Week 3 Reflection 2

Welcome to my week 3 (it goes fast!) blog post.

Today, I will be focusing on websites as an ICT aid to learning.

The use of a teacher generated website allows students to access course materials after hours. A common issue I have found while tutoring highschool students is the “lost piece of paper”. 

Image from http://s264.photobucket.com/user/URBEX23/media/BUXTON%20COLLEGE/BUXTONCOLLEGE064.jpg.html

The key document (whether it be the task sheet, some stimulus, a practice/review task that was particularly handy for that particular student) that ends up in the other subject’s workbook or in the bottom of the schoolbag, mixed with the dirty footy boots or the leaky waterbottle.

Image from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/26/arts/design/the-cairo-geniza-under-piecemeal-restoration.html?_r=0

Even just using the website as a place to access course materials can be incredibly valuable to those trying to keep the students on track. Other key documents such as assessment dates and the course plan are really helpful tools for parents and tutors. The number of times I’ve come to help a student and had to spend about 30 minutes trying to work out just what they are doing, let alone getting them to revise or improve understanding is quite lamentable, leading to wasted time and increased frustration.

These benefits could really cut across all streams of class, and could be re-usable each time the topic is taught. The hard work can be done before the start of the term and the site can be kept as a reminder to the teacher of the digital tools they used to teach it last time (similar to the lever arch binderfolders I see teachers having masses of). They can, of course, be added to and updated as time goes on.

As I’ve begun building a mock website, the other thing I’ve started to notice is that they can link together other ICT devices. Below is the mind map I created (so the set up didn’t get ahead of me) for the mock website I built. I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to build the website. This is the second website I’ve ever built. The first was about 15 years ago, and the tools weren’t user friendly! I used weebly, a web-based website builder and host.

Now how can I apply this to my subject area (maths and science)? As well as the general benefits listed above, I might include links to certain parts of certain math or science websites where students and parents can look up more information on the topic, embed video or audio explaining concepts and so on. 

Maths is fun is one such website I like to use currently. I could really see this working, putting one together before the start of semester for each subject during a topic planning session. Then making sure the students know it’s there. If a particular student is struggling, the teacher might point out the website’s existence to the parent in parent teacher night or via a phonecall (I’m told phone calls are required in state schools if students are failing).

Website mock up – techniques used

In making the mock-up website, I used a few tools. www.Weebly.com is the website I used to make the site. The snipping tool Gary has mentioned a few times does have it’s benefits over screenprint/paint crop technique, although I’m more inclined to stick with the familiar. A word cloud site gave me a neat focus picture for the website, and the voki tool Gary discussed gave the website a fun way to discuss topics of interest. And I added a link to a wiki I only very briefly started playing with (I need to do more on that to get a better understanding of wikis – maybe next week).

PMI for snip tool

Positives:

- Item is cropped automatically – deletes a step from the screen print method

- Easy to copy/paste image once cropped, or save for later use

Minuses:

- Need to use a specific software that may not be included on all computers I use (reliance on a device that isn’t there sometimes)

- I couldn’t see a function to type words in the snip program (some functions of paint unavailable – may need to use paint anyway)

- Not as familiar

Interesting:

- The highlight function means I can put focus on certain bits of the image

Above image is a snip from me learning to use the snip tool.

To formulate the picture below (used on the website as a kind of focus picture) I used a wordle site http://www.wordle.net/.

To create this, I Google searched for lists of trigonometry key words and edited the list to make it list only words close to highschool level. I then pasted the list into the wordle site and played with the settings until I came out with something reasonable. I used the snip tool and saved the picture to my computer.

So that’s some of the content of site. To create the site was far simpler than I ever thought possible. Just register and follow the prompts and click publish. My mock site is http://s0052310.weebly.com/. It’s only fairly basic, as described previously in this post, consisting of mostly links to other content and a contact form. Embedding files is my next step (but not this week!).

“The Professor” I have mentioned, is a voki I included in the site. After I figure out how to embed these into websites (rather than just the link to the Voki site), I would expect to have a number of different topics the professor might talk about. Discussion on what students commonly do wrong, or hints or tips, or math/science jokes (Helium walks into a bar, the barman refuses to serve him and threatens to kick him out, Helium doesn’t react, 314 is a mirror of the word “pie”  PIE314 etc).

I have similar issues with the link I provided on the site to a “task sheet” as I do with the Voki, in that I don’t know how to embed them into the site. It is currently a simple link to another site that has a task sheet. I didn’t really have the time to investigate this further, maybe next week.

As I mentioned, there is a link to a basic wiki that I had a play with. I have set a couple teams and mock tasks and due dates etc but I haven’t really had the time to explore how these wiki sites work or what they can do.

Well I’m getting towards the end of my post. I remember Gary asking for a SWOT on the main ICT discussed. As it is the website, please see below my quick SWOT for the use of websites and an ICT aid to learning.

Strengths	Weaknesses	Opportunities	Threats
Students can access after hours Can contain all handouts etc Links for students for find more information	Not all students have internet at home Time cost for teacher	Tutors/parents can get a grip on the topics covered more easily to assist students’ learning at home	School policy? Department of Education policy? Students not using the tools Teacher knowledge of how to set up a good website Public access to the content?

Thanks for reading. Any comments are very welcome!

Reflection1 Week2

Part one: Safely, Legally, Ethically – Mobile phones

In the class discussions when we discussed mobile phones there was part of me thinking “this is just a thought exercise, we’re not allowed to use mobile phones anyway and we will just have to apply the school’s policy”.

That covers the safely legally, but ethically, is there can be a benefit to the students, we have an obligation to explore that (and weigh up the pros and cons).

After speaking with a practicing teacher about this, they described a history lesson where they used mobile phones, and how they addressed all the issues concerned.

It went like this:

-          - They set up a bunch of QR tags (see here: http://www.qrstuff.com/) linked to questions with links to sources.

-          - There was an in class session where the students learned how to use them, followed by a lunchtime hunt for the tags around the school.

-          - The students would find and scan a tag, look at some of the sources, then formulate an answer, and next lesson show teacher the answers.

-          - There was a trivial prize (in this case $1 novelty erasers) for achievements (most questions/hardest one to find etc).

Permission was sought from a deputy principle, who had to grant permission for the lesson to go ahead.

In the lead up session, the students were run through guidelines as to appropriate use and issued a permit to use their phones for the period of the game (1 lunch break I believe, any misuse resulted in the same consequences as though they misused their phones normally).

And the teacher running the game was on lunch duty in that area.

Image from: http://jonathanfant.blogspot.com.au/2011/02/qr-tags-for-small-buisness.html)

Now what is my take on the legal:

-          Students were run through the guidelines, discharging any legal responsibilities (as far as I can tell – not being a solicitor)

On the Safely:

-          To me, if the students are made aware of the limitations of use, the consequences of misuse and the time limit along with the proper oversight, the safety factor is maintained.

And the ethically:                                            

-          The strong engagement of the students means they picked up a few facts and were introduced into ways of learning/understanding they may not have considered. It also got students TALKING ABOUT HISTORY!! A task that achieves these goals has great merit!

Part 2: Wikis
Another technology we were asked to reflect upon was the use of wikis. The thing that puts me off wikis is the fact some students will find it hard due to low literacy level, and either may not engage due to fear of ridicule or plainly being unable to.

Image from http://www.deviantart.com/art/Cyber-bullying-179336375

Obviously one must pick their targets, so if a teacher has a group of more able students, I can see no reason not to use this. But the question I am considering is how to implement this in a class of mixed abilities without fear of or actual ridicule based on literacy levels…

One technique would be to set the publishing material to the wiki as an extension only task in class when the higher level students have finished other work. This has the added benefit of allowing the teacher time to help the less advanced students while keeping the others engaged.

The rest of the class might be asked to then view the wiki for homework and add their own views to it if they feel comfortable – or at least submit to the teacher for comment.

Another way might be to have anonymous posting (and a few fake posts supplied by the teacher!)

The issue always rears it’s head about the appropriateness of the content posted by students, I would suggest the only way to get around this is to have comments approved by the teacher prior to their appearing on the wiki. This is obviously a lot of work, and the benefits would have to be weighed against the time cost (I imagine this is similar to many pedagogies!)

Part 3: Good Pedagogies

The general concept of good pedagogies is quite broad. In going through the coursework I started digitally mind-mapping as I went (I’d only ever mind mapped on paper before this course, doing it digitally makes it so much more beneficial to me!)

All of the concepts above speak about the theories of learning. For that to develop into “good pedagogy”, the implementation of all of that theory must result in learning. So the missing link in all the above is the learning environment – all that theory channels through the environment the teacher sets up for the learners, for learning to take place. Good pedagogies give rise to this.

Thinking back on my learning (and my tutoring) in maths, every new concept can be explained by previously understood concepts. In they range of types of numbers (natural, whole, integers, rational, irrational, complex) each more complicated type of number can be explained using the simpler. Multiplication can be described by addition, indexes by multiplication and so on.

To me “good pedagogies” are ones that make this link. In trying to make this link I often rely on prior knowledge that isn’t there, but in understanding the links, I can drill down to find the missing one to help it all fall into place. I suspect doing this for the 100+ students of a secondary teachers workload may be too much. So somehow I will have to find a less one-on-one way to do this.

Image from http://www.mathgamehouse.com/mghsessions/  

There was a quote from the course readings “After all, good pedagogy is good pedagogy.

The principles are all the same - authentic context, problem-based learning, deep understanding and higher order thinking, collaboration for learning, and the creative and inventive solution to the problem that addresses the real-world problem posed.”

This concept struck me as what my issue with ICTs has always been. That there could be a tendency to use ICTs for the sake of using ICTs, be they the best tool or more of hindrance. This is a reason I would shy away from any ICT that doesn’t feel like a natural extension of my teaching. Despite their benefits, if it doesn’t feel natural to me, I suspect I wouldn’t go out on a limb for it, especially as maths and science seems so traditional.

However, looking at my development so far in this course though, what technology in teaching “feels natural” has expanded a bit so far! I’ve gone from a “whiteboard + computer projector” view of classroom technology to getting excited about QR tags! Who knows what I’ll think by the end of next year.

