Assessment Two - Analysis of Digital Technologies

“Intrinsic motivation leads to deeper learning” (Fasso, 2011). Put simply, if students want to learn, they are more likely to deeply understand a subject. So how do we get children interested in what they want to learn? 

In the readings we have explored the fact that traditional lecture style, chalk and talk methods are not as effective in engaging students in this, the digital age. Traditionally, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT’s) were taught separate to the curriculum in Queensland schools.  Today, the Queensland Curriculum embeds ICT’s into its Essential Learnings (Education Queensland, 2008) suggesting that educators are experiencing their positive effects in the classroom.  ICT’s are not just technologies and more specifically they are not just computers. ICT’s also include the relationship between technologies and how the resources are used to store, manage and most importantly communicate information.

Today there are an abundance of technologies at our finger tips.  “These new technologies have changed the nature of the classroom or have the potential to do so”, (Mishra & Koehler 2006, P1023). Now teachers must learn how to use the new technologies and have the skills to learn even newer technologies as the old ones are replaced by bigger and better technologies (Mishra and Koehler, 2006).  But why? Why are these technologies seen as so effective and so important in the classroom?

Research from Education Queensland (2008), Edutopia (2008), and the US Department of Education, (n.d.) suggests the advantages of using technologies in the classroom include:-

• Better engagement and motivation,
• Better instructional materials,
• Better communication and collaboration with peers,
• Increased family involvement, and
• Application of real world skills.

Coupled with sound pedagogy that focuses on higher order thinking, technology can be an excellent tool in the classroom. ELearning, as it is commonly termed, is only productive when the appropriate learning approaches are taken (Fasso, 2011).  It is up to the teacher and their skills in the use and design of eLearning that will determine what to use, when to use it and what roles the teacher and students will play.

As a teacher, it is our responsibility to enhance, support and transform student learning. With the right pedagogical skill, technologies can help us do this. Over the past four weeks we have been submersed in digital technologies and we have been asked to consider a number of technologies for classroom use.  We have been encouraged to use them, to analyse them, evaluate them and create them ourselves.  Now, armed with the knowledge of what works and what doesn’t, we consider why and how certain technological tools are used in the classroom.

1. Analysis of technologies to enhance, support and transform student learning:-

The challenge we face as teachers is to ensure our students use knowledge meaningfully (Marzano & Pickering, 1997).  Marzano & Pickering (1997) explain that by using knowledge in a context that is meaningful to them students are engaged in deeper learning and are more likely to retain the knowledge. Teachers can encourage deeper learning, by embedding a ‘create’, ‘relate’ and ‘donate’ philosophy into units of work (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999) and by embedding specific ICT tools into learning, which if used correctly can be linked to Blooms Taxonomy. Refer to this clever Glogster created by Dirks (2011) that links web-based technologies to Blooms Taxonomy.

So bearing this in mind, there are some overarching principles that have persuaded me to choose the technologies I have chosen for the Primary School context.  These are:-

1. I needed to be engaged in the use of the tool.  If I wasn’t that interested in it or found it too hard how can I expect my students to use it? Therefore the technology and associated activity needed to be user-friendly for primary school students from Prep to Grade 7 and it needed to be fun.
2. The activity that used the technology needed to be authentic.  It needed to be related to something practical in the real world.
3. The activity that used the technology needed to be collaborative yet personalised. Students would need to donate ideas, review and evaluate their own and their peers work.
4. It is a given that where lessons included use of technology, an appropriate amount of time would need to be given to teach the child how to use the technology.  

A.      Group One Technologies: Blogs

According to Blogger (n.d.) in simple terms, a blog is a website, where anyone can write articles or journals (or blog postings) on an ongoing basis. New entries show at the top, so visitors can read what's new. Then they can comment on it or email the author if they wish.  (Refer Blog Posting 1 – SWOT of Blogs in Education for a blog example and a SWOT analysis of the use of the tool.)

Generally Blogs sit at the ‘evaluate’ and ‘create’ level of Blooms Taxonomy (Dirks, 2011; Education Queensland, 2008).  Blogs can be an incredibly useful tool for applying the ‘create’, ‘relate’ and ‘donate’ components of the Learning Engagement Theory into the classroom.  The trick here, as with any tool used in the classroom, is to ensure the blog centres on a problematic activity that is linked to the curriculum.  It would be pointless to set up a blog post with an international school that just explains some facts about Australia (for example) that the teacher has researched and transferred to a whiteboard. The key is to encourage the students to carry out higher order thinking activities that relate to the ‘apply’, ‘analyse’, ‘evaluate’ and ‘create’ stages of Blooms Revised Taxonomy. 

