In the first five weeks of the ICTs for Learning Design course we have looked at a variety of tools and methods to support e-Learning. But what is e-Learning? In our course readings we are given Waterhouse’s definition where he states that e-learning is teaching and learning using pedagogical strategies involving sound, flexible and innovative use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to engage, enhance and extend learners (Fasso, 2013, 21st Century Learners). Why has this suddenly become so important? Because, from what I have read so far in this course, the world that young people inhabit today is the world of the ‘digital native’ who has been “born to be wired” (Prensky, 2005, pp. 60, 62). With the instant gratification and information that is available to children with ICTs, older methods of instruction no longer hold the attention and interest of children. So many teachers are ‘digital immigrants’ with a teacher’s accent steeped in the days of chalk and talk, not hypertext and interaction (Prensky, 2001, p. 2).
Another issue in our fast changing world is the need for the increased creativity and participation of all citizens in order to enhance the economic and cultural progress of individual nations (UNESCO, 2008, p. 12). Robinson (2006) and a host of other researchers state that arts subjects (the creative ones) are not emphasised as strongly as language and mathematics, thus devaluing creativity with educational focus firmly on standardised testing. For this to be addressed, again a new educational approach is also required.
Of greater urgency are the major world issues identified by UNESCO’s Commission for Education in the 21st Century (International Committee on Education for the 21st Century, n.d.). For this century, the commission has found that collaborative, life-long learning through new technologies is what is required to produce active citizenry to advance the economic and individual rights of all. For teachers, this then means a new pedagogy is required. To address these issues, UNESCO (2008) has created a set of ICT competency standards (See Appendix 1) for teachers. From our readings, I have deduced that in the real world these standards are best captured by the integration of Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) into classroom practices (See Appendix 2).
To me therefore, the core ideas that should guide learning and teaching today are:
- Encouraging creativity
- Self-direction
- Working collaboratively
- Engaging learners with new technological literacy to encourage higher order thinking for real world environments through authentic learning (TPACK)
- Creating a safe and ethical online environment for students
Unlike traditional literacy, the new one has aural, visual and digital skills overlapping, requiring new ways of interpretation and instruction (The New Media Consortium, 2005, pp. 2, 8). For teachers, this means new skill sets and ways of teaching: a digital pedagogy.
With the issues and required pedagogy to address them firmly established in our minds, we then turned to tools that could be used in the classroom to implement the TPACK approach to education. The availability of Web 2.0 tools (Appendix 3) that are free or reasonably priced are the perfect option for digital pedagogy. To illustrate this point, our student cohort undertook the de Bono Thinking Hats wiki activity and then posted our thoughts on the process in our Wiki Reflection blog (see Appendix 4). This activity demonstrated a variety of learning styles in the participants and most particularly, the learning theories that had been dominant when they had been at school (Hammond, Austin, Orcutt, & Rosso, 2001, p. 9). By using the de Bono Thinking Hats as a tool for analysis of the question, we were forced to look beyond our prior knowledge and, therefore, extend our reasoning to the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy: analysing, evaluating and creating (Fasso, 2013, Bloom's Taxonomy).
It was social constructivism (Mergel, 1998), the learning theory that embodies collaborative learning, that seemed to be the driving force in this activity. I was surprised that a learning theory could be so self-evident in an activity of this type, but it was clear that students looked at the opinions of others, as well as their own prior knowledge to construct new knowledge. This was then further reinforced in our blog reflection of the activity with interesting thoughts and points being posted both in our blogs and various social networking groups such as Facebook.
The next part of our course led us to look at and consider the learning value of a variety of ICT tools and applications. While e-learning should be more about the thinking than the tools, it is important to look and consider how they could be used in the classroom to best meet the TPACK framework. These tools, when correctly scaffolded, can not only give learners the ability to find means to best suit their own individual learning styles and abilities, but also give students the ability to be in charge of their learning (Swisher, 2007, p. 10).
