varied approach to my assessment methods and that my role as assessor can become more non-traditional.

ICCT Training Resumes....

The beginning of October has seen the continuation of my ICCT course.  The summer break was great, and filled with much self growth as a musician.  Of course the resumption of the school term has slowed this process down in some respects as there is not much personal time anymore.  Additionally, there is now some learning taking place in order to help students with their interests - mostly extra-curricular.

It is hoped that this new module will aide me in the classroom to better assess my students and as a result help me to make better decisions in teaching them content in a fun and informative way, thereby stimulating positive growth.

Friday, 14 June 2013

Activity 7 - Spreadsheets as a Learning Resource

Spreadsheets can be used as part of the learning process whether with a large group of students or one-on-one.  When there is a large group of students and limited computers, teachers can use projectors to conduct lessons which require spreadsheet use; they can also include printed tutorials which help students to follow the process used and provides them with a reference document.  In a situation where there are enough computers for individual use, collaborative projects which incorporate data collection, processing and presentation can be carried out by having individuals feed data into small groups which then feed the overall project.

Activity 4 - Spreadsheets for Admin Purposes

Spreadsheets are definitely useful in helping with the administrative functions of the teacher.  This activity demonstrates how functional a spreadsheet can be for recording and computing students' grades.  With simple math equations entered into the spreadsheet, a teacher can simply enter the primary grade students receive for various assignments and have all the calculations done in the background to come up with final grades, percentages etc.  They also allow for graphical presentations (charts etc) of a variety statistics that can be gathered for a class or subject area.

Wednesday, 1 May 2013

Activity 3: The word processor as a learning resource

As stated in my previous post, the word processor is very useful in the administrative and lesson preparation roles of the teacher.  It can also prove very useful as a learning resource.

As a teacher integrates ICT into the learning process, word processing skills can be developed.  For instance, students can use the word processor in their language class for typing and formatting essays.  They can also use them for producing statistical data in graphical form after doing research projects in classes like Geography or Mathematics - graphs, piecharts, and so on.  Students can also use this resource for note taking especially where they have writing challenges.

Further, documents produced by word processors work well for collaborative brainstorming.  Learners can add their ideas to a document and circulate it for classmates to add their own ideas.  Online storage services like Dropbox facilitates such sharing of documents quite easily.  In this way, even outside of the classroom, students can continue to share ideas (whether it be for a full class assignment or a group project).

Activity 2 - Word processor administration and lesson planning

Throughout their general teaching, teachers may need many documents for record keeping and other administrative purposes. Word processing software can be adequately used by teachers to fulfill some of these needs. There are a multitude of word processors available on the market, the most well-known being Microsoft Word.  However, there are others such as one provided in the Libre Office suite.

Documents such as class registers, class notices (such as class rules, or deadline reminders), letters to parents, commendation letters to outstanding students, and more can be produced using such software. Many contain powerful features and allow a teacher to produce tables, graphs and other charts.

Word processors are therefore a very useful tool for teachers and should be studied to develop at least basic operational skills to allow for general administrative use.


Word processors can be quite effective for lesson planning as well.  Teachers can produce templates for lesson plans which they can fill in by hand as necessary OR they can use the templates to type new lesson plans each time they need one.  The beauty of the second option is that the lesson plan can remain on file for future use or even be followed from the computer or tablet without ever printing it (save on paper).

Teachers can also write instructions to guide students in assignments.  This provides the student with a reference document to take them through the steps of the assignment.  This is especially useful at points when the teacher is not accessible (students working outside of class time).  A similar approach can also be taken to giving notes/handouts.

Activity 1 - Role of the Educator

The roles of the educator are wide reaching.  So much so that teachers are responsible for many aspects of students' learning that goes beyond the actual content delivery - they are involved with much of the framework that guides the entire process of learning.  Some of the key roles are:

1.  Mediator - Here the teacher ensures there is proper communication between the learner and the teacher or between the learner and any other source of information.  Essentially facilitating dialogue.

2.  Designer - The teacher must be able to designe learning programs that are contextual and suitable for the level of the learners.  This includes being able to craft programs to the learning style and challenges that a variety of learners may face.

3.  Leader/Administrator - Teachers must be able to lead their classrooms and carry out various administrative functions (including things like maintaining class registers, keeping a keen eye on students' wellbeing and so on).

4.  Specialist - Teachers must be very knowledgeable about their content areas and continually work at developing their knowledge and skills in these ares.

Other key roles include Scholar, Assessor and Citizenship/Pastoral roles.

Indeed a teacher's responsibility is extensive.

Module 3 Begins

As I venture into my second module of this course (Module 3) I have reflected briefly on Module 2.  Perhaps the two greatest lessons from that module for me were:

1.  Looking at ICT integration as playing a role in developing ICT skills in the students by having them interact with the technology as opposed to simply using ICT as a teaching tool for content delivery.  Thereby allowing students to be better equipped with skills for today's IT driven world while still focusing on the content of the curriculum.

2.  The importance of maintaining elements of spontaneous learning in education on a whole, and especially when integrating ICT.

I hope that Module 3 would help me to reinforce those concepts already learnt and help me to build upon them.

It will be a most challenging module in terms of time.  With the beginning of our VincyMas (carnival season), time will be a very precious - late night band rehearsals three nights a week plus performances, while teaching at two schools, teaching music outside of school and finding time to practice the trumpet and keep my chops in shape - then to do assignments.... whew!!!  Ok, breathe :)

Here we go.

Saturday, 20 April 2013

The CEO School Technology and Readiness (STaR) Chart


Overview

The CEO School Technology and Readiness (STaR) Chart provides a fairly effective measuring system for a school's effectiveness in ICT integration. However, it is not an absolute measure since the different categories presented may see a school having high ratings in one category and low ratings in another, resulting in difficulty determining a definite indicator level for the school. Even with this draw back, the chart can give administrators a good idea as to a school's level in the various categories and enable them better plan their developmental programs for ICT integration, inclusive of staff development and resource acquisition. Importantly, in planning, administrators have a very good idea of what areas and resources need to be focused on to get the school to each stage of development.

In examining the chart in relation to the Intermediate High School, I have looked at the following categories:

Hardware and Connectivity
Digital Content
Student Achievement and Assessment

Hardware and Connectivity

The school is in the Early Tech stage of this category. There is an IT lab which has the capacity to house an average class comfortably, with one computer per student. However, due to scheduling challenges for subjects other than IT, most classes would be unable to have such a ratio of computers to students. While some students own netbooks as part of 'one-laptop-per-child' initiative, many of the netbooks have been damaged. Therefore, in the regular classroom, there is a very high ratio of students to computers.

Internet connectivity is excellent as all classrooms and offices have adequate access to a stable internet connection. However, there are no computers installed in regular classrooms to allow independent classroom use. A multimedia projector is also available for use to teachers. There is little use of other forms of hardware technology.

Digital Content

The school falls into the Early Tech stage in this category. Learning is teacher centered and limited use is made of digital content to supplement instruction and reinforce basic academical skills. Better hardware support in the classroom or a secondary laboratory that can result in a computer-student ratio of even five students to a computer may encourage further use of digital content.

Student Achievement and Assessment

Since there is little overall integration of ICT in the classroom, measuring student achievement from an ICT perspective is almost non-applicable. An assessment of student skill improvement can not be done since little digital content is used to develop those skills and measure their developmental process. The digital process is not integrated into the assessment of subject matter though this is an avenue that can be systematically introduced without great difficulty.

The school does not have a web site and therefore not portal to communicate with parents via the web.

The rating here is also at the Early Tech stage.

Conclusion

All in all, the Intermediate High School is at the Early Tech level and requires a significant amount of planning and strategizing to move to the next level.

Monday, 15 April 2013

Teaching Spaces & Curriculum Delivery

Teaching Spaces

Comfortable and conducive learning spaces are critical to students' growth.  The traditional classroom setup is to have rows of students all facing a chalkboard to be receptive to the 'all-knowing teacher' at the front of the class.  However, that suits one type of learning and delivery and does not work for all styles of teaching/learning, especially those including ICT.

