My last few posts have strayed away from the learning end of things, exploring a few other things that are linked to education but not dealing directly with learning. So what have I been up to?
The last little while, I’ve been working with wikis and blogs, getting my students using them in class. Now, I ran into problems with IE7 and wikispaces. For some reason, the combination of the IE7, the filter we have and the way wikispaces is set up didn’t allow us to access the site I had created. So, after one false start, over to pbwiki I went. I set up the site for the class and we got down to work. The class has seemed to like working with the wiki. They have done quite a bit of work in just one class. I’ve also had them working on the blogs for awhile and their entries have been very good. They are beginning to read the entries of other people and make comments. I am thinking of moving them over to the edublogs site for a bit more access by others. I have also established a calendar for their timelines and homework so that they have this information available to them at all times.
Now, I maintain a school website with due dates and homework for the classes but, if this all works, I will definitely be switching to using a wiki for each class, their assignments, due dates and timelines. It seems to be working very well.
Now, my second class, Communication Production Technology, has been working from my website and have just begun using the wiki and the blog. This class is a little different in that they don’t really have much interest in any sort of work being done in school. We are doing podcasts and are now moving to videos. My plan is for each of the students to do a documentary about a subject that they are passionate about. This is proving more difficult than I first anticipated. The class is not motivated to do much work. So, I’ve take the approach that we go through the content, I discuss the information and we look at the technical aspects. I then give the due date and we proceed. I’ve one or two who work on the tasks, depending on what they feel like while the rest like to watch trailers and videos. It’s too bad. The topics that we are covering allow for a wide variety of topics that they could explore. I’ve suggested their favourite bands, movies, things they are interested in like trucks & cars to no avail.
At some point, I see that the students need to be responsible for their own work and achievement. Without that internal motivation, no amount of cajoling will work. As a teacher, this really frustrates me because I know that most other groups of students would be jumping at the opportunity to do this type of stuff especially the documentary. To explore a topic they are passionate about would really appeal to them.
Unfortunately, some of our students have had the excitement of learning extinguished. They have great ideas and are great kids but school, as it is right now, does not work for them no matter what we try to do. Right now, school is the last place they want to be because they see no relevance to what they are doing. They see it as being something completely foreign to what they will do later on. Much like the
Download might be something for our students. All I know is that it saddens me to see these students so disinterested but we must continue to try to find that spark that will start the fire burning again.
5 responses so far ↓
I think it’s difficult sometimes for students to do projects if they aren’t springing out of some interest or the content they are covering in class.
I run across that fairly often in the library when classes can “pick their own topic.” Some tricks I use–maybe they’ll help–
Have kids bring in a few newspaper or magazines aboutsomething they are interested in, to get the brainstorming going.
Use Inspiration software or just brainstorm with Word ideas the class could do for the school. Maybe there is some video the campus needs? Like how to be safe online, or a video tour of the school?
Like I said, as with anything, I think it’s easier if the content comes first and then they are using the technology to communicate the content.
I do agree though–for some kids just because it’s “school” it’s hard to get them to engage.
Maybe that’s what the videos should be about–how they would redesign school??
Kelly,
I share your frustration! I have just given my students the opportunity to study any topic they choose in Science for their wiki pages we just started. Short of one pair of overachievers (that I mentioned in my blog), the group seems very apathetic.
However I think “choose your own topic” can be very difficult for students who have spent years being fed criteria checklist style assignments. I am constructing a post now (in my mind- & hopefully on my blog this long weekend) that looks at the pedagogy involved in such assignments. As Carolyn says (above), “it’s easier if the content comes first and then they are using the technology to communicate the content.” …But I think it is more than that, it is setting clear objectives, ‘ownership’ of the criteria, and clear expectations around expected outcomes… So much to consider!
I think that I am guilty of seeing the value of using technology in guiding learning, but not effectively guiding learning in my technology use.
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These situations are ones I see frequently as a librarian as I mentioned.
But I think most of us, if told we can research anything we want, might be stumped for a little while if it was that open ended. I think that you’re right about setting clear objectives.
And I think it is more than just the fact that kids are used to having defined assignments. Even the assignment to “do whatever you want” is still an assignment–it’s not their own motivation driving them, it’s ours.
I think somewhere in there, we all know what we’d like to know more about, but it’s hard to start that “cold”. I think any kind of prompts, strategies, and discussion we can use to help students start thinking about their own interests is helpful.
Having them clip newspaper or magazine articles on some topics ahead of time—having them bookmark three websites that interest them ahead of time–brainstorming with the whole class–all these are strategies that help them get started on realizing they do have interests.
Carol Kuhlthau has some interesting work on the research process, and part of what she talks about are the emotional stages students/all of us go through during the research process. The anxiety at the beginning of a project and inability to think of something is one of the normal stages she defines. We all get more confident as we catch on to an idea and then start researching it, and our motivation gets stronger to do more. I think her work is really helpful in helping understand how students feel and why they don’t perform the way we might expect, especially in the beginning stages, and why they need some scaffolding to internalize the process.
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