fun vs frustration

I have not long ago completed my last assignment for my English method, which involved me using every last known web-based tool I could get my hands on. I've learned how to make screen casts using Screenr, I've put together a storybook using Storybird, I've created an interactive multi-user document discussion using VoiceThread, and I've transformed youtube clips into MP3s using my favourite youtube-mp3 converter. Using iMovie, I mixed all of this together with videos I made using my webcam and developed a ten minute movie on the issues facing English teachers in the 21st century.

Doing all of that was a lot of fun, and I found I was able to learn how to use the new apps really easily (mostly because they are designed to be easy to use). What I found frustrating was managing all of the various products I had created (storybook, screencast etc) into one program (iMovie). Yes, this should also be a relatively straightforward process, and I'm pretty comfortable with movie making programs. But managing the file sizes (I had to convert mp4s into mpegs, and they came out as bloody ginormous files) in order to save everything was near to impossible. And using the iMovie project across computers was actually impossible because, of course, older versions of iMovie are incompatible with new ones. What should have taken me two days took me five (and one morning til 4:30).

Web-based apps and multimodal productions are lots of fun and great ways to express you understanding in different forms, and I will definitely be using these kinds of things for both learning and assessment in my classes. However, my English assignment has taught me to be wary of expecting too much ease from technology, and to remember that what seems like a straightforward process may be hindered by slow run times, file sizes, storage capabilities, compatibility etc etc.

hypertext and memes

Last week in class, we were discussing the use of hypertext and its relationship to reading patterns and abilities in the secondary classroom. As an English teacher, considering and addressing the kinds of cognitive and skill-based demands that reading texts online makes of my students is an essential part of my role as an educator in the 21st century. How hypertexts are used and 'read' (within the broader skills set involved in 'digital literacy') are part of these considerations. It's certainly interesting (for me, anyway) to think about how I read when I encounter hypertexts and the ways in which it forces me to reorganise information or reassess what I think is important in answering the questions I have set for myself in my reading (if indeed I have set any questions at all). And, of course, to recognise that following hypertexts usually sets me on a distracting course of useless tangents.

Questions then: how are we to teach about and with hypertexts in the classroom? What is important to teach? What do students need to know to be able to use and read hypertexts? And what other considerations are there in the reading of internet-based texts that we might need to teach students about? Food for thought, especially if you're sending students off on an internet search for resources or information.


In related news, I've also been a bit obsessed lately with the idea of memes and the kinds of implications they have for the way students are creating, manipulating, understanding, analysing and valuing texts. (If you're not sure what a meme is, check out the Wikipedia definition). I think they are a really exciting springboard for a range of activities and learning in lots of domains, from thinking about cultural practice and values (History, English), pop culture's influence on behaviour, humour, interests, trends etc. (Psychology, English, Humanities), and media manipulation and referencing (Media, English).

Here is my current favourite product from a meme that began evolving a couple of years ago.

speaking of looking at things

It might be true that students like to look at stuff, but not as much as this guy.

you'll have to imagine that these words are a picture of a blog post title

Participating in some interesting conversation over here at Butler's Blog about using technology in the classroom to help with providing visual aides, particularly in an ESL classroom context. 'Ave a geez.

English teachers' resource

For the English teachers among us... e is for english is a great website that I came across in my lit. review research which guides you through a barrel-load of online resources to do with language, literacy and literature and provides a forum for English teachers to discuss pressing issues.
It's great if only for the fact that it brings together in one well-organised space the plethora of useful websites that are out there for English educators to use for research and planning. Check it out.

Why don't you blog that? ... I'll tell you why.

Well, I've just finished an epic literature review for my English teaching method subject. In a very topical move (*pats self on back*), I looked at the factors that are involved in English teachers' engagement with digital technologies and literacies in the secondary English classroom (this also extends on the conversation I started in an earlier post on the relationship between ICT and English). This is especially interesting to think about in the era of the new National Curriculum, which so deeply embeds teaching and learning with and about digital technologies (and, in this regard, is so unlike VELS, which 'tacks on' ICT as a something separate or 'additional', rather than integral). Here's two of the interesting things I now know:

- a teachers' sense of their subject's underlying ideologies or rationales are going to play a significant role in how they view the use of digital technologies in the classroom. It's particularly interesting to see how this plays out in the context of subject-English as things like face-to-face discussion and debate, books and handwriting are highly valued by most (all?) English teachers and digital technologies and literacies can be seen by teachers as a threat to these things;

- although most authors advocate the use of constructivist pedagogies when teaching with and about digital technologies, and really emphasise the importance of collaborative learning and critical thinking, the research shows that many English teachers do not adapt their pedagogy in any meaningful or purposeful way when using technologies in the classroom.