A classroom which provides access to online resources and multimedia is critical to ICT integration.  The layout of such a classroom can be quite varied depending on needs and teaching approach.  Perhaps the most suitable layout is one which is very flexible - furniture is easily movable:  this includes student's desks and chairs, as well as the resource centers/desks (classroom computer desk - printer, scanner, computer and other peripherals station).  This allows for teachers to best shape the classroom layout to what is necessary for a given lesson.

Curriculum Delivery

All teachers must routinely examine their teaching methods and success in order to ensure they are delivering the best content to students in the most effective way and achieving satisfactory results.  For centuries this has been part of the arsenal for good self-analysis puts the teacher in a better tactical position.  From a historical context there is clearly no reason to wait for ICT before examining one's teaching methods - these types of technology are very new in the history of the teaching profession - teachers have been and will continue to evaluate their teaching methods with or without ICT.  To do otherwise will be disastrous. 

ICT can assist teachers in their personal assessment since certain tools can be used to gain statistics more readily than through manual means.  For instance, if electronic testing is done, a teacher can quickly assess the topic questions that were poorly answered and those which were well assimilated, resulting clear statistics for re-teaching and knowing at what stage to move forward.  The fact that many statistics can be maintained in digital form also allows for long-term self-analysis and student trends, this in turn, leads to redefining programs to better reach students.

School Staff Development

Staff development is a critical aspect of ICT incorporation in education.  In some schools, there are established programs geared towards developing ICT skills among staff, in others, such programs are nonexistent. 

At one of the schools I teach, there is no staff development program for ICT.  This school has an IT lab and multimedia projectors and many students own netbooks.  However, most students use the netbooks for gaming and the school has inadequate resources for ICT integration.  Furthermore, teachers training in ICT is limited.

In preparing a staff development programme for ICT, the following principles are important considerations:
  1. Identifying and acquiring adequate resources;
  2. Resource sharing and management;
  3. ICT integration vs teaching ICT;
  4. Teaching/learning strategies for ICT integration;
  5. The need for careful lesson planning;
  6. Adequate support structures;
  7. Security and;
  8. Ongoing staff training and assessment.

Hopefully, an effective program for staff development in ICT will be put in place soon.


"The basis of all learning is wonder."
~L Darrien Ollivierre

Role of the Teacher in ICT Integration

In Steve Wheeler speech to the National Czech Teachers Conference, he outlined some of the benefits that ICT can bring to the classroom.  These included shared learning spaces, shared learning resources, the promotion of collaborative learning, and the move towards autonomous learning.

He indicated that in the UK the government spent large sums of money to encourage schools to embrace ICT; this involved spending on physical resources and equipment and importantly, on teacher training.  In the US investments were made in centralized systems that could broadcast information to a network of schools simultaneously.  This allowed for a lot of autonomous learning by students in which they prepared projects without significant teacher involvement apart from general guidance.  In Minneapolis, 90 students became aware of any-time-anywhere-learning after they were loaned laptops and encouraged to do a lot of personal, unscheduled work/studies.

These research findings raised concerns about the role teachers will play in the ICT integrated classroom; concerns about how much control teachers lose to both the technology and to the students.  In fact, the research even led some to question the very need for teachers in light of ICT and concepts like collaborative and autonomous learning among students.


I believe that a certain level of autonomous learning is good. It helps the students to focus on the things that most spark their imagination. However, core curriculum is still going to be critical. Therefore, a lot of guidance is still going to be needed in order to achieve certain goals. While some may be concerned about teachers becoming more of a moderator than a director, this may not be a well founded fear. Remember, autonomous learning does not prevent the instructor from participating. The teacher can facilitate a certain amount of learning this way by providing a framework of content that needs to be learnt and then give the students a certain level of independence in how they go about examining, learning and demonstrating understanding of the content. Throughout this process, the teacher is still questioning, challenging, explaining - teaching. The key is in deciding how to aptly structure such activities to ensure this all takes place and that enough supervision and guidance is achieved.

