Ashley’s ED4134 Blog

The reading for week five discussed how teachers’ beliefs can have a significant impact on technology use within the classroom. Teachers today have greater access to ICT, as well as many opportunities to acquire the skills related to ICT, although some teachers remain hesitant to include technology in their teaching (Ertmer, 2005). The reading discusses that the beliefs that teachers currently possess may be the reason for this hesitancy, and these beliefs may have been formed due to past experiences with technology (Ertmer, 2005).

The majority of today’s current teachers will not have had the opportunity to experience, or to even observe, technology use during their own years at school (Ertmer, 2005). This means that teachers may not understand the potential that technology has to allow students to learn meaningfully and skillfully. Due to this, computers are being used within the classroom to perform “low level tasks”, such as “word processing”, and “Internet research” (Ertmer, 2005, p.26), whilst extended tasks such as spreadsheets are not being explored. Lack of teacher knowledge in these more advanced areas of technology is hindering students’ opportunities to participate in technological tasks that will prospectively extend their skills.  

Furthermore, teachers are the ones who ultimately decide when and how to use technology within the classroom, and their beliefs regarding technology are going to have a large impact on these decisions (Ertmer, 2005). Ertmer (2005) suggests that in order to help teachers feel more comfortable with using technology, they need to be introduced gradually to the applications and skills associated with it. I agree with this statement completely because I know myself that being overloaded with new information and skills too quickly can actually cause an individual to become more intimidated, rather than comfortable and calm.

Ertmer (2005) states that if teachers begin by using technology to assist them with tasks that are already valued in some way, such as the task of communicating with parents, then perhaps teachers will recognise the potential that technology has for assisting them with new, more complex tasks. I believe that this would be an effective approach in order to ease teachers into using technology as it would allow them to see just how effective technology can be in helping with day to day tasks. Teachers will hopefully then feel comfortable in giving their students similar opportunities with technology.

Interacting with an interactive whiteboard 

I believe that it is important for students to be given opportunities to use and interact with technology on a regular basis, due to the ever evolving technological society that we live in. For this reason, I intend to allow my students to use technology on a weekly basis within my classroom. Whether it be to publish work in Microsoft Word, to create a presentation in Microsoft Powerpoint, to explore the Internet for information on a given topic, to work together as a class using an interactive whiteboard (see image above) or even to have some fun with the huge variety of online games that are available, interaction with computers will enable students to learn essential skills that will assist them with completing tasks in the future, and it will also enable them to form a confident attitude towards using technology so that the future generations of teachers will not display the hesitancy towards technology use that many teachers today express.

Reference

Ertmer, P.A. (2005). Teacher Pedagogical Beliefs:The final frontier in our quest for technology integration? Educational Technology Research & Development, 53(4), 26-37. 

Image Reference

Speech Teacher Uses Technology by Old Shoe Woman (flickr). 

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The two readings for week four were to do with the topic of webquests. Dodge (1997, para.2) defines a webquest as an “inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the internet”.

Bernie Dodge- Creator of Webquests

There are two main types of webquests- those that are short term (usually between one and three class lessons) and those that are long term (usually between one week and one month within a classroom setting) (Dodge, 1997). Upon completing a webquest, students should ultimately be able to gain knowledge, which they can then integrate, extend upon and refine in order to complete later tasks (Dodge, 1997). Teachers should keep all of this in mind when they are designing and creating webquests for their students to complete, so as to enable the students to greatly benefit from a meaningful learning experience.

When designing a webquest, there are some necessary components that need to be considered and accounted for. Each webquest should include an introductory page, an explanation of the task at hand (which should be achievable and exciting), a list of sources that can be used to obtain the information needed in order to complete the task, step by step instructions on the process students should move through to enable a successful completion of the task and a conclusion page which ties the entire quest together (Dodge, 1997). 

However, there are some other critical considerations that need to be taken into account upon the creation of a webquest. Perhaps the most important of these is the consideration that webquests need to include questions that “require original thought” (McKenzie, 2000, p.1). This means that students should be able to create the answers based on their own thoughts and reflections, rather than simply researching the information and collecting the answers (McKenzie, 2000).

Ultimately, when completing a webquest, students should be drawing on their higher order thinking skills, which include those skills of “comparing”, “classifying” and “analysing” (Dodge, 1997, para.7). In order for students to be able to do this, teachers need to design webquests that ask students questions such as “Why?”, “How?” and “Which is best?” (McKenzie, 2000, p.2). These question should be embedded within a “research cycle” (Mckenzie, 2000, p.3) to enable students to move in the right direction and to achieve the goals of the webquest. Such a cycle should include the phases of questioning, planning, gathering, sorting, sifting and analysing, synthesizing, evaluating and reporting (McKenzie, 2000) and teachers should be there to assist their students as they progress through this cycle and work towards completing the webquest.

So, after reading the articles for this week, I have come to the conclusion that webquests have the potential to be very effective within the classroom. If the right types of questions are asked and a clear research cycle is scaffolded, students will have the opportunity to draw on their higher order thinking skills and to then use these skills effectively to achieve the goals of the webquest in a fun and creative way. All of this will lead students towards meaningful learning, which I believe is the most integral and significant element of effective teaching. As such, I hope to explore and use webquests within my future teaching programs to enable my students to gain the most from their learning in a varied, yet effective way.

References

  Dodge, B. (1997). Some Thoughts About WebQuests. Retrieved March 17, 2009, from The University of Notre Dame Portal. 

McKenzie, J. (2000). The Question is the Answer. Retrieved March 17, 2009, from The University of Notre Dame Portal. 

Image References

http://www.etrainexpress.com/images/bernie-jd1a.jpg (Google in Creative Commons).

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Which learning style/s does this ICT support?

It is very clear that graphics and images are used within ICT to support visual learners. Graphics and images have the ability to help viewers of a website, blog, word document or other technological source to better understand and make sense of any written content that may exist within the source. For example, if the author of a website was writing about orchids, he/she could include an image of an orchid, just like the one included below, to assist viewers with their understanding of what the author is referring to.

How could this ICT be implemented as a good cognitive tool within the learning environment?

As stated in the previous question, graphics and images can be used effectively to assist visual learners with their understanding of written content. However, graphics and images can be used to achieve much more than that. Students will become much more interested in whatever they are viewing if there is an inclusion of graphics or images of some type. It is these visual elements that will ultimately gain the attention of the viewer from the very beginning and, once this attention is grasped, the written content will play its part and students will be much more focused. I have experienced this myself…I know that I am much more accustomed to want to participate and focus on a text if there is some visual element to it, and graphics and images are a simple and effective way to do this.

Furthermore, students should be made aware of the benefits of including graphics and images in their work and they should then be encouraged to do so often. This would allow them to explore ways in which they can enhance their work, making it more appealing to not only their audiences/viewers, but to themselves as well. 

How is this ICT enabling the development of creativity?

Students have the opportunity to be very creative with graphics and images. There is such a huge range of images and graphics available for students to experiment with and utilise that the possibilities are endless. Students can create collages out of a collection of images, they can experiment with different colours, shapes and positions of graphics and images, or they can even choose to use images that metaphorically stand for something else, such as representing the question “What will you be?” with an image of a bumble bee. Using graphics and images allows even the least creative of students to realise just how creative they actually can be, and they can have fun whilst doing it, which I believe is the most important thing.

“What will you bee?”

I will definitely not shy away from using graphics and images throughout my teaching career and I intend to encourage my students to include graphics and images in their work as often as possible. This is because I believe that the advantages and benefits of doing so are significant in allowing meaningful learning to occur amongst my students.

Image References

Bees cupcake by Min-bakingproject (flickr).

Orchid by *santosh (flickr).

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One of the readings for this week described the concept of meaningful learning. It began by discussing the idea of standardised testing and argued that using tests as a form of assessment is not meaningful at all. Standardised tests incorporate skills and knowledge that are not at all related to everyday experiences (Jonassen, Howland, Movra, & Crismond, 2008) and this decreases the level of actual meaning that students can gain.

As a student myself, I have to say that I firmly agree with this argument. I feel from personal experience that tests are, more often than not, meaningless. When preparing for a test, students will usually study all of the information that there is to know and they will get to know this information considerably well. However, as I have discovered from my own testing experiences, once the test has been completed all of the information that I forced myself to remember is suddenly forgotten. Thus, I believe that standardised tests do not lead to meaningful learning.  

The reading then goes on to discuss methods that teachers could use in order to enable their students to learn meaningfully. “Tasks that require intentional, active, constructive, cooperative and authentic learning processes” (Jonassen et al, 2008, p.2) have the potential to lead students towards meaningful learning and, when technology is used to engage students in these ways, learning can become even more meaningful for students (Jonassen et al, 2008).