It would be interesting to know more about the kinds of factors that are in play in other teaching domains, particularly, I think, the humanities and sciences (where, like English, it seems so crucial for teachers to be at the forefront of the kinds of teaching and learning that digital technologies demand and enable).

Any thoughts from anyone out there in the ether...?

King Penguin Sarah

Yo, check out the Voki that I created. Looking forward to telling everyone more during our seminar presentations.

                                                

audacious, dude

Learned a little about using the audio program Audacity yesterday. It's a nice little program, straightforward and a bit of fun to use. Can't say I'd spend a whole lot of time manipulating a tune (or using this program for any reason really) for use in the English classroom when if I wanted sound I'd probably just play a track straight up BUT it did get me thinking ..... We hear a lot, for obvious and well-founded reasons, about the benefits of using visual aids to improve learning, but what of hearing aids (which is what what you get when you have unprotected phone sex. Thanks for that one, Duncan.)? It would be interesting to see what the research says about the use of audio for improving retention of new knowledge, engagement with content, and its role in developing understanding.

Someone look that up for me will you?

internet resources

I really like what Mad Dog Mallorie has to say about both the teacher and student using internet-based resources in the History classroom, and the ways in which these resources can enhance students experiences and understandings of events and ideas. The possibilities spread far beyond the History classroom. For example: English students might watch Barack Obama's inauguration speech as a powerful example of persuasive language, and be able to sense the impact of the speech far better than a dry reading in class would ever allow; ESL students can watch or search for video of speakers with different Australian accents in order to better understand social and geographical variations in Australian-English, a far better option than a teacher's poor attempts at impersonating Bill Hunter or Ernie Dingo; and Music students can watch and listen to all manner of amazing clips, like this incredible improv from Wynton Marsalis, in order to analyse, compare or simply appreciate.


Given all of this, I think it's worth thinking about what 'experiential learning' or 'immersive education' might look like in twenty years as we move from not just passively receiving or locating these resources to manipulating them and participating in their creation. Check out the latest Horizon Report, below, to get you excited about the possibilities!!

ICT and the VELS

"Through the selection and application of appropriate equipment, techniques and procedures, students learn to process data and information to create solutions to problems and information products that demonstrate their knowledge and understandings of the concepts, issues, relationships and processes related to all areas of learning" (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (2009). Information and Communications Technology, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development: Canberra)

This statement is central to the (sometimes quite complex) relationship between education and ICT, and the manner in which teachers are planning for and students are engaging with ICT in the classroom. It anticipates that students will – must? – learn to employ digital technologies as tools with which to build and demonstrate their learning. It’s looks really quite simple. The statement does not come without one primary source of controversy, however: are teachers (and students to a degree) focused on promoting deep learning through the use of these tools or are they more interested in promoting efficiency of action and ease of delivery?

David Nettelbeck states that “[teachers] tend to think that because computers can do amazing things, they must be good. Some teachers are easily seduced by the 'wow' factor, the more attractive presentations and the speed with which students can now do simple tasks, but we rarely stop to ask whether this new technology will actually encourage complex, critical, creative thinking. Are students also being seduced by the glamour or are their higher order thinking skills actually being challenged? (Nettelbeck, D. (2002). English in Australia, Vol. 134, pp78-85).

Nettelbeck’s concerns are real and valid. We must not ask that students simply use the tools available to present and process data in better, faster, prettier ways. Digital technologies provide great affordances, but the affordance that should be number one on our list is the opportunity for improved student learning.

Take the example of the book trailer task that I have set for the students in my Year 8 English classes (see previous post). This task directly responds to the requirements in the VELS statement quoted above: students are to learn, through the application of “appropriate equipment, techniques and procedures” (in this case: storyboarding; Windows MediaPlayer and Powerpoint; videorecorders etc), how to “create information products that demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the concepts, issues, relationships and processes” related to this area of study in their English course.

I would argue that with this task, and through their use of digital technologies as tools, the students are being encouraged to develop ‘complex, critical, creative thinking’, and have been engaged in a number of higher order thinking skills. Yes, this task requires that students learn and demonstrate comprehension of the novel (i.e. through recall and description of the characters, plot events, settings, and relationships). But they are also being asked to evaluate the book (in order to pitch it effectively in their trailer), identify the themes (in order to give their trailer an overarching idea), analyse the characters’ relationships, evaluate and make choices about the most important elements or themes of the book (in order to know what to include and omit in their book trailers) and, of course, they are being asked to create an original product in order to synthesise their understandings.

Taxonomy that! 

