Discussion

Enhancing the Learning of Students

Learning about learning

Thinking tools

Relevance

This unit of work deals with an existing curriculum concept and content, being packaged and delivered in new ways. The new ways include embedded technology which will enhance the learning outcomes for students. 

As educators we need to be changing our way of thinking about the 'work' we create. The expectations of stakeholders in the learning process need to follow such shifts in thinking and our 'work' should include to a greater extent, global influences which embrace the possibilities of new technologies. Learners who are beginning to understand their world and their place in it are more likely to find meaning in an online learning environment. Understanding the learning process, and learning about learning, will lead to students developing skills which will equip them for lifelong learning.  

The old trinity of student, parent and teacher has shifted significantly to include not just local communities but global communities. If a mathematician in a university in America is passionate about tessellations, who better to answer questions about why he is so passionate, than the mathematician himself? The availability of email addresses on websites leads students to understand that these are real people sharing real art! The ability to contact web page authors also gives students the opportunity to judge validity and credibility of web authorship - this is a very positive step on the path to critical literacy.

ICT Skills Development - 

Development of better learners - Includes;

engagement, participation, motivation, inspiration, innovation - New Ideas!

The school in which I am currently teaching had an 'old' computing skills continuum which looked at ways to tick off the skills participants possess from mouse clicking to file saving. Although these are still important skills they should be incorporated and embedded in the learning of meaningful units of work which use the technology effectively. Continua such as these were useful for the 'we only teach what we can measure' theorists for whom such data is measurable and facilitates accountability.

However, I place myself in a different position from the data theorists - The learning of these skills could well be done on a 'need to know' basis as many of the students will be beyond the continua before we start ticking the boxes. With advances in technology so rapid the continuum is also out of date by the time it is printed on the paper. Students have access to a range of resources more often on an anytime/anywhere basis, and we need to create units of work which exploit these possibilities. 

In measuring and assessing this unit of work, how can we effectively measure the process rather than the content? We could argue that we are still teaching 'basic skills' but that these are simply less transparent. The experience of the process, through which the student travels, will have a greater long term influence on their learning. Although many of the outcomes of learning which involves innovation and higher order skills, are more difficult to measure, we cannot underestimate the value of learning which is purposeful and meaningful.

Integration and Embedding

Integration - teaching and learning skills through purposeful processes and products.

Embedding - the technology enhances, enlivens, informs and enriches the existing content learning.

Learning in an online world

Education Network Australia has recently sent to schools a 'school education action plan for the information economy" titled Learning in an online world. This plan lists a wide range of goals and outcomes both with regard to technical issues and personnel issues. For students the following goal is listed as number 1. 

Our role as managers of learning in the new millennium requires of us as educators, the ability to embrace the technology with the same fervour and excitement as our students. We need to be willing to be engaged in meaningful learning ourselves from peers, students and the global on line community. 

Tools to achieve a greater purpose

Could this activity be done without a computer? Is the use of the computer a better way to approach this topic?- is the technology integrated and embedded? 

This unit of work was previously taught without the use of computers but by looking at ways to improve the unit and to embed and integrate the technology I have developed a unit which is interactive, has online components and will enhance student learning in ICT, Mathematics and Art. 

Why these software applications?

 What is enhanced learning?

-improved outcomes?

- measured improvements?

The data has been collected / boxes have been ticked / the department and school management are happy / funding is forthcoming / the students will pass their BST to a higher level / they have acquired the knowledge (lower order thinking) / they do quite well in the shapes sections of the BST / they GET 10/10 for the Quiz!

Everyone is happy - or are they?

Have the students been - inspired, engaged, enlightened, creative, thoughtful, lateral, logical, innovative and evaluative. Have they been able to make judgements and evaluations based on differences in fact and opinion, with regard for culture and aesthetics? Have they successfully argued the merit and worth of their own creations with their audience? Has the audience made judgements against group established criteria?

