“Expert orchestration of resources is the key factor in converting interactions into learning, and that investigating how technology can be harnessed to facilitate orchestration by teachers and learners will guide teachers’ efforts to improve learning through the use of ICT” (Beauchamp & Kennewell, 2010).
I believe this is imperative in regards to helping students collaborate using technology. Beauchamp & Kennewell,(2010) mentioned that when teachers first adopted ICT in the classroom there was a tendency for inter-activity to become superficial and the only changed when ICT was adequately integrated into teachers pedagogical knowledge.
Essentially, being able to choose the appropriate ICT resources on the basis of them being used as ‘facilitator’ of interactive learning and not something that will work in an authoritative manner, then this will impact positively on classroom learning. Also, mentioned by Beauchamp & Kennewell (2010 was that even with ICT’s integration into teaching pedagogy, it was still required that teachers be constantly supervising and overseeing these inter-activities between students using ICT to ensure optimum learning. I think this is how I would want to approach interactivity and collaboration using technology in the classroom.
I think the TPACK framework can be extremely useful for me in the classroom. It makes me reflect to what I was talking about in Module 1 in regards to structural integrity. I admire this framework from a structural integrity stand point as it is grouping these fundamentals which are essential for learning together, where they can work in harmony in order to create a sound process of learning.
I think, well I would like to sit right were all elements overlap and intersect because that is ‘where true intelligent integration of technology happens’.
I would say the content and technology elements would be my strongest, the ‘how’ which is pedagogy I think would more challenging. As Punya mentioned in the video technology changed everything, it changed the ‘how’ and that ‘what’, pedagogy and content (Microsoft Technology Enriched Instruction (TEI), 2014). I feel the way technology as changed pedagogy can be an obstacle for even teachers who are experienced.
References
Microsoft Technology Enriched Instruction (TEI),. (2014). Intro to TPACK – Punya Mishra, Michigan State University. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXLdqO0fY3w
I think this issue with technology will most relevant to the level I will be teaching. With not many stern punishment and mechanisms in place to stop it – secondary schooling as opposed to university is where I believe a lot of plagiarism can take place. “The internet may also be redefining how students – who came of age with music-file sharing, Wikipedia and Web-linking – understand the concept of authorship and singularity of any text or image” (Gabriel, 2010). I find this to be such an interesting point, because it relates back to that idea of digital natives. The problem here is that when you are teaching a generation of digital natives – who grew up in a world where piracy and the illegal downloading of movies, music, games etc is so normalized that they can almost become desensitized towards this issue – it becomes difficult to teach them that plagiarism is wrong when their entire understanding of authorship is shaky to begin with.
In my opinion a way in which teachers and educators can approach the issue of plagiarism is not only teaching students that it is wrong from an authorship perspective, because it is through angle that it is hard to reach students due to its normalization in other spheres like the illegal downloading of music and movies. An emphasis should be placed upon the idea of importance of ethics and morality as a whole. It might sound corny but I think if the foundation of these basic concepts are weak with this young generation maybe we should aim to strengthen them for the overall betterment of society. Things like teaching, concepts of self-betterment through attainment of knowledge, the fact that cheating is not only restricted to assessments but can find its way in your daily life and impact on you negatively and so forth. This however, is a more critical approach attacking the root of the issue, but there are programs like ‘turnitin’ which have really been successful tracking down on plagiarism and approaching this issue for more technical perspective.
References
Roblyer, M., & Doering, A. (2014). Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching: International Edition, 6th Edition, Pearson.Gabriel, T. (2010). Plagiarism Lines Blur For Students. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/education/02cheat.html?_r=0
Web-based resources and how you can integrate them into your teaching
In my previous post i described different ways you could use Web2.0 tools in your teaching.
In this post, I will talk more to specific web based resources and how you can integrate them into your teaching.
M. D. Roblyer & Aaron H. Doering outline a framework for web based activities and break them down to four types: Individual lesson plans, online lesson enhancements, completely online courses and curriculum, and all inclusive online courses, curriculum and learning environment. I will describe two of these below:
If they ran in a different direction, where would they have ended up (North, South, East, or West)?
Students then find their own home using Google Maps, and investigate the following scenario:
You are going on a holiday on your bike. You need to ride at least 1,000 km but not more than 1,200 km. Where might you travel?
Students need to consider a number of different issues in this technology rich activity, including how to estimate the distance of curved roads, directions & compass points, and what does ‘close to’ mean on a map.
2. Online lesson Enhancements
I’ve always believed in the effectiveness of using a resource like YouTube in the classroom. I think its name alone, because of its popularity and relevance among youth can work well in engaging students. Secondly the wealth of information in the form of videos is endless and they involve lectures, conference talks, interviews and so forth – all from highly regarded and qualified individuals so the credibility of this information is also unquestionable. Thirdly it is so easily accessible making its use in the classroom not a big hassle for teachers.