Integrated Approach


Computer literacy is about being versed on computers in some aspect; whether this means being versed at the inner workings of the computer (such as the computing aspects of the system, system design and operation, system logic, binary and hexadecimal structures etc.) or being able to effectively operate certain software for productivity, research, communication, entertainment and so on (such as database management, internet usage, email and social networking, gaming etc.). It is simply a matter of what aspects of computers a person is literate in and to what extent. A biologist may be very literate in marine biology while another may be very literate in insects or desert creatures; neither may be very literate in the other's field.

While the pundits have left computer literacy with no absolute definition, the integrated approach is an APPROACH to computer literacy in which various ICT skills/knowledge are acquired. This means that it is part of the computer literacy process but it is NOT computer literacy in of itself. For example, rather than coming into a class to learn how to send an email, the integrated approach in a Geography class would perhaps have students learn how to send an email as part of a wider lesson in which the objective is to share collected weather data with the local Met Office. In this scenario, the objective is to share data with the Met Office, NOT to learn how to send emails (which is something that would more likely be a IT lesson objective).

In the integrated approach, ICT skills are essentially developed in a manner secondary to the main subject content.  In a way, the students learn these skills without even thinking of acquiring the skills, their primary focus is the main subject area and the ICT skills is merely a 'cool' byproduct of what they are studying.  To some extent, this method of learning ICT skills is very favourable to the students because they are not 'worried' about passing ICT - they do not feel any anxiety with those skills being assessed for a grade.

Challenges

The integrated approach to ICT had a number of challenges however.  These include:

1) Identifying and applying context for integration:  It can be very time consuming for teachers to examine and identify aspects of their curriculum in which they can integrate ICT effectively.  The use of ICT in a lesson must be well planned.

2) The ability to craft the curriculum in such a way as to allow for integration:  Teachers must be skilled/knowledgeable in the ICT options available so as to reshape the curriculum to effectively factor in ICT.

3) Inadequate equipment and facilities to allow for use in classrooms other than the IT labs:  It is necessary to have appropriate equipment to use ICT.  Furthermore, the classroom environment or work area must be conducive to the use of ICT (and must be secure).  In light of the cost to put these things in place, the provisions at many institutions are inadequate.

4) Long planning times initially:  The three items above can be very time consuming to put in place.

5) Large class sizes:  In classes with many students, managing both the students and equipment can be very challenging.  In addition, much more group activities may need to be designed in order to 'stretch' the ICT resources that are available.

Responsibility

From a general standpoint, it is the responsibility of all teachers to assist students in the process of becoming computer literate. When we talk about processes like the integrated approach, it may not be most accurate to say we are 'teaching' computer literacy. In this approach we are teaching other concepts of our curricula while accessing ICT skills. With such approaches however, all teachers have some responsibility to guide students to the awareness and development of certain ICT skills. The students also have a responsibility to hone these skills and share them with their colleagues.

It is also the responsibility of the IT instructor to educate students through the IT curriculum to cover things like the inner workings of the computer, software packages and so on.

Since there are different schools of thought on what being 'computer literate' means.  Responsibility may vary at different institutions.  Some guiding philosophies may result in the IT teacher being the person who handles all things ICT, even the process of integrating into different classes - this may be evident in this person being required to provide all technical support to other teachers when they integrate ICT.

The integrated approach opens up many avenues to teachers to supplement their lessons while helping students to become more aware of and competent in the use of computers in today's ever more technology driven world.


Monday, 1 April 2013

Minimally Invasive Education

Dr. Mitra's work suggests that children's learning about computers as a tool reflects the most basic way of learning - which existed before schools. In the experiments where children were left on their own to use ICT without the guidance of a teacher, they did exactly what early man, or a baby would naturally do - they tinkered with the device. By fiddling around they learnt about various features and discovered how the devices could be used to add to their existence. 