I believe that in teaching and learning we should be encouraging the incorporation of higher order thinking skills rather than lower level knowledge and comprehension skills. Using Blooms Taxonomy we can see that basic knowledge teaching is doing students a disservice. We live in an information rich society and students no longer need to know a set body of knowledge, but rather need to know how to access information and to make judgements about the validity of such information - critical literacy! Working at lower levels of thinking will require simple read and regurgitate. This is very simply done 'on line' and even off line might achieve similar results. However encouraging students with learning about learning using Resource Based Learning Techniques, Thinkers Keys, Questioning Tools or Cognitive Processes,  will lead to the desired higher level thinking occurring.

 

RBL	Thinkers Keys	Revised Blooms Cognitive Processes
Defining and Mapping Finding Collecting Information Processing Information Presenting Information Evaluation In notes from a CEGSA 2000 session, Hollands, S.	Changes Characteristics Types/Kinds Cause Roles/Jobs Effect/Result Purpose/Value Structure Past, Present or Future Style / Lifestyle Adaptations Conditions Influence Functions Survival / Defence Consequences Relationships Communication Significance / Importance In notes from a CEGSA 2000 session, Hollands, S.	Cognitive Processes Types of Knowledge Remember Factual Understand Conceptual Apply Procedural Analyse Metacognitive Evaluate   Create       Lorin W Anderson, University of South Carolina, Feb 1999 In notes from a CEGSA 2000 session, Hollands, S.
Questioning Toolkit		Why are so many information and learning tools being considered as important in the field of Information and Communication Technology? New literacies are part of the issue - information, critical, visual and technology literacy. We also need to consider the individual differences in the group and the preferred learning styles of all participants.
Essential Questions Subsidiary Questions Hypothetical Questions Telling Questions Planning Questions Organizing Questions Probing Questions Sorting & Sifting Questions Clarification Questions Strategic Questions Elaborating Questions Unanswerable Questions Inventive Questions Provocative Questions Irrelevant Questions Divergent Questions Irreverent Questions As well as other types you find useful in the search for meaning.     McKenzie, J. (2000) Beyond Technology, Questioning, Research and the Information Literate School

The Unit of Work

Some of this unit of work sits in the traditional comfort zone for teachers and students. The familiarity with a task such as a beginning quiz is NOT a bad thing but should not be the only way of working. Changing teaching and learning for the sake of change, or to adhere to one of the educational gurus also lacks merit. All of the stakeholders in the situation need to feel safe even if they are reaching the edges of their comfort zone. Innovative teachers in such situations create the scaffolding for staff and students alike to explore new ways of learning. We should not throw out many of the tried and true methods of working BUT improvement in student learning should be the underpinning intention of any positive changes. 

Students in this unit should begin with an 'understanding of a concept' and will move towards;

discussion about aesthetic values,

reasoning for software choices,

self and peer evaluation of process and product

and involvement in the decision making about assessment -

(developing the rubric to show what is valued and valuing the opinions of others)

The unit of work also needs to be able to change according to the initial discussions in which students are engaged. Brainstorming to develop open ended questions and exploration with hands on materials may lead to a whole group shift in direction - Teachers as learning managers, like all participants in the process, need to be flexible, adaptable, thoughtful and evaluative. 

Assessing and evaluating the learning in such a unit of work presents inherent challenges. How can we measure or evaluate aesthetic appreciation? Can engagement be measured?

The solution to this issue lies in the beginning of the process. Explicit and articulated outcomes for students from the start, means assessment of these outcomes is possible to some extent. The meeting of desired outcomes as well as other possible outcomes can be used as an evaluative tool not only of the process and the products but also of the unit as a whole. 

As students move from being passive empty vessels to active participants in their own learning, teachers, parents and the world community are beginning to listen to the voices of these young people. They are the generation who will know classrooms without walls but who have never known life without embedded technology. As teachers and learning managers we have an obligation to these incredibly visually literate students, to provide for them, learning environments which are technology rich, purposeful and hopefully enlightening for students and teachers alike.