As mentioned in my previous post, teachers can use Khan’s academy to enhance their lessons. Often you need to read something multiple times before understanding what is being said. Other times, hearing someone else read it to you is also helpful. Similarly, being taught a concept multiple times from different teachers can be very beneficial to enhance learning.
Khan’s Academy provides online lesson videos on most of the mathematics curriculum. During my teaching, i supplemented my lessons with links to video explanations of the lesson taught so that students can refer to them if they walked away not feeling like they understood the concepts well. Here’s an example video,
Web2.0 tools can be used for online reflection. This can be in the form of students blogging their thoughts as they reflect on their learning. Teachers are able to assess students and design the appropriate intervention strategies. This could follow a format such as broad questions which students answer, specific topic related questions, or open ended where complete freedom of direction is given to the student.
Rolfe, Freshwater and Jasper (2001) propose using three simple questions when reflecting on learning: ‘What? So what? Now what?’.
What?: What have I learned?
So what?: What does this tell me about my strengths and about my gaps in understanding?
Now what?: What can I do to improve my understanding? What are my next steps? What are my targets and goals for moving forward?
2. Online Collaboration
Web2.0 tools can also be used for online Collaboration. Applications like VoiceThread allow teachers to set up audio-based discussion rooms. Teachers could set up these discussion rooms after hours as a ‘Virtual Homework Centre’ where students can collaboratively learn and solve through their exercises.
3. Video Repository (Youtube, Podcasts)
Youtube videos and podcasts can be used to supplement teaching and learning. For example, during my placement, I added youtube links from Khan’s academy and Eddy Wu after each lesson I taught. So basically, students were able to watch two other explanations of the same lesson. How many times have students struggled with understanding a concept, then comes along another teacher and explains it, and the students understands instantly. Sometimes no matter how much we try, and think we are explaining a concept well, a student needs a fresh point of view. Using this method allows the student to have three different explanations from three teachers!
In previous post, I touched on integration of technology based on different learning models. I particularly reflected my teaching subject area, mathematics. In this post I want to further delve into the ICT tools of choice which I would integrate into my teaching.
M. D. Roblyer , and Aaron H. Doering (2013), in chapter 13, mentioned the ongoing ‘Math Wars’. The term refers to the ongoing conflict between those researchers who believe that mathematics should be explicit and teacher directed with others who believe it should be student centred. The battle between directed and constructivist learning theories. In my last post, I talked about my impartiality to both methods and highlighted the merits of each. So, it is expected that I would integrate tools which would be based on both models as my teaching choice.
Cambridge HOTMATHS is a comprehensive mathematics learning system – an interactive online maths learning, teaching and assessment resource for students and teachers, for individuals or whole classes, for school and at home. The reason I chose this tool is because of the interactive drill-and-practice capability which allows student to solve problems and receive instant feedback and corrective instruction. You are also able to allocate different problem sets to different students based on level of skill and fluency. Furthermore, the teacher can get feedback of how students went in different exercise and carry out the necessary intervention and differentiation. This is a great tool for a class with students with ranging abilities, including special needs, in order to build foundational skills and fluency.
DESMOS is a a graphical application which allows students to visualise and conceptualise mathematical functions, no matter how complex. It’s a great tool to use to extend students’ skills and fluency and move towards mastery of their understanding regarding functions. It allows students to understand the relationships between different functions, and the implication of parameter modification.
What are your thoughts? What tools would you choose?
I’ve been reading through Roblyer & Doering’s, Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching, in particular the fourth chapter which talks about technology integration strategies based on directed and constructivist models.
I find my self reflecting on my time completing my first teaching placement as a Mathematics teacher. I find my self impartial to both learning theories and their respective integration strategies.
On one hand, procedural practice and drilling are absolutely essential in building foundational skills and achieving fluency in solving mathematical problems. Which highlights the importance of integration strategies based on directed teaching models. ICT tools such as drill-and-practice software (Cambridge, Mathematica ,Algebra touch) with immediate feedback and crrective instruction. See the table below.
Furthermore, to work towards mastery of learning mathematics content students must be able to understand and visualise abstract mathematical concepts and apply them to the real world. Which brings us to constructivist learning. Tools like graphing applications (DESMOS) to visualise functions and statistical analysis software to analyse publicly available data from the internet. See table below.
Ultimately, I believe both models must be applied in the mathematics classroom. What do you choose? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section.
Graphing functions is a great way for students to visualise and understand the behaviour of different mathematical functions. Thinking back to my days in school, teachers were using old Casio graphing calculators which had a 4cm screen and took 5 minutes to set up. To be honest, it was more engaging to watch the teacher plot the function by hand on the blackboard!