An example might be preparing a group blog that requires the children to research facts about Italy.  You could have sub-groups that would research various aspects of Italy (ie a group each looking at food, famous people, animals, sites of interest eg the Leaning Tower of Pisa).  The children report back via the blog and then the students in the school in Italy comment on the blog postings.  The students in the Australian classroom then return the favour to their Italian friends.

At all times the children should be encouraged to write analytically with constructive purpose for their audience – their peers and their teachers. 

By combining Blogs with one of the many scaffolded thinking routines such as deBonos Six Thinking Hats or a SWOT Analysis (depending on age levels), children are not restricted or biased in their abilities to explore inspirational ideas and solutions. Blogs can require deep thinking and practical application.

B. Group Two Technologies: Digital Video - Making Movies

Windows Movie Maker is a simple-to-use software program that enables you to create and edit videos.  You can use still images, movies, music and editing tools to create movies. For further analysis refer to Blog Posting 2 – Digital Video – Making a Movie.

The ability to create a movie using music and text is very appealing to all. Generally making movies would sit at the ‘create’ phase of Blooms Taxonomy.  It can be a great way to get children interested in learning about a not so interesting topic. This is where ICT’s in general can be very powerful. Children can learn new knowledge and apply it, analyse it, evaluate it and create an activity using a technological tool.  

Consider a simple example.  Homonyms or Homophones are big words for say Grade 4 or 5 students and explaining it verbally can be long winded. What if students made a movie that taught their peers when to use their/they’re/there or to/too/two? 

What is special about movie maker is the explicit need to plan and design a movie. Children need to visualise what they want the finished product to look like and if done correctly, the movie making and hence learning experience will be very satisfying.  

Collaboration is another strong feature of movie maker.  Assigning groups and roles can encourage children to think critically about the role they are playing (ie musical director, actor, script writer) which in itself is a scaffold which guides the students in the types of tools and information that needs to be included in the movie.

C. Group Three Technologies: Glogster

Glogster EDU (2011) defines Glogster as being online multimedia posters - with text, photos, videos, graphics, sounds, drawings and data attachments.  Refer to Blog Posting 3 - Blogging about Glogging for a review of the tool.

Glogster itself is a fun and engaging tool for creation. Students must reflect, plan and design in order to create a Glog. Generally Glogsters sit at the ‘evaluate’ and ‘create’ stage of Blooms Taxonomy (Dirks, 2011).  Teachers can create Glogster EDU accounts for up to 50 students offering safety and security for the students, but also teachers can constantly monitor their student’s access to the site.

Glogster EDU can be a great collaborative tool that is both visual and auditory. Consider the use of Glogster EDU in a unit around Natural Disasters. Imagine embedding images of a tectonic plate shifting, a youtube video that someone shot on their mobile phone of the tsunami water rising in the recent Japan disaster or photos of Queensland’s Flood devastation. This very engaging technology enables students to be linked directly to real world and current situations.

When the Glogster is presented in conjunction with a student’s ‘show and tell’ or presentation on an Interactive Whiteboard, it can be very effective in getting a message across.  It can guide the students in their presentations especially if information is displayed sequentially or hierarchically. 

D. Group Four Technologies: Concept and Mind Mapping 

A Concept Map is a diagram showing relationships among key themes. It organises key concepts for a number of uses.  Refer to Blog Posting 4 on Concept Mapping (a Group 4 Technology).

 

Concept Maps are constructivist in nature and are a great tool for teachers and students.  Generally they sit at the ‘analyse’ stage of Blooms Taxonomy (Dirks, 2011).  Cassady (2011) suggests teachers can use the tool to:-

• Assess what the student knows at the start of a unit of work and what they have learnt by the end of the unit;
• Plan lessons or units of work to identify what they want students to learn rather than what they want to teach the students; and
• Assess whether a student deeply understands a concept by analysing and mapping components of the concept and their relationships.

Concept or mind maps can encourage students to:-

• Plan arguments for persuasive and creative writing. Instead of using a dot point plan, use a concept map that explains the key arguments the student will make to convince a reader that they should do something.
• Think logically yet creatively about an overall subject or design, perhaps starting with the first step and the end result and then fill in all the steps in between. This tool will be incredibly useful in designing the finished product for other ICT’s ie Movies, Glogster and PowerPoint.
• As students move throughout a unit of work and if they are encouraged to use a concept map correctly they will start to apply and analyse the knowledge and relationships of a particular concept.

