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.
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.
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.
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.
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