Month: January 2012

There have been multitude discussions in this course and probably all my previous MET courses about how to get more teachers to adopt technology in their classrooms. Here is a comment I made in response to another comment on Vista, but which led me examine the topic more closely.

Inquiry B

As I look over some of my posts earlier on in the course, I am able to see my pedagogical beliefs reflected…

Jan. 7, 2012 [ on trying  to sort technology…]

Technology is a huge spectrum….we can be on one end and never see or fathom the other end. Like some will only relate to social networking while some will use computers only for word processing. So it is so easy to be involved with technology and still be a stranger to it.  Everyone is touched by technology in their lives – but in different ways.

Jan. 10, 2012  [ on differntiating instructions]

Thinking of “many levels in one classroom” regarding technology – I was thinking that we differentiate instructions according to student need – so can we also differentiate in use of technology? For example some use powerpoint, some prezi, some kidpix to make a slide show? What we would need to have in place is a generic criteria…. Thoughts?

 Jan 8 [ on making math more realistic]

Janet’s question   : Do we always have to make math relevant or practical or tie it in to “when are we ever going to have to use this in real life”? I think technology can allow us to explore and investigate the beauty of math and the FUN of how it works, without it always having to be practical.

OK – Math can be very abstract  [ mental, not concrete] and so many students have a hard time with it. The way out can be to memorize formulas and not totally understand the concept. As a kid I rote learned my times tables but had no understanding of what it meant. No one taught it and I was too afraid to ask. What we need to do is help students crystallize the concept – to see it. And often that comes from showing them the relevant connections to the real world. Kids can see what fractions means when we keep splitting the limited amount to cookies or smarties amongst the ever growing group members; they can visualize litres when we talk about pop bottles and the milk jug, they see adding when they put their crayons in the same box as their neighbours.

I teach kids who are still in the concrete operational age[ Piaget] and so I think it works at this level.The concepts are easy to connect too. I honestly have no idea how some high school teachers  do what I am talking about with their topics – am sure it is a tough feat!

Jan 8 [ on how to teach technology]

……Teaching tech is similar to anything else I teach – gradual release. I keep modeling and my group keeps shrinking as students feel they do not need my help. I also chunk lessons a lot. Like for power point right now they have learned to make new slides, add pictures and text. Now I’ll teach them slide transition and animation.

The word that summed up my understanding of all the interviews and forum discussions around them is TRANSITION.

Transition can be defined as a passage from one form, state, style, or place to another. My purpose during the interviews and discussions had been to examine the application of technology in elementary education and figure out the scope for blended learning. Even as I examined scenarios from other levels of education and considered their issues, the general feeling I got in the end was that the education system is currently transitioning towards the stage of effective technological application. There are discussions about technology being used [Smartboards, calculators, virtual manipulatives] and curiosity about what the others are using [How does Voki work?]. It is a slow process, but nonetheless, heading in the right direction!

 Teachers are starting to understand the pedagogical implications of technology use and are exploring some of its affordances. There is an acceptance that even though most outcomes can be taught without the use of technology, its inclusion allows the learning to become multimodal and engaging. There is speculation and fear about tech dependence and whether it might have negative effect on learning, a fear that we may be denying our students opportunity to become critical thinkers. Teachers are starting to experiment with technology firstly as a teaching tool and secondly as a practice tool. [ My teaching has changed ever since I started using a Smartboard!] There is preference towards use of premade software and interactive websites to help students learn and practice. This is the first step!

While there is the awareness about the ultimate educational goals of helping students become critical and higher-level thinkers, there is confusion and hesitancy about exploring the affordances of the web that provide for such learning [I don’t think there is room for web 2.0 tools in elementary education!].The capabilities of the Web 2.0 tools are being acknowledged but there still needs to be interpretations about their connections to sound pedagogy. Teachers are musing about the coming changes [future of textbooks; mandatory use of technology, role of ipad in education ] This is step 2!

Such uncertainties beg for clarification and this led to the recurring talk and consensus about the need for professional development and guidance for teachers. The divergent nature of technology makes it very hard to explore all affordances. Even teachers quite comfortable with technology are at times hesitant about exploring deeper. There is a realization that there needs to be support put in place to allow teachers making such significant transitions. With teachers at different levels of ability and interest, it is hard to fathom what professional development should look like. Nonetheless, teachers are looking for proper support. This would be step 3!

Lastly, there was also consensus in our discussion that self-initiative is a big part of this professional growth and as professionals we need to take initiatives about our own learning. This would be the final step!

It will get us there!

The Good Use of Technology:

1.Learning Environment 4 [Elementary School: Space Science]

As I watched the interview and the activities happening in the back what stood out for me was the collaborative group work and active learning happening in the class. It was an implementation of Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) principle of developing reciprocity and cooperation not only among students but also students and teacher; and using of active learning techniques.

The grade 6/7 teacher mentioned that technology was able to break through the language barriers. She had many students of Indian and Pakistani descent and many were new immigrants. This highlighted for me the fact that technology is the common language for this generation of digital natives.

The Project Based Learning model being implemented in the class was able to cross curricular boundaries. Students showed that they were combining art to show their understanding of the movements of hurricanes. The teacher discussed how they were able to connect fiction [novel study of Parvana’s journey] from a language arts class to a reality across the world [working with woman’s group in Afghanistan]. This is a great example of technologies deftness at promoting interdisciplinary approach.

The retiring and the new teacher interviewed showed trepidation about using technology, despite availability of help from colleagues.

2.Learning Environment 7 [Science Elementary – Pre-service teacher]

By making the use of technology a compulsory part of their course, the professor not only modeled that group work could be continued in their professional life with their colleagues, but also allowed the pre service teacher to realize the advantages of including technology in the learning environment. The pre service teachers recognized the technology’s ability to be multimodal [Pair 3] and interactive [Pair 1]. By adding narrative to text [Single student], adding animation to pictures [Pair 1 and 3], technology could help them reach out to more learners. Some pre service teachers used the collaborative and cross curricular ability [Single student] of technology where one class did the art which was used by the other class to make their science project about fish life cycle. There was concern (Pair 1) that technologies being used were too complex for the students and time taking.

Issue that Stood Out from both environments:

• What does technology use look in the elementary school?
• What online learning tools are suitable at elementary schools?
• What technologies can be used to enhance F2F environment?
• What is a good balance between online and F2F learning at elementary level?
• Which online tools can be effectively used at elementary level?
• How to use technology to achieve a collaborative, multimodal, cross curricular approach?

Other Issues:
Some other issues that also stood out for me:
• How to encourage teachers to adopt technology?
• Is it fair to students that many teachers are unwilling to use technology?

Reference:

Chickering, Arthur and Stephen C. Ehrmann (1996), “Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever,” AAHE Bulletin, October, pp. 3-6.

Though, like many, I am guilty of using technology to display information in science and encouraging math games and drills on websites, playing Jeopardy, or some labeling activity on the Smartboard, I believe that a more meaningful use of technology in a science and math class would be an interactive setup where students can examine math and science topics actively in a realistic setup.

Though at my grade level [4] I am able to connect all math to real life quite easily, I have heard my own high school children moan about, “how is this ever relevant in real life!” and “when am I ever going to use this in real life?” In our examination of learning theories we know that meaningful learning only happens when students are able to relate to concepts that are relevant to them. (Constructivism, Social Learning Theories)

I believe that if we can create learning scenarios with inquiry based or problem based learning with technology which will allow students to learn and apply the math and science concepts that they are learning to relevant, real life situations, that will be create an immersive learning environment. By using technology in a combination of F2F and online environments, students could actively explore concepts in realistic situations collaboratively. For example at my grade level students could do a webquest about biomes, follow some animal webcams, blog and discuss, and then create a class wiki about different biomes. They could create and decorate a room using software to explore measurements and shapes in math, or plan trips around the city using transit system to delve into mapping, time, and money outcomes. I believe if I could create these interdisciplinary lessons which allow students to interact with different outcomes using different modalities, it would be the ideal application of technology!

Reverting back to my current practices with use of technology in science and math – while these practices do have a place in learning, they lack interactivity and collaborative learning and so should probably just supplement the main activities.

What I envision is doable but challenging. It involves a lot of time on the teacher’s part to plan all topics interactively and with technology – which means teachers need to be tech –savvy. It might be harder to implementing it as well. In a perfect classroom all students will have access to a computer at all times to pull this off. However with 2 computers in the classroom and access to computer lab twice a week for 45 minutes only, it might be hard to use technology interactively all the time for all science and math lessons. Solution? Start small… Taking baby steps… One project at a time… think positive!

Growing up in a remote town in India, my education was never touched by technology. When I finally saw a computer in my late teens, it was treated as an office machine that was to make life easy for the secretaries and the accountants. I went ahead and learned dBase IV [a data management system] and Excel and worked in an office creating payrolls in Excel and sales reports in dBase IV!

As a teacher, my initial use of computer with students was to teach them to make slide shows and create desktop publishing using the word processors. I really enjoyed this as these activities would be content related and the students would have to make posters on science and socials topics. Otherwise I used edutainment software like the Reader Rabbit and the Math Blasters to enhance student learning. There were piles of CD’s to choose from in the computer labs for different grade levels. Then another teacher showed me some websites which provided similar learning experience and were free! Thus began the online activities!

The turning point in my relation to technology was when my Learning Assistant teacher showed me a few remedial programs she was using with some of my student. When I saw the level of student engagement and its effect, I was impressed. This changed my way of thinking. Why cannot my entire class reap the benefit of such technology? That is how my laptop ended in my classroom then got connected to an overhead projector and a white board, and then to a smart board almost two years later!

In all honesty, initially the issue of pedagogical sanctions got lost in the preliminary success of student engagement and rigor. Then it was like planning the lessons backward to check if the activities planned fit well with sound pedagogy. I have come a long way now and do not do that anymore! MET has been a great help in consolidating my understanding and practice. My main goal now in every lesson I plan is to ensure multimodalities for teaching and learning. It is such a challenge to reach every child in the classroom!