Synopsis - The real one!

This synopsis will examine the importance of e-learning in today’s society. In addition it will briefly address four different information communication technology (ICT’S) tools.

Why e-learning?

Computers and computer based instruction (CBI) were launched into a number of Australian public schools in the 1980s (Snoman, Dobozy & Scevak, 2009). Academics declared students would learn much more through CBI than they would from teacher instruction (Snoman et al., 2009). Technology and research has come along way since then. Prensky (2005, p. 60) suggests students these days are uninterested in school as it is no way as appealing as the ‘devices’ in their bags. To teach effectively using ICT’s teachers need to consider what is appropriate for the task and not just expect students will be interested as the lessons contains a computer game reward at the end. The technological pedagogical and content framework (TPACK) is used to assist teachers in identifying the correct pedagogical knowledge (PK), content knowledge (CK), and technological knowledge (TK), to design meaningful learning experiences (Koehler, n.d.). With this knowledge in mind educators today know students need more than just a computer with drills to be engaged in meaningful learning (Prensky, 2005). Why do educators need to use ICT’s in school?

Prensky (2005, p.62) draws attention to students feeling like they have to ‘power down’ when going to school. He also remarks that some teachers claim students these days have short attentions spans, his response is they do not appear to for video games, music or the Internet. With a world full of games, smart phones, Internet and social media, why are educators still providing ‘yesterdays educations for tomorrows kids?’ (Prensky, 2005 p. 62). School is defined as ‘an institution for educating children’ (Oxford Dictionaries, 2010). Let education be instruction for tomorrow using effectively all the tools we can ‘keep up with’ today.

How can e-learning support and enhance students learning? 

The cognitive domain of Bloom’s taxonomy can be used to support higher order thinking whilst using ICT’s within a lesson (DECD, 2008). This questioning method may underpin an educators planning process to ensure a meaningful use of knowledge application is achieved (DECD, 2008). In addition, using the TPACK framework to ensure correct content, technology and pedagogy choices for the task will warrant meaningful use for students learning. The constructivist approach encourages students to build on their current ‘knowledge base’ this can be achieved by ensuring tasks are authentic and meaningful (Snowman et al., 2009). Snowman et el. (2009) agree that different learning styles may be targeted with e-learning. For example, using an interactive whiteboard would enhance learning an engagement for kinaesthetic and visual learners (Snoman et al., 2009).

 Blogs

In 2004 Merriam-Webster named the word ‘blog’ as word of the year. Furthermore, according to Downes (2004) an American university used a community blog as part of their law degree to motivate discussion among the 180 students, with grades awarded for this. Richardson (2004, as cited in Downes, 2004) highlights that increasing numbers of schools are using blogging as a means of communication to students and parents alike. Yet, Lani Hunter only just started blogging. As a future learning manager I must keep up with technology so I wearily embraced this idea of blogging. As a digital immigrant it was a challenge in the beginning and I did not see this tool as valuable in the classroom. Now I see the worth of creating an online community among students, teachers, parents and the world. (see here for a PMI on blogging).

Teachers can monitor and scaffold discussion through effective questioning allowing deeper understanding of knowledge or concepts in accordance with Bloom’s taxonomy (DECD, 2008). Students can stay connected to the class and teacher from anywhere in the world as long as they have an Internet device and connection. Creating an online collaboration allowing students to engage and comment with other students is aligned with constructivist learning theories. The teacher may also connect students with another class around the world to make authentic connections as part of an inquiry or investigation.

As this is largely a discussion forum the teacher will have to consider safety for her students at all times. Cyber bullying can occur anywhere including a class blog. It may be a simple as a student encouraging other students to ignore one class member. This would be invisible to a busy teacher. Therefore measures must be taken to manage this. In addition, copyright and plagiarism could become an issue if students were adding information to their blog that was not theirs and they did not obtain permission for. Consistent discussion and visual representations could be used to mitigate this.

Wikis

On March 15th 2007 ‘wiki’ was added to the Online Oxford English Dictionary (Wiki, 2012). This illustrates the worldwide embrace for a tool that allows many users to upload and edit a document. In addition, wiki’s are a collaborative approach that is supported by the constructivist theory (Snoman et al., 2009).

The De Bono’s six thinking hats wiki was a fantastic exercise. I personally spent my time weighing up all the comments and aligning myself with them. Did I agree or disagree with that comment. I think this is a great way as a teacher to encourage rich thought and discussions and allow for students to develop and move through Bloom’s taxonomy. Furthermore, a wiki permits the teacher to observe students contributions and add to the conversation to change the direction of thought. This enables the teacher to scaffold the learning for the class or groups. Grouping the class in ability groups and assigning a wiki to each group would be a great way to cater for differentiation within the class. The teacher could appropriately challenge each group encouraging them to move through Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development (ZPD) by providing some support along the way (Snowman et al., 2009). A Wiki is easy to set up and to add information, photos and links to. Please follow the link to my wiki in progress. 

As a teacher it will be important to model supportive behaviour as some students will find it confronting to have their thought/work on show for all to read. Creating a class culture that is supportive and understanding of this would be imperative. It may be challenging to ensure students do not delete others work, accidently or intentionally. Moreover, students will have to be aware of the laws in regards to adding other people’s photos or work — similarly to blogging.