Fast forward a few years, and there are countless ICT tools which can be used for this purpose. To the contrary of popular opinion, Microsoft Office, in particular excel, is not the only tool which can be used for this computational mathematics and visualisation. In fact, there are many better options out there.
Here’s a video showing how to graph functions in excel,
Tedious huh?!
Here’s where DESMOS comes in! Desmos is a free graphing and teaching tool for math. In addition to plotting equations, classroom activities are available to help students learn about a variety of math concepts. For example, students can learn how to transform periodic functions by trying to slide marbles through points on a graph. Or, they can plug in their own equation and see what kind of graph pops up; sliders allow students to adjust values and see what happens. Users can also click directly on the graph to find the coordinates of points of intersection, maxima, and minima.
Here’s a demonstration,
What are your thoughts? Will you use DESMOS in your math lessons?
I think when Greg mentions that the focus on technology is a waste of time and stresses that by focusing on technology, you ignore the central issue, he means that we should be focusing on strengthening the very foundation of education which lies in the nature and quality of teaching and learning as opposed to ‘technology’ which basically works as a means of enhancing the transfer of knowledge to students as well as students’ demonstration of their understanding of this knowledge in a way which is more relevant to the youth of today.
I agree with this point of view from a structural integrity aspect as without a solid foundation of teachers as Greg mentioned who continue to improve their quality of teaching so that students are able to be socially critical participants of society then the implementation of technology becomes quite useless. Essentially the focus should be on the core and essence of education before skipping to new means of its implementation in classrooms. This foundation of enabling students to be socially critical needs to be concrete and solidified before shifting the focus on different variations and means like technology to further enhance the delivery and application of this concept.
Furthermore, I believe a strong foundation like this will enable teachers to have a greater understanding of deciding which technology resource is most appropriate for their students’ achieving their learning outcomes. If we skip this step it could not only be a waste of time as Greg pointed out but also a waste of money.
Video – Punya Mishra
I found this video extremely insightful and very well-articulated. I found it very interesting how Dr Mishra questions the concept of Techno-centrism which basically represents the idea of technology being the focus of education, exactly what Greg Whitby was opposed to.
So Dr Mishra presents three arguments for questioning Techno-centrism, rapid rate of change, the need for Re-thinking technology and the fact that it ignores Content and the Pedagogy. The last point is what I personally found very interesting because it reinforced the idea of structural integrity that I mentioned regarding Greg’s comments in the podcast.
Since techno-centrism makes technology the focus while ignoring the fundamentals which are content and pedagogy, this will sacrifice the structural integrity of the education system when it comes to teaching and learning. Dr Mishra argues that instead of technology being the centre and separate from content and pedagogy, all three aspects should be seen as overlapping and we should be focusing on that intersection between these elements because that is when good teaching occurs.
I think that by following this idea we will be then able to pin point specific technologies which are relevant to teach particular content which Dr Mishra also talked about in the video.
It is pretty fascinating however, how much technology has progressed and continues to progress and change over the years which can prove to be fairly challenging for us as future or current teachers as we try to incorporate the appropriate pieces of technology into the classroom.
Mishra, P. [21CLI (Old)]. (2012, March 26). Punya Mishra – Keynote Speakers @ 21stCentury Learning Conference – Hong Kong 2012. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bwXYa91fvQ
A couple of months ago, I completed my first placement as a high school mathematics teacher. I was impressed with the uplift in technology, as compared to my days sitting on the opposite side of the classroom. I noticed that although the school was investing in technology, there was a disconnect between the tool and purpose. Integration of technology in the classrooms wasn’t seamless.
For example, the school invested in iPads for students but there was no clear plan of how they would be used in the classroom. Where they a supplement? A replacement? How could they be used in senior classes?
There was a clear lack of integration in mathematics classrooms. Particularly, in the higher stages where content was more advanced and teachers couldn’t find an app/game/website to cater to the content. I asked a teacher about a time they used the iPads and she mentioned an app which graphs trigonometric functions. One lesson a term where an iPad was useful!?
It was clear that although technology was a focus in education, its integration had failed.
Watch this video of how an iPad should be used in the classroom!!
An iPad is more than a tool for games, youtube videos and apps you use once a term. It is a tool which can replace your textbooks, notebooks, and pencil case! A one stop shop, which is also backed up on the cloud (so no more dog ate my homework excuse)
As a teacher, I used an iPad, Apple Pencil, and Apple Tv to mirror class notes and exercises onto a projector and annotate them wirelessly. Combining these tools made my backpack a walking SmartBoard (given that a classroom has a standard projector).
Let me know your thoughts?! Do you agree? Is studied integration of technology as important as the tool it self?
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