Mitra's work reflects some of Vygotsky's perceptions. Spontaneous learning bears a close resemblance to what the Indian experiments showed. In spontaneous learning, children learn based on observation and interacting with the world around them in an informal way; this was exactly what was seen in the Indian experiments where children used the computers set up at kiosks or in walls in public spaces. Without guidance, the children were able to discover and learn. Furthermore, the elements learning through collaboration was also evident where one child would help to guide another through various procedures. Again, this all comes down to the very basis of learning - learning for the sake of knowing and utilizing information rather than through a 'schooled' system that streamlines concepts (necessary for measurement of information passed on and knowledge standards) and have a heavy focus on grades.

When it comes to ICT in school, Mitra's work clearly has shortcomings.  Schools are primarily based on structure. There are curricula to follow with specific goals and thresholds to achieve. It therefore means that leaving students to learn in the manner of Mitra's experiments may not allow for the development of a particular skill set as fast as is necessary for the purpose needed. For instance, if the Geography curriculum requires that a student must send an email with photo attachments of certain land features to a student at a collaborating school in their second week of the course, that student has two weeks in which to develop that ICT skill. On his/her own it may take a month to find that feature, while some students may already know how to do it, or may figure it out in a day. So in the school setting, more structured learning will be necessary to effectively utilize the skills for specific purposes. Of course this doesnt mean that the students cant learning in a manner that mirrors Mitra's methods. As I opined in an earlier post about Spontaneous Learning, the teacher can create a framework that, while structured, creates a space for students to be spontaneous in their learning - a marriage of the two concepts.

Thursday, 14 March 2013

Vygotsky and Spontaneous Learning


Vygotsk suggests that schooled learning ought to be an experience in which teachers guide students in the acquisition of knowledge from a built up information pool (the contents of which may span a great many years).  As part of the guidance process, teachers need to find ways of bringing students to the most elemental process of learning - spontaneous learning.

While schooled learning involves a systematic process of being taught a variety of concepts (each built upon ones that came before) at specific times (periods) in a student's educational development, spontaneous learning is, well, spontaneous!  It happens randomly through various environmental stimuli that the student experiences from birth onward.  Therefore, in a given day, an individual can learn a variety of concepts in a random fashion through observation of and interaction with their world, and through basic questions posed to the people around them.  This type of learning is the basis of all knowledge acquisition.  It is the way primitive man learned to eat fruit from trees, learned to make tools, learned to build shelters and so on.

Vygotsky implies that effective teaching should involve a blurring of the lines between both types of learning.  While a teacher is expected to teach the structured curriculum, they should find ways of involving elements of spontaneous learning.  In a way, this goes back to the idea of learning through active engagement and learning through connection to real-world contexts.  What the teacher has to do, is plan lessons in a way that capitalizes on what the student brings to the classroom - what they already know - and what elements of the curriculum can be tied into their environment.  By crafting the lesson around these two factors, teaching can done with 'guided spontaneity' if you will.  That is to say, the teacher takes the structured curriculum, and creates lessons that allow students to arrive at certain conclusions based on their previous knowledge and the stimuli provided by the lesson.

As we have seen, the use of ICT can provide avenues to encourage this by allowing students to escape the four walls of the classroom.  They can collaborate with students studying the same course in various parts of the earth, share experiences and come to a variety of conclusions.  Students are also privy to information available from sources well beyond the limited views of their prescribed textbooks.  Students may also have the luxury (depending on the course) to interact with online models of the concepts they are learning and even communicate with experts in the field.

We therefore arrive at a place where both forms of learning mesh to interest and educate students.  The result is the reduction of rote learning and the molding of students into true sentient beings.

Friday, 8 March 2013

Activity 2 - Two Generation of Teachers

Silvia Ferrero's article was very enlightening.  The research findings on the difference in attitudes of older verses younger teachers was somewhat unexpected. 