Concept mapping

‘A concept map is a graphical tool for organizing and representing knowledge’ (Cañas & Novak, 2009). Developed in the 1970’s concept mapping or mind mapping has evolved and changed over time, in turn so has the researched that supports this method (Cañas & Novak, 2009). Snoman et al., (2009) maintain that when knowledge is offered in meaningful, structured formats, students will learn and recall more information. Concept maps are underpinned by the constructivist approach (Snoman et al., 2009). Constructivists emphasise for meaningful learning to occur, a student needs to identify prior knowledge in order to learn new knowledge (Snoman et al., 2009).

To utilise this tool through e-learning there are various websites that allow the development of individual mapping. For example bubble.us (please see blog) and text2mindmap.com. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. In addition, both have a different way to structure the mind map and for this reason these two sites will suit different styles of learners. First, bubble.us allows you to work straight into the mind map manipulating the bubbles to suit your needs. At first it seems awkward but after a few attempts it is very easy to master. Whereas text2mindmap.com starts with a structured writing of all the information using heading or subheading to achieve different bubbles and branches. At first I preferred the structured writing approach much better. However after a few attempts I now much prefer the bubble.us approach of using bubbles immediately.

Taking my experience into consideration I would allow students to ‘play around’ with these tools to ensure they could identify their preferred tool. Moreover it would be interesting to split the class into their preference and have them argue and justify why their way is better. If students were working in groups using this tool in the future, it would be important to remember to allow students to keep in their preferred learning style. There is no current safety or legal issues within these two websites, however common sense for the teacher and students alike is always essential.       

Images

In society today we are pressed for time. We live in an age where we also expect ‘things’ to happen quickly. A television commercial has 30 to 60 seconds to get their point across. Billboards and Internet advertisements may have only seconds to get your attention. As a result images have become vitally important in our society. Therefore it seems that students will need to be able to read images as well as words.

Thibault and Walbert (2003), claim that ‘visual literacy’ is a fundamental skill in the 21st century. To be visually literate a student will need to be able to read, make meaning of and communicate through; images; representations and gestures (Thibault & Walbert, 2003). A teacher is required to use images meaningfully not just because it is ‘pretty or cool’. Like reading text, reading images contains many different levels of understanding (Thibault & Walbert, 2003). They can encourage critical and reflective thought along with providing a visual representation of a written explanation (Thibault & Walbert, 2003).     

Strategies for looking at images may be used when first interacting with images. The ‘see think wonder’ tool is a great place to start (Harvard Project Zero, n.d.) The use of a Y chart to promote language to describe what an image looks/sounds/feels like is another method. Encouraging students to find meaning in images will start to develop their visual literacy (Thibault & Walbert, 2003).      

Explicitly teaching students to acknowledge the owner of images when using them online is crucial. Having a class discussion about the copyright laws and why they may be in place will help students understand this rule. Teachers can refer to the smart-copying website for assistance. Teachers must model and instruct students to use flickr and the filter search for copyright free images for use on websites, blogs and wikis. Teaching students to be visually literate will assist in their future interactions with websites, movies and PowerPoint’s. I feel this is a highly valuable tool, to help students use and read images as it will play a major role in their future.    

Conclusion

What a journey I have taken. My personal development and growth throughout this course so far has been fantastic. I had many personal doubts in my possible achievements within e-learning. After a few hiccups (deleting my synopsis, that's all) I feel like I have come so far and I am no longer as afraid to have a go. I still need to learn a few things like saving my work properly, embedding voki's and movies. However I will never know it all, and that is okay. This journey will ensure I am sympathetic to my students as I have gone through feelings of uncertainty and fear. I too know how it is to feel worried that other people will be reading and judging my work in an online collaborative format. Taking this into consideration I honestly feel these experiences will make me a far better learning manager.

References

Cañas, A. J. and Novak, J. D. (2009). What is a Concept Map? Retrieved from

http://cmap.ihmc.us/docs/conceptmap.html

Department of Education and Child Development (DECD). (2008). Blooms taxonomy. Retrieved from

http://www.decd.sa.gov.au/assessment/pages/assessmentstrategies/taxonomy/?reFlag=1

Downes, S. (2004). Educational Blogging. EDUCAUSE Review, 39(5), 14-26.

Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/educational-blogging

Harvard Project Zero (n.d.) Visual Thinking. Retrieved from

http://www.pz.harvard.edu/vt/visibleThinking_html_files/03_ThinkingRoutines/03c_Core_routines/SeeThinkWonder/SeeThinkWonder_Routine.html

Koehler, M., J. (n.d.). TPACK-Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge. Retrieved from

http://www.tpck.org/

Mergel, B. (1998). Instructional design and learning theory. Retrieved from

http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/mergel/brenda.htm#The%20Basics%20of%20Behaviorism

"school". Oxford Dictionaries. April 2010. Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Retrieved from .

Snowman, J., Dobozy, E. & Scevak, J. (2009). Psychology Applied to Teaching (1st ed.). Milton, Queensland, Australia: John Wiley & Sons Australia

Thibault, M. & Walbert, D. (2003). Reading images: An introduction to visual literacy. Retrieved from

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/675

Prensky, M. (2005). Engage Me or Enrage Me: What today’s learner demand. Retrieved from

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0553.pdf

Wiki (2012). Wiki. Retrieved August 19, 2012, from           

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki