Using wireless Internet learning devices (WILDs) or Virtual Environments (VE) in an elementary classroom setting offers students unique social affordances that enrich learning experiences beyond traditional interactions that attempt to build collective knowledge. With these digital technologies, students begin to interact within a “network that is overlaid in the same physical space in which students and teachers participate socially in teaching and learning” (Roschelle, 2003) enabling diverse options for interactivity that extend beyond the walls of the classroom, but happen simultaneously within the context of the classroom. When students are exposed to the coupling of “normal social participation in classroom discussion and the new informatics participation among connected devices” (Roschelle, 2003), implications for enhanced student learning radiate from diversifying pedagogical practices and engaging students in a new social space that breaks down established social patterns laying new stronger connections in its wake.
Shifting traditional instructional approaches towards educational reform grounded in constructivist principles, such as inquiry-based learning and the social construction of knowledge, can be supported through the pedagogically sound application of WILDs or VEs in the elementary classroom. The frightening prospect of online applications that plague some teachers needs to be recognized for the cognitive dissonance it can provide educators and the potential for improved pedagogy it can offer in this light. Schools often capitalize on the fear of the unknown prohibiting student access to WILDs or alternative web-based applications in an attempt to shield students from certain distraction or inappropriate content; however, these decisions also remove invaluable teaching opportunities connected to digital literacy and digital boundaries. Digital technology is frequently criticized as depersonalizing social interactions, but in reality if learning environments are designed appropriately, it can set new precedents for enhanced interaction between greater numbers of students which will enrich learning for everyone.
Pedagogically developed social practices are essential features of community-centered classrooms. When instructional design affords students opportunities to learn from each other and contemplate their ideas in relation to other perspectives, knowledge integration and respectful discourse is both supported and encouraged. WILDs and VEs foster the development of collective knowledge even further by diversifying the manner in which students make their thinking visible and minimizing the anxiety often materializing from participating in whole-class face to face discussions. This emphasis on social interaction is a hallmark of effective classrooms, so it is not surprising that the “most successful Internet and handheld technologies tend to involve rich social practices built around rather simple (but uniquely functional and reliable) technology” (Roschelle, 2003). Integrating WILDs and VEs extend the possibilities for student to student and teacher to student interactions inspiring teachers to re-imagine what learning can look like in a classroom and online.
Digital technologies have the potential to increase student engagement which in turn, increases student presence and ultimately, improves students’ availability for learning (Winn, 2002); however, connectivity and digital resources are only a small piece of designing successful learning environments. As Roschelle (2003) states, “technology performs a small, well-defined function uniquely well, but much of the rest of teaching and learning is left to social practice”, signifying potential repercussions for the educator or institution that does not place merit on the pedagogy behind social interactions in the classroom. It is from this facilitated interaction and ensuing discourse that the potential for conceptual change emerges through cognitive dissonance requiring students to revise or generate new connections between concepts. Like the TELEs explored in earlier lessons, embodied learning using WILDs or VEs can help foster a community of learning and inquiry when they are integrated as components of pedagogically sound instructional design. They can help transform learning experiences for elementary students while providing “rich conceptual resources for reasoning about and thoughtfully acting in playful spaces” (Roschelle, 2003) as well as scaffold the social construction of knowledge through aggregation, asynchronous discourse, or collaboration.
image: student_ipad_school – 136 by flickeringbrad released under a CC Attribution license
Winn, W., Windschitl, M., Fruland, R., & Lee, Y. (2002). When does immersion in a virtual environment help students construct understanding? Proceedings of the International Conference of the Learning Sciences, Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Roschelle, J; Penuel, W.; Yarnall, L; Shechtman, N; Tatar, D. (2005). Handheld tools that ‘Informate’ assessment of student learning in science: A requirements analysis. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 21(3), pp. 190-203. Full text available online at UBC Library.
Roschelle, J. (2003). Unlocking the learning value of wireless mobile devices. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 19(3), pp. 260-272.Retrieved November 4, 2008, from: http://ctl.sri.com/publications/displayPublication.jsp?ID=296