Problem is, student work revolving around ICT isn’t always organised in this way. Certainly, the student work I have set hasn’t always been organised in this way. Often, I have seen (or planned) lessons where ICT has been utilised by teachers to have students respond to lower order thinking skills in a whizz bang way. Or where students have never explored the higher order questions asked of them because of their wonderment with answering the simple questions in the most complex, overdone way possible (because they can, and because many students – just like many adults – can’t help themselves when let loose with a search engine and an unlimited download capacity).

Finally, then (for today's post anyway) it must be remembered, I think, that while, yes, we have some great tools at hand for using in the classroom, these tools must not be viewed merely as jumped-up textbooks, or expensive Filofaxes. Rather teachers must be able to see how they  can be used to enable deeper learning and greater engagement. As Deborah Cohen puts it: “to truly harness what technology has to offer to education…teachers need to understand and utilise the new evolving languages (written, spoken and visual), technology's capacity for engagement and creativity, [and] its multi-dimensional modes of delivery” (Cohen, (2007). ‘Cyberspace communication: the virtual worlds of teenagers’. In Idiom, Vol. 43(2), pp39-43).

The usual problem

The familiar knock of technological difficulties has been heard at my door this week. Problems abound, grievances continue, and immense frustration ensues. It's enough to make you wanna put an iPad in a blender.

And if you like that  - which I know you did - check out the magic the good doctor weaves with Justin Bieber. Yes, I wore a white shirt. Yes, I ordered spaghetti.

The block round

Some of the interesting ICT things I did with my English classes during the block:
(1) while I was away sick, my English mentor got the kids started on making (hard-copy) posters about the themes present in the text we are studying. When I got back, I decided to have the students spend a lesson on reapplying and repeating those skills using Glogster. It was an interesting experiment, in a way, to see how the students responded to the different modes of creation. Many of the students who were reluctant to put together a hard-copy poster, and to fulfil the requirements of the task, were really excited to put together a Glog and were very happy to include quotes, images, examples and ideas. Certainly it was a more exciting task to my mind, and I would have responded as the students did, I think. Particularly for those of us who are not good at drawing etc., a program like a Glog is great as you can be creative, but by using and manipulating others' work.
(2) I have set an assessment task for the students to create a book trailer in response to the text we are reading. This is a quite a complex task, I think, in that it calls for students to collaborate, create, evaluate, and analyse. Hopefully though, the mode of presentation (and the fact that I have developed very clear criteria for the students) will encourage students to be excited and focused about this task. Looking forward to seeing the end results!

edutecher

Edutecher is a sweet site with heaps of tools and programs for teachers.

Placement school

Digital technologies seem to have secured a safe place at my second semester placement school. It's not immersive, but in the classes I've observed so far I've been seeing thoughtful, purposeful and worthwhile uses of digital technologies in classes. The school has a number of interactive whiteboards (very limited experience with these, so looking forward to having a go), most rooms have data projectors and there are student computer 'pod rooms' for use during class time. From the hallways I've seen teachers using interactive whiteboards in science classes, and one of the ESL teachers was using the data projector in his class to co-write an essay on his laptop with his students yesterday, which seemed to work really well. My English mentor also takes media studies, and is really keen on programs like Glogster and Storybird*, which she's used before with her Year 8s. Looking forward to introducing some of those kinds of things into my lessons as well.

*Check out Storybird here. A great program, free too, and I think worthwhile in lots of subjects outside of English.

Frightfully dim

You might be wondering what happens when edublogs go wrong. Find out here.
Also, check out some comments from the street on this issue.

Teacher benefits of wired learning

While the focus of digital technologies in the classroom seems to be largely on student use and how technologies can play a part in learning, I think one of the other really obvious benefits of moving teaching and learning online is what it can offer teachers in terms of organisation, assessment, communication (with students, colleagues, parents and the wider world of education providers), lesson and unit planning, record keeping etc etc.

Some sites worth looking at with regard to this idea:
glogster EDU (you will have to pay to get the really useful, quality features, but I reckon it's worth it if you plan on teaching full-time next year), and
edutopia (George Lucas moves from Star Wars to star charts).

Will be posting more useful teacher-centric resources as I find them.

Digimuve

This coming week in my English Method class, we are focusing on digital technologies in the teaching of English. Here is a fabulous website that has been provided as a resource in our readings this week - its focus is on digital teaching and learning experiences. Well worth a look, particularly the video of Joel Klein and Sir Ken Robinson talking about 21st century learning and new school models.

Electronic discussion boards

Here's an interesting article about using electronic discussion boards. It raises a few important questions about the purposes and processes of using ICT in the classroom. You'll have to log in to your Uni Melb account (via the link) to see it.

Where is the technology exactly?

Oh, I see.