Reflective Synopsis of E-Learning Journey.
When I finished Year twelve in the eighties, the general view of education was that at that point your education was “complete”. Access to educational or information was limited to what one had been exposed to at school, or extremely expensive and quickly outdated encyclopedia at home. The way that we live, communicate and learn has changed so drastically in the past twenty years (Siemens, 2004) that every aspect of what, when, how and why we learn has changed beyond recognition from that time. The Queensland Curriculum states “life long learning” as a goal for students in all key learning area documents (Proudfoot, 1999). This means the role of educators is no longer to teach students a body of static knowledge- but rather to teach them to learn; how to find, organize, analyse and reflect on the vast torrent of information that streams past them on a daily basis. Instructional strategies based in behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism are still strongly supported by theory and practice, however, to this arsenal of professional knowledge must be added connectivism – to allow for the incredible rate of change in technology of the current times, and the resulting shortened “shelf-life” of information (Gonzalez, 2004). Connectivism provides the learner with the skills required to base “today’s knowledge on today’s information”. It is an understanding of the impact of new information on old, and an ability to change one’s learning landscape, by making distinctions and decisions about which is key and which is disposable knowledge (Siemens, 2004). Through this course I have come to understand the importance of these skills for current day learners. We are no longer teaching knowledge for life, or one set of skills to prepare learners for a lifelong job. We are teaching skills of adaptation and interpretation, retrieval and dismissal (Vail, 1996).To do this successfully, my learning must travel a comparable path to that of my students. I can not enter a classroom with only the tools and methods of the past, and expect to engage a learner who may speak a digital language. I can not prepare learners for lifelong learning by teaching them my language; I must learn to speak theirs. That’s not to say that all ICT users of a certain generation (including myself) are “immigrants” or that I will assume that all children are digital “natives’ (Thrupp, 2010). However, digital technology is the fabric of the communication and entertainment of today’s learners (Prensky, 2005). If this is the fabric from which an education must be cut and shaped, as a future educator, the role of ICTs in my teaching must take a priority.
I predicted that elearning would introduce me to some “tools” that I could use -resources- perhaps as an alternative for an image or MAB blocks in the classroom. However, I have learned that ICTs can be used to allow learners to demonstrate many different skills that could not be achieved any other way in the classroom. The applications of ICTs to differentiate the curriculum for included learners is exciting – those students who may be unable to write because of poor fine motor skills can show a whole different level of intellectual quality using a keyboard and a mouse. Children with Asperger’s who struggle with collaborative work because of the social implications can contribute to group blogs, wikis and productions – and the visual nature of the work is ideal for these learners (Ashman & Elkins, 2009). I have been exposed to a number of new technological tools throughout this course and have chosen to investigate and experiment further with Power Point, Wikis, Pod and Vodcasts, and Google Maps.
Keefe and Willett (2004) state compelling reasons to use power point in the classroom are its suitability as a powerful and easily learned system, and its free availability to students. In my experience, power point has been used as a digital version of “chalk and talk”, resulting in non-interactive presentations, and what McDonald (2004) refers to as “Power Pointlessness”. However during a tutorial, we experimented with power points to create animated movies. This different application really excited me, and I could immediately imagine learners engaging with it in this way. I have reconsidered it as a tool to consolidate and refine information, and to transform information to new understandings. In this context it could be used as a virtual round robin to create an expert jigsaw. I developed an activity for learners to work in small groups to create a power point during a SOSE unit on British Colonisation of Australia in order to provide higher order thinking opportunities. Each group is to create a power point from one of the following perspectives: convict, free settler, Indigenous Australian or soldier. Learners research and collate information into the power point and create an animated mini-movie to express their character’s point of view and experience of the day the First Fleet landed. This results in a virtual biography, offering further links to the English and Arts curricula. This power point is then passed on to another group to view and give peer feedback. The wide range of skills and knowledge offers each learner - regardless of learning type- an opportunity to contribute while being supported by a group. This gives opportunities to vary how learners are working – and to be involved in a role play situation without the cost, space and time constraints. Learners can work at home or at school and can work all in one place at the one time, or individually on the group project.
The ease and functionality of wikis means that they are an excellent tool for collaboration in an online environment, and a useful tool for facilitating online education (Augar, Raitman & Zhou, 2004). The appeal of this tool to access and organize information is where my experimentation took me. I considered the knowledge management cycle of find/organize/share/use/reuse (Mooney, 2008). This platform allows all sorts of extensions to learner’s knowledge, both content based and ICT based, as the Web 2.0 allows searching, linking, tagging, extensions and signals to be built in as further knowledge and understanding. I imagined it used to create a “Pass the Plate” type of project - inviting learners from different countries, or schools in Indigenous communities to become members in order to share their day to day uses of different foods, and sharing of recipes. This offers cross curricula links to procedural text writing and SOSE content. Learners can create videos to embed within the wiki, or a video diary recording the cooking and preparation of meals and the cultural events that surround them. They can also speak directly to each other and respond to each other’s posts. This enables children to experience things outside the walls of a classroom and experience another culture (nearly) first hand.