My interpretation of the findings suggest that the 'generation divide' has far less impact on the the willingness and capability of teachers to utilize ICT in the classroom than previously expected.  Instead, the experience of the teacher is a far greater influential factor.  Some older teachers have backgrounds (whether through professional training or personal interest) in ICT.  Therefore, some may not be as 'afraid' of technology as many persons presume; they turn out to be far more competent and comfortable integrating it in their classrooms.  In contrast, there are persons in the net-generation who are not as comfortable with the technology they have been exposed to and are therefore less likely to gravitate towards using it in the classroom.  Those without a keen grounding in ICT may be fearful of using it in education because of the risk of 'exposing' their shortcomings - shortcomings that they apparently should NOT have since they are part of the net-generation, or so it is perceived.

The second conclusion I've drawn from the article, is that the overall willingness of persons to utilize ICT is not defined by the persons age.  Instead, it hinges on their attitude towards ICT and its possible advantages in the process of learning.  Therefore, an older teacher's attitude might be one in which they believe that both their students and they themselves could benefit from ICT, and they then decide to seek out opportunities for learning (if they had limited knowledge beforehand).  They may also be more patient and systematic in both their learning and in implementation.  A younger teacher on the other hand can be well versed in the technologies but may not see ICT in education as important or even interesting for the students.  Some may simply prefer older tried and tested methods.  Therefore, they avoid using it altogether.  While I specified older and younger teachers in these two examples respectively, it was merely to illustrate the average expected knowledge base of the two groups sitting on each side of the generation divide.  However, the same holds through in both examples regardless of age.

And that, my friends, is the way some things in this article look to me!

Cheers.

The ICT Power-game!


In reading Silvia Ferrero's “Two Generations of Teachers, Differences in Attitudes Towards ICT”, I was struck by the issue of power that became evident in her research.

In my experience, there has generally been a certain esteem placed upon the tech-savvy individual in any group. He/she was looked upon as being specially skilled and as the go-to person to get you through a difficult IT issue. It wasn't always that the person wanting help was older, many times it was younger folks (it is a misconception that everyone in the net-generation is tech-savvy). Furthermore, the go-to person wasn't always young! Regardless of age, however, that person had a certain level of respect given to them.

While respect was given to these individuals, I cannot recall it ever translating to a concept of power (although, in reality, power is not always overt). “Creating a domain of power” and splitting “teachers up into factions” on the basis of ICT, as in Sardinia, was not something I ever perceived taking root in a school setting. It is also intriguing to see, in the French context, that male teachers were showing up their ICT expertise to their female counterparts. It makes me wonder if, in this case, it is an issue of ICT sexism or if it was merely a case of males using their skills in this field as part of their attempts to woo their female colleagues.

The Scottish research which showed that a few cases of friction between teachers and the defensiveness of one's knowledge, skills and expertise, resulted from ICT issues, is something I can see more easily. For in that scenario, you may have one teacher who has the ICT skill-set and another teacher who is lacking it. The later may feel it necessary to safeguard their own knowledge or fear of losing more ground while empowering the former teacher who is already equipped for this net-generation.

Quite interesting indeed.

Sunday, 3 March 2013

Group Activity 1 - Discussion Conclusion

On the posed topic "It is impossible for a developing nation to compete with developed nations in the field of ICT integration in schools", the general consensus of the group discussion was that this statement is false, that it is possible for a developing nation to compete with developed nations in this field.

My perspective is somewhat different.  One might argue its a matter of semantics.  Here goes.  It is impossible for developing countries to compete with developed ones in this field.  Each country is operating from far different backgrounds in thought, socialization, resource base, available technology, among other factors.  Essentially, the countries are not operating on a level playing field.

Developed countries are usually on the frontline of technological advances and their utilization (even if they are not responsible for the technology's development, they can usually afford to purchase it from the get-go).  Developing countries on the other hand, tend to be playing catchup most of the time.  They don't usually have the financial backbone to purchase new technologies, and even if they can, it usually means small acquisitions rather than sufficient quantities.  This goes not only for technological devices but also for infrastructural development to make effective use of new technologies.

