Synopsis

Today’s society is saturated in digital technologies, transforming how people learn, work, play and socialise. This is especially true for the current generation of children today, as the Internet has always existed for them. This holds huge implications for learning managers as they are preparing their students for success in contemporary society. ELearning in the classroom supports students within the twentieth century world through the use of information and communication technology (ICT). ELearning applied with sound pedagogies can transform, support and enhance learning in flexible and innovative ways (Waterhouse, 2003). ICT pedagogies applied in the classroom can extend to range of possibilities in exciting and new ways not previously possible. ICT moves beyond using a technological tool to present information, to creating new learning possibilities that enable interactions with local and global communities. Classrooms are no longer confined to the four walls of the classroom.

I am personally excited for my future practice to see teaching and learning transformed by technology. The problem I see facing children today is the lack of engagement into learning. Prensky (2000) states students face the issue of “Engage Me or Enrage Me,” demonstrating the traditional ‘chalk and talk’ teaching needs to be updated. I see ICT as the driving force for change, as the tools can be applied to any learning regardless of the context to facilitate, support and enhance learning. I would use ICT as an engagement and motivation tool for learning and to support individual and group interactions to foster active, intentional and authentic learning (Jonassen, Peck & Wilson, 1999). ICT further provides students with autonomy within their learning journey as they manipulate objects, pose questions, research answers, imagine, investigate, and invent. Elearning has many positive areas, however, learning managers need to consider the barriers and limitations, such as the repetitiveness and over use of the same technologies (see my on blog YouTube). Time constraints can also affect the final outcome and the students’ feelings of success. E-safety is another area that can restrict student access, along with the students’ ability to apply netiquette (Jenkins, 2010). The most common theme of limitation in eLearning is the availability of computers and technology in the classroom; while there are some drawbacks to ICT the positive far outweighs the negative, and there are ways around obstacles using appropriate pedagogy.

ELearning pedagogies applied to teaching and learning can engage students enabling new learning to take place beyond the traditional teacher, library, pencil, paper and if the budget allows, excursions and visitors. Personally I am excited at the prospect of connecting students globally via wikis, email, videos and video conferencing. Students are enabled to virtually leave the classroom, utilising the productive pedagogy, ‘connectedness to the world,’ which directly links to the students’ wider social and global contexts (The State of Queensland, Department of Education and Training, 2002). Students can create interviews for visitors via skype, email, and partake in online community events. Classrooms around the continent can connect to create and share videos; combining knowledge as they share their culture. These types of learning above support the constructivist’s view of learning as students collaborate interactively (Jonassen, Peck, & Wilson, 1999). Knowledge is constructed, emergent, grounded in action and experienced socially.

ICT can bring about new learning environments and models of schooling. Elearning centred environments can partake in both synchronous and asynchronous learning that extends beyond the barriers of communication, time and distance (see blog comment, website) (Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs [MCEETYA], 2005, p 8). Teachers and students are able to work in newer and smarter ways, accessing experts and other learning networks to share, plan, examine, challenge, research, communicate, collaborate, design and create (Education Queensland, 2002). ICT is integral for learning to create real life authentic tasks that engage students into learning and higher order thinking. Learning managers need to prepare students in the present ‘knowledge based economy’ for success in the unknown ‘future economy.’

I have selected four tools to further explore, as I believe these tools are the most effective in preparing students for the future. They are creating movies, learning objects, wikis and concept mapping, the first tool being Moviemaker. Moviemaker is a video creating and editing software that is extremely versatile. In my blog I created a movie to share and communicate my ideas of the arts. In the classroom I would use Moviemaker as an end of assessment piece, to showcase student-learning (see blog) and to apply dimension four to use knowledge meaningfully (Marzano & Pickering, 1997) as they plan, synthesis, justify, conclude, design and organise information (Bloom, 1956). In the classroom movies are generally used in a passive manner, however: I have specifically chosen this tool because it supports constructivist learning as it can be transformed into an active tool that requires the learners to become the producers of knowledge. I would use movies to transform information to develop new understandings; in this paradigm students must be constructive, intentional, creative and cooperative to produce a movie (Jonassen, Peck, & Wilson, 1999). Integrating media in the classroom encompasses the engagement theory as students work in cooperative groups on project based and authentic tasks (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999).

The second tool I have selected is learning objects (LO) to access and gain information. I would utilise LOs as a whole class to teach and demonstrate knowledge and then on an individual level for students to gain and access information independently. LOs are highly engaging multimedia including sound, graphic, text, video and animation that I would use as a single lesson within a unit of work. I would apply LOs to demonstrate abstract concepts in concrete forms, for example Maths. See the blog for further positive aspects of applying LOs (blog