As such, technology can be very powerful within the classroom due to the ability it has, when used correctly and creatively, to enhance students’ learning. Teachers should encourage their students to learn with technology, not from it (Jonassen et al, 2008). This means that technology should be used to allow students to “represent what they know” (Jonassen et al, 2008, p.6) in ways that are meaningful to them, rather than just as a means of locating information. For example, the software program Inspiration can be used effectively with students to enable them to represent their thoughts, ideas and information on a given topic in a creative and innovative way that is meaningful to them in some way or another.

Furthermore, technology use can lead students towards thinking more deeply. Students are able to express their thoughts and ideas in ways that require them to actually think about their thinking (Jonassen et al, 2008) when they use technology. For example, expressing what they know through the use of technological tools, such as spreadsheets, graphs and tables, requires students to think about exactly what it is that they need to express, and to decide upon the best way to do this so that it makes sense to them.

So, after having refelcted upon all of the points raised in the reading from this week, I came to realise just how effective technology can be towards creating meaningful learning for students. Technology has so many unique things to offer our students, including online games, webquests, powerpoint presentations and graphic organisers, thus I believe that to not utilise some of these resources would be depriving students of their learning. I think that technology has the potential to really allow students to demonstrate what they know, and the myriad of choices that students can make with regards to how they express this knowledge enables meaningful learning to really take place in a creative and varied way. Please click on this link for an example of an informative online game. This particular game can be used within a science lesson to teach students in Years One and Two about food chains. It is just one of the many ways that teachers can use technology to enable their students to learn in a meaningful way Food Chains Online Game.

As a student studying to become a primary school teacher, I hope to give technology a significant place within my teaching. I want to enable my students to gain the most from their learning in fun, motivating and effective ways and I think that encouraging my students to use technology would be a great way to do that. 

References

Jonassen, D., Howland, J., Marra, R.M. & Crismond, D. (2008). Meaningful Learning with Technology  (3rd ed.). New Jersey: Pearson.

Online Game Reference

Curriculum Corporation. (n.d). Food Chains. Retrieved March 12, 2009, from http://econtent.thelearningfederation.edu.au/ec/viewing/L1146/index.html 

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Which learning style/s does this ICT support?

Inspiration is a graphic organiser that can be effectively used to visually represent the thoughts and ideas that students may have with regards to a given topic. In this way, creative use of Inspiration has the ability to successfully support those students with a visual learning style, that is, those who learn best from visual aids. Organising information, thoughts and ideas visually through the use of Inspiration will enable these students to benefit from their learning as they will be better able to process and understand their work if it is represented visually.

How could this ICT be implemented as a good cognitive tool within the learning environment?  

There are many ways in which Inspiration can be used as an effective cognitive tool within the learning environment. Students and teachers can use Inspiration to ”plan”, “organise”, “research”, “evaluate”, “comprehend” and “communicate” (Inspiration Software, Inc., 2009, para.2). The program can be used within any given subject across the curriculum and it enables students to organise and reflect upon what they have learnt in a unique and creative way, thus providing variety within the classroom. In turn, this variety will enable students to feel more enthusiastic and interested towards their learning as they have complete control over how they organise their work in a way that is meaningful to them, thus increasing their cognitive understanding of a topic.

Furthermore, teachers can use Inspiration as a way of transferring information to their students. Instead of simply writing on the chalkboard or handing out a worksheet, teachers can organise the information through Inspiration, providing students with a visual representation of what they need to know. This not only makes learning more fun for the students, but it also allows teachers to represent the information in more effective ways. Teachers have the opportunity to connect various ideas and concepts together visually through the use of a concept map and, once students have basically understood these ideas, teachers can expand on the information by transferring the visual diagram into a written outline, enabling students to gain an increased cognitive understanding of a subject.

How is this ICT enabling the development of creativity?

Inspiration enables teachers and students to be extremely creative in their work. Students are able to represent information, as well as their thoughts and ideas on a given topic, in a way that is meaningful to them as individuals. Students have access to the various graphical images within Inspiration that can be used creatively to represent written information in a visual way. As well as this, students can experiment with arranging their ideas and information in a diagram format, such as through the use of a concept map, thus expanding on their development of creativity.  

Furthermore, teachers have the ability to become creative in their methods of teaching through use of Inspiration. As has previously been discussed, teachers can use Inspiration as an alternative way to pass information onto their students. The more creative teachers are in doing this, the more beneficial Inspiration will be to the students and their learning.

References

Inspiration Software, Inc. (2009). Inspiration: The essential tool to visualise, think, organise and learn. Retrieved March 9, 2009, from http://www.inspiration.com/Inspiration

 Image References

Inspiration by mrjorgen (flickr).

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