This morning we have the pleasure of listening to Dr. Elizabeth Murphy from Memorial University of Newfoundland where she is an Associate Professor of Education-Technology. Her presentation began with a review of the changes that are taking place in the digital world. The background was a look at “then” and “now”.
She then moved onto discuss her study of e-learning in Newfoundland using activity theory to guide her study. She interviewed 18 teachers who had various experience with e-learning and in teaching. The theory is based on Constructivism
There were 8 themes that came out of the study that she did. The first was the move from a classroom of learner to a community of learners. Building a sense of community with the students that are taking part in the class is different but essential in online learning. There needs to be time to bring the individuals together to share and work. The second is the shift from the teacher is the instructor to teacher is the designer. – Inf2f we learn a variety teaching strategies that we can use at different times and, when we have a particular situation, that is what we do. However, in online environments, the teacher does not have that opportunity – to make sure the student is paying attention so the emphasis shifts to engaging the student.
Next, teacher centered to student centered focus. – Illuminatelive – used to bring student and teacher together is still a very controlling environment – teacher is still in control while the internet provides the student with more options and allows the student to direct the learning while still allowing the teacher to be along as guide. This leads to the next theme which is to move from teacher control to student responsibility. In a f2f class the teacher can see the students – can see them on or off task and can bring them back while in an online environment that is not there so there needs to be a change from teacher directed to student responsibility where the student is responsible for their own learning.
Teacher preferred tools to student preferred tools – this could be a way to get students really involved. Students like IM, allowing them to use the tools from the internet gives them the ability to communicate in a manner in which they are comfortable.
Student learning time – being independent time. This theme is a reflection that what the students are doing is not homework but learning opportunities that go beyond where they are at the moment, asking them to create something from their understanding.
The next theme, one teacher voice to multiple student voices, looks at the f2f of the classroom which is teacher controlled opposed to the online environment where they can IM while instruction is going on. The idea that students can multi-task and still be learning.
The final theme that came out was that of the structured and controlled classroom to democratic learning environments – which allow for learning that would go veyond where they are now through the interaction.
Another YouTube video – Learner-centered e-teaching practices in high school – teaching music over the internet which really showed the use of the internet in teaching. Take a minute to view the video.
I think that many of the people at the conference were able to get some good ideas from this presentation. For me, it was a repeat of what I and many others have been discussing for months. The examples were good but it really didn’t answer the question of how to get the transition to go from a drip to at least a steady trickle.
I’m in a session with Donna Desroche from North Battleford. She was a library technologist and, just recently became a technology coordinator. She was having a great time doing this presentation!
Institutional Context – Comprehensive Community School that is very diverse with an alternate option and AP courses. The school was using Linux/redhat – made the change in 2000. This created some difficulty for the teachers who were use to other applications and had to switch. However, now that the system is stable, there is incredible access to the internet. The school has one-to-one acces. The students use the computers to: play games, chat, YouTube, MySpace, and other activities in the library – when done their work.
Teachers were uncertain, unsure, unprepared, uncomfortable. They now do attendance and marks online. They are using it for email. A SELU survey revealed that the things were in place to use technology but the teachers were not ready. Therefore, support for the teachers was needed for technology use. They put in place – Information Literacy Program – for the teachers with representatives from each department in the school. The committee had to learn some things before they began. They did some group learning and then pulled in some grade 9 teachers as the beginning place for the technology. Using online databases were important and the committee saw that there was a need to learn some different literacies.
From this came the formation of the research question and the proposal for the research and a grant. The money was used to release time. They then began to establish information literacy benchmarks and create and conduct research about what was happening with students in the school.
To do the research they decided to use an information Problem Solving Model to work through the process. The Model – Prepare, find, use, share, evaluate – allowed them to see where they were at the start and what eventually took place on different levels. The grant required them to demonstrate learning/non-learning and the model helped them to demonstrate their findings.
Pre-Assessment – Based on Benchmarks using questions adapted the TRAILS benchmark questions – using the quiz portion of Moodle.
Moodle – course management system – which allows you to put all the information on the system that you require. Used the information – combined with information from Data-Driven Dialogue – to look at the data from the pre-assessment. There were some interesting things that the teachers found from this and were able to use. They then put the information on a wiki – which also has supports that teachers requested in order to help teachers to incorporate some of the things that were in the benchmarks and assessment. There were many different lesson plans that were created through this process and used with the students.
They then created the Living Sky School Division Information Literacy Portal using Drupal – the walled garden – keeping the tools within the confines of the school. This is not finished but is a work in progress. This will be used by teachers to help them find and use information more readily. The division continues to work on this, exploring ways to develop technology skills in their students.
Donna’s presentation was informative and interesting. There were several handouts with information. For more information, drop by her website at classroomtechtips.wordpress.com . Thanks Donna for an interesting and informative session.