It is important to be aware that concept maps can be a very mentally demanding tool and if not taught correctly, students can ‘zone out’. Consider offering easy concept maps that are partially completed when they are first introduced to the classroom.  Mind maps could also be coupled with thinking routines to allow children to explore all relationships in a concept. 
  
Refer to Blog Posting 5 - Which tools to analyse? for a reflection on why each technology was chosen over others within each Group.

2.      Legal, Safe and Ethical Guidelines for Teachers in the Classroom

Whilst technologies have many benefits, there are some limitations that we need to consider.  In Education Queensland schools, children are given passwords and appropriate filtering methods and antivirus software is in place. Students are to be taught ‘netiquette’, including skills such as logging off when finished with computers and techniques of communicating via email. 

There are issues with plagiarism, computer viruses, copyright and cyber-bullying to name the most common.  In the classroom my philosophy will be to ‘be aware’ and ‘if in doubt attribute’.

Generally the following should be considered and adhered to:-

• Smartcopying (2008) [1] suggests schools seek permission from students to be photographed, filmed, or sound recorded for school purposes at the beginning of each year.
• Smartcopying (2008) explains a Flexible Dealings Exception that as part of Australia’s Copyright legislation (section 200AB of the Copyright Act 2006) allows more flexibility in using music for education purposes.  This is great news for schools as it can encourage teachers and children to personalise movies, podcasts and presentations.  Creative commons may still apply though so it is important to attribute and reference all work.
• Smartcopying (2008), recommends students who copy and communicate material under ‘fair dealing’ attribute the source material, the copyright owner and author of the work (if different). 
• The terms and services for Blogger (Google, 2007) outline that  all information (such as data files, written text, computer software, music, audio files or other sounds, photographs, videos or other images) which we may have access to as part of, or through the use of Blogger are the sole responsibility of the person from which such content originated. However it then goes on to say that users retain copyright and any other rights that are already held where you submit, post or display any content on or through, Blogger. By submitting, posting or displaying content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any content that is posted on Blogger.  So given these statements and by applying general common sense anything that is not your own work needs to be attributed and referenced accordingly.  Students are to be taught this from very early on and attribution should be built into lesson planning.

In conclusion, it is obvious there are some fantastic technologies available to students in our classroom. Most ICT’s offer higher order thinking and hence a deep learning of subject matter.  Whilst there are limitations with some technologies, many can be overcome and by continually staying up to date with new technologies as old ones become obsolete we as teachers can enhance the learning of our students. We do this by encouraging children to take the lead in their learning experience using a tool that they find exciting whilst we merely guide them in their journey using sound pedagogy.

REFERENCES

Blogger (n.d.) Whats a blog? Retrieved from http://www.blogger.com/tour_start.g.

Cassady, L., (2011) EHow Family: How to Explain Concept Mapping as a Teaching Strategy.  Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/how_7934907_explain-concept-mapping-teaching-strategy.html

Dirks, H. (2011) Glog-Techonomy. Retrieved from http://heatherdirks.glogster.com/glog-techonomy-9407/.

Education Queensland. 2008.  Smart Classrooms Bytes: elearning for smart classrooms. Retrieved from http://education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms/pdf/scbyte-elearning.pdf.

Edutopia. (2008). Why integrate technology into the curriculum? Retrieved from  http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-introduction.

Fasso, W. (2011) Effective eLearning Design: eLearning Design. Retrieved from CQUniversity e-courses, EDED20491 ICT’s for Learning Design.

Glogster EDU. (2011). What is Glogster EDU? Retrieved from http://edu.glogster.com/what-is-glogster-edu/.

Google. (2007). Terms and Services.  Retrieved from  http://www.google.com/accounts/TOS?hl=en&loc=AU.

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. (with Arrendondo, D. E., Paynter, D. E., Blackburn, G. J., Brandt, R. S., … Whistler, J. S.). (1997).  Dimensions of Learning Teacher’s manual (2nd ed.). Alexandra, VA: ASCD.

Mishra, P., and Koehler, M.J., (2006). Teachers College Record: Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A Framework for Teacher Knowledge. Retrieved from http://site.aace.org/pubs/sigs/sig-Mishra-Koehler-TCR.pdf.

Office of Educational Research and Improvement, US Department of Education. (n.d.) Effects of Technology on classrooms and students. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/EdReformStudies/EdTech/effectsstudents.html. 

Smartcopying. (2008). Smartcopying: The Official Guide to Copyright Issues for Australian Schools and TAFE.  Retrieved from http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/scw/go/pid/251.

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[1] The Smartcopying website is the best resource I have seen to answer any questions on copyright relating to the use of films, music, images and more for educational purposes.