The use of pod and vodcasts are an all new experience for me. I approached the investigation of them from the aspect of presenting knowledge to an audience. A suitable application of a podcast would be to create a “human GPS”. I envisage a task to demonstrate knowledge of map reading and communication. This could be tied to an English task of writing a set of instructions, focusing on verbs and the technical language of map reading. Learners are given a number of destinations, and have to construct a route which falls within a certain time frame to visit all of them. Using whereis.com or Google Earth, learners create their route, write the instructions and record the instructions in the form of a podcast. Other learners then use it to follow the route from audio commands. This whole task would sit comfortably within a unit on tourism, if the context of the destinations were sightseeing, or maths, if the time travelled between objectives, and the speed of travel required to reach each destination by a particular time was the focus. This type of virtual excursion is one that could not be achieved without this type of technology, and it changes the way that learners work, and what they can work on (Qui & Hubble, 2006).
Experimented with in Google Earth gave me a number of ideas for uses of this tool in class including using it in conjunction with the podcast above to create a real life experience of the route travelled and planned. This part of the project could involve research into historical events, in order to create additions to the map so that they provided specific interest and information to a particular audience. In this context it is a tool to organize, consolidate and refine knowledge, as well as presenting knowledge to an audience. Another application within the context of a primary classroom would be within a science and geography unit investigating habitats, and the flora and fauna that reside in each. Learners would first investigate a real habitat through the eyes of Google Earth, and then make predictions based on what they know about the survival and habitat requirement of animals and plants. This approach could also be adjusted to Health and Physical Education in a task where learners do a virtual tour of five different marathon courses, then predict, observe and explain which would be the hardest on the human body and why. They then “Pack a Runner’s Bag” for each of the marathons, taking into account altitude, location, temperature, and the dietary needs of the runner and the difficulty of the course. Items packed have to include clothing, food, and equipment, and the list is accompanied by a written explanation for the packed items. This is a wonderful way to engage learners in higher order thinking and address the dreaded food pyramid in a much more exciting way.
My experimentation and exploration of ICTs has cemented a belief that elearning can support and enhance learning regardless of the context. Careful selection and planning is the critical factor that will determine if the use of an ICT is warranted or not. I still maintain a strong conviction that if you can “go there” or do it “for real” in the classroom then that is the first choice for any educator. However, the experiences that elearning can offer should not only be sought out when there is “no other way to do it” but should be a constantly updated, considered option for teacher who is serious about not only creating lifelong learners, but who models being a lifelong learner themselves.
Finally, the ethical, legal and safety considerations as set out by Education Queensland
(Department of Education and Training, 2006) are key professional behaviours that learning managers must ensure they understand and practice when embarking on any kind of elearning.
References
Ashmon. A., & Elkins. J. (Ed.). (2008). Education for inclusion and diversity. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Australia.
Augar. N., Raitman. R., & Wanlei. Z. (2006). Teaching and learning online with wikis. Retrieved August 26, 2010, from http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/procs/augar.html
Department of Employment and Training. (2006). Education Queensland code of conduct: Principal 5. Retrieved August 20, 2010, from http://education.qld.gov.au/corporate/codeofconduct/economy.html
Gonzalez, C. (2004). The role of blended learning in the world of technology. Retrieved December 10, 2004, from http://www.unt.edu/benchmarks/archives/2004/september04/eis.htm.
Keefe. D., & Willett. J. (2004). A case for power point as a faculty authoring system. Retrieved August 26, 2010, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC520839/
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Leuf. B., & Cunningham. W. (2001). The wiki way: Quick collaboration on the web. Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA: Addison Wesley.
McDonald, K. (2004). Examining power pointlessness. Retrieved August 26, 2010, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC520839/
Mooney, C. (2008).Wikis in knowledge management enabling effective collaboration. Retrieved August 24, 2010, from http://www.slideshare.net/mooneycol/wikis-in-knowledge-management-enabling-effective-collaboration
Prenskey, M. (2005) Engage me or enrage me: what today's learners demand. Retrieved August 26, 2010, from CQUniversity moodle, FAHE 11001 Managing E-learning, http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0553.pdf
Proudfoot. C. (1999). Curriculum restructuring in Queensland: The implications for teachers’ work. Retrieved August 26, 2010, from http://www.aare.edu.au/99pap/pro99240.htm
Qui. W., & Hubble. J. (2002). The advantages and disadvantages of virtual field trips in geoscience education. Retrieved August 24, 2010, from
http://sydney.edu.au/science/uniserve_science/pubs/china/vol1/weili.pdf
Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: a learning theory for the digital age. Retrieved August 20, 2010, from CQUniversity moodle, FAHE11001 Managing E-learning, http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
Thrupp, R. M. (2010). ICT created diversity in the classroom:The contemporary learner. Retrieved August 26, 2010, from CQUniversity moodle, FAHE11001 Managing E-learning, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/file.php/4033/ThruppAcec.pdf
Vaill. P. B., (1996). Learning as a way of being. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Blass Inc.