Developing countries often rely on the generosity of other countries or entities to fund much of this type of development.  Some may argue that once we have received some of the necessary resources to get us really going in this field that it means we are competing with the developing countries.  I argue that if we are unable to integrate the wealth of technologies on a similar scale to developed countries, then we are not competing.  If we are matching the same scale as developed countries, then we are competing.  So one's perspective is hinged on what one perceives competing to mean, and what possible/impossible means in relation to that.

In stating that from a general standpoint we cannot compete with the developed nations in this regard, I am in no way suggesting that we are hopeless.  Far from it.  Quite simply, I mean that we are operating at two different levels and the realistic objectives for each country would be different based on the resources and training available.  Therefore, developing countries will use the resources and training they acquire to get as much done as possible, and will make many strides forward in this field as the pieces fall into place.

As we progress through this course, my perspective on this could well evolve to a different place based on new information, but for now, this is the picture as I see it.

ICT Usage at My School


In examining the main institution at which I teach, it appears that there is little integration of ICT in the general day-to-day instruction of most classes.  

The school possesses a computer lab that is primarily used for the delivery of Information Technology courses to the various forms.  My observations suggest that the use of computers at this institution primarily satisfies Rationale #2 of the extract from Applying New Technologies and Cost-Effective Delivery Systems in Basic Education (World Economic Forum, Dakar 2000).  The basis of this rational is to equip students with basic computer skills so that they would not fall behind the technology curve and would instead be able to take advantage of the opportunities which may come their way from a technological perspective.

Outside of the IT Lab, students have no other access points to computers set up by the institution.  However, there are many students who own laptops that were provided through a Government initiative.  These laptops appear to have had very little practical use in the classroom, based on my observation over the past six months that I have worked there.  They are used largely as gaming devices.  

As indicated in my opening, ICT seems to have little if any integration in the classroom.  The reasons for this may be several-fold:

1. While there are many students who own laptops, there are still many more who do not.  This in effect hinders any classroom approach that would require individual usage. (Remember the only computers set up by the school is for the IT Lab).
2. Teachers may not have the requisite know-how and resources to adequately incorporate the use of the laptops (ICT) in the delivery of their subject matter.  (Hence the importance of courses like this one.)
3. The physical design of the classrooms do not lend well to multimedia presentations.
4. Utilizing the IT Lab for non-IT classes requires a significant amount of juggling as there are potential clashes with the IT sessions being held in the lab at the same time.

Also, while it may be seem expensive at first, I believe newly designed or redesigned classrooms should come equipped with certain technological resources. Things like a projector should now come standard (perhaps fixed to the ceiling). That way, certain elements of lessons can be easily reproduced from class to class efficiently, for instance:- a complex diagram can be broken down into subsets as part of a slideshow and as the lesson progresses they are tied together into the full diagram; should the teacher need to backtrack to a simpler part of the diagram, simply view that image again. This saves time in drawing diagrams over and over in each classroom, or the moving around with numerous flipcharts etc. from class to class.

From the standpoint of assessments:- With a grounded use of the technology, tests/quizzes (multiple choice format) can be administered, graded and examined in a mater of minutes by having students do them electronically. This frees up a tutor from grading a large quantity of papers and affords them more time to evaluate course direction/redirection. Such assessments would also help in providing statistical data on the course areas which are strongest/weakest and where greater teaching focus is needed. Of course this isn't the only way to achieve such data, but its a lot more efficient!


There is potential for ICT integration at my institution if proper guidance can be provided to students and teachers for the positive use of the technology available, and also if more resources become available for both teacher and student.  Of course, everything does not rest on the technology itself, but the creativity of the instructor and his ability to mold the technology to his subject matter, or is it the other way around?  :)

Friday, 22 February 2013

Introductory Greeting

Greetings my Fellow Course Participants,

I began my full time teaching career six months ago as a Music Teacher in two of our secondary schools here in St. Vincent & the Grenadines.  Thus far I've not been able to adequately incorporate ICT in the classroom in any meaningful way.  However, it is my hope that by the end of this course, the technology will work for both my students and me.

Best wishes to all,
Darrien