So far, the thing that has turned my opinions of ICTs has been speaking to current teachers (no, I don’t mean you Gary). I know a couple teachers personally and have had a few conversations about these topics. Getting a feel for how they do what they do and why gives me a sense of how it all might work, as I haven’t had my own classroom experience yet I don’t really know. 

There is actually so much more I wanted to reflect upon tonight (KSA/Bloom theory and my misunderstanding of SAMR, some behaviour management thoughts and some different ICT tools to use in lessons to start with), but it’s 9pm (9:30 now I've edited) and I have to be up at 4 for work tomorrow, that that’s all from me this week! Maybe I'll go back in later and review this blog - but I suspect time constraints will dictate otherwise.

Week 1 - Edutopia webinar (brainstuff) reflection

Dr, Judy Willis’ webinar got me thinking that I’d like to see some of these techniques in action to have them cement a bit better in my head. This reflective blog is, in a way, doing some of the visualisation she was talking about. By reflecting on and reviewing the ideas of the webinar, we reinforcing the concepts, getting closer to the cementing I was thinking would only really occur through seeing it in action.

The way she described mental “stress” as a broader concept to include boredom, and how the amygdala will cease the ability to process new ideas in a stressed state is interesting.
- So students who have issues in the playground or are too far ahead and thus bored will find it difficult to keep learning.
- This led me to think about having a process for getting students ready to learn, the same way I have a ritual to get ready for sleep. I can’t say what the process would be, “get your books out and write the date” or “try solve this puzzle” or something, there are too many ways to list.
- Once this became an expected part of the lesson, it could become a "de-stressing" exercise every lesson.
Ensuring the students feel the classroom is a safe place (in Dr. Willis’ words by “enforcing the rules) feeds into this process. They know what to expect, and if they expect a stress-free environment they will by default HAVE less stress, prompting the amygdala to allow rest of the brain to make the connections necessary for proper learning.

Another type of stress Dr. Willis spoke about is the frustration of not being able to understand a concept right away. I’ve seen this first hand in the young people I’ve tutored in maths over the years. Even though I know they are perfectly capable, they believe they cant get it and this causes huge frustrations. To find a way to make sure they know its OK and stay engaged seems difficult from where I am now in my ability to teach. I’m keen to learn a few techniques here – as that frustration can really limit engagement.

Having extra/extension work for the students who are ahead seems obvious, but until Dr. Willis gave examples it seemed like a lot of extra work. Setting extensions tasks like “write a paragraph on how that might be applicable in real life” really doesn’t take long. And “buying some time” to focus on the students that are a bit behind by initiating class discussions serves to allow the average/extension kids to review the topic and cement the learning while working out where the lower students are not making the connection. Of course there would be other ways to keep the more advanced students learning while giving more assistance to the less advanced, but these are just a couple of ways.

When she spoke on getting past the RAS by using colour, music, costume, movement, surprise, advertising, discrepant event etc, she made it sound like it needs to be a big thing. To my mind it needn’t be. Something as simple as putting a “howstuffworks” or “mathsisfun” or similar clip or image on the whiteboard could be enough to begin the engagement. Having never seen an interactive whiteboard, I don’t really know what they can do, but I’m lead to believe they can show video. As a maths and science teacher (my goal) I cant really think of and math/science concept who’s explanation can’t be aided by a visual representation of the concept. Of course, depending on the concept, the old hands on Multibase Arythmatic Blocks or other aides they can actually touch rather than just see, might serve better, but for some concepts that is not possible (or at least very hard!). I was interested in the advertising idea. I’m currently pondering ways I could use that in my tutoring, especially now I know a bit about how the curriculum works I can get an understanding on what the student will need to learn next.

The discrepant events, to me, seems like the sort of thing I might have to keep an eye out for good resources. A stimulus that really makes a student stop and think for a sec wouldn’t come along every day!

The engagement technique (here me now) Dr. Willis spoke about is the sort of thing that could be used in all sorts of ways. It could be used to create a class unique dataset for any number of mathematics examples along with the weaving of these facts into the stories/examples a teacher may need to use in a class. Plus the process of recording this information on profile cards gives myself, as the teacher, an exercise in getting to know my students. Something I’m a little worried about is learning their names quickly enough! But the use of this material - in any way - would be instantly more engaging than hypothetical material (or even real life material if the students don't associate with it).

The course notes instruct me to "Finally, reflect on the shortcomings of the traditional classroom and curriculum in the light of the messages that have been delivered". This first involves a definition of "the traditional classroom". To me that involves a whiteboard, an OHT and desks. Most of what Dr. Willis spoke about can be implemented in this context. The use of video to me is the most remarkable difference, and perhaps how easy it is to use sounds and pictures (rather than having to have them printed out or find a CD with the sound, they can all be done quite easily on the computer). So I suppose from my perspective, I don't see the traditional classroom as "lacking", I just see the modern classroom as having extra ways of keeping learners engaged, without requiring unreasonably expensive/timeconsuming efforts from the teacher.