The first group that we examined were online spaces: blogs, wikis and websites. When looking at which one I would consider for classroom use I considered several factors. A key one, unfortunately, was the time factor. The second factor to consider is the age of the class I will be working with which is lower to middle primary. As I am quite familiar with blogging in Blogger, I decided to use this tool (see Appendix 5). To me, blogging more than adequately addresses the core ideas for learning that I have identified, in that it can:
- be used for brainstorming to determine prior knowledge
- enhance learning and teaching opportunities for a variety of ICT skills
- enable learning and teaching opportunities through content
- opportunity for cross-curricular activities
- cater for a variety of learning styles and literacy levels by the embedding of multimodal tools such as podcasts, videos and widgets
- with sufficing scaffolding, enable self-directed learning
- offer potential for higher order thinking by being collaborative and the possibility of immediate feedback
- assessment can be inbuilt through activities, quizzes and reflection
- offer learning and teaching opportunities for cybersafety, copyright and ethics
The next group of tools were the images, video and audio tools. Multimedia tools have the greatest potential in the online learning environment as they can be used together and in an infinite variety of ways, thereby catering to a variety of learning styles, multiple intelligences and abilities. Research on coherence principle shows us that learners who receive instruction via concise multimedia presentations without extraneous material consistently perform better when tested (Swisher, 2007, p. 32). Thus, it is important to understand not only to include multimodal forms of instructions as convergence helps knowledge retention, but to know what to omit to avoid cognitive overload (Stansbury, 2008, How students learn).
I could see that all of the group two tools had the potential to suitably enhance e-learning, but I selected audio tools as I have been interested to see how podcasting could be integrated into my own existing online spaces and created on mobile devices (see Appendix 6). I found it relatively easy to do, but my Audio Boo link in my blog tends to work only sporadically. Again, a reminder that when working with ICT a plan B should always be in place! Podcasting allows for creativity as it removes the need for extensive literacy skills, allows children to work collaboratively (interviewing, commenting on other’s work), use this tool with other projects (embedding in blog, wikis, etc.) and, therefore, should move students to higher levels of thought, particularly if used for reflective thinking.
Group three tools include those that enable users to present information that can be embedded into other applications. PowerPoint, Prezi and Glogster were selected as they are capable of including interactivity and multimodal (text, audio, images and movies) sources. After looking closely at this group, I selected Glogster as the tool I would focus on (see Appendix 7). I loved the multi-modal possibilities for creativity that this tool offers. Basic ICT skills such as resizing images or the creation of movies can be taught while progressing though Glogster activities. With a template to work in, creativity is still encouraged, but the scaffolding that this offers should keep the learning focused and self-directed. Sharing the finished Glogster, either in class or online, allows for further discussion and helps move students through the processes of Bloom’s Taxonomy. If Glogster is used in association with another online tool such as a blog, wiki or website, it can address all my the core learning ideas.
The final group was a brief sampling of what else is out there in the current world of ICT. I say small sampling as the opportunities are almost endless! Of the tools listed, I chose online timelines, due to my interest in history (Appendix 8) and their ability to graphically depict time, places, people and events. Once again, I was reminded of the importance of having an alternate plan if technology fails, as the tool I originally planned to use, Dipity, was not cooperative and an alternative had to be found. Online timelines have much that can engage a large variety of learning types: visual, kinaesthetic, spatial and mathematical. And with more interactive versions of these tools available, the inclusion of sound and video can cover nearly all levels! As tools of this type can be worked on individually or in groups, they offer possibilities for collaboration. If well scaffolded and when they are embedded into other online spaces, they too, virtually meet my entire core learning aims.
Looking at this last group of tools reminded me that more possibilities for ICT in the classroom are evolving all the time. Prensky gives the example of games that have been created for engineering students to give real world examples for their learning (Prensky, 2001, pp. 4-5). More inventive still, I feel, are teachers who are using existing games such as Angry Birds to create whole unit plans covering all areas of the curriculum in a variety of ways (see Appendix 9).
In my reflective blogs, particularly the wiki reflection, I have been able to experience firsthand the power of collaborative learning placed in the framework of ICT and have been given a real world example of constructivist learning theory. From this course so far, I have learned that as an educator, I will have a responsibility to integrate technology into my classroom practices. Not just the tools that I have discussed here, but I must remain in touch with the tools and trends of the future. To further this end, I must be willing to be an advocate for the bridging of the digital divide and the availability of high speed broadband for all Australians regardless of socio-economic, cultural or community group, to accommodate the findings of the UNESCO report. With the ongoing use of technology and my understanding of my own learning and teaching styles, I hope to be able to engender a sense of wonder and engagement to help create a generation of lifelong learners.
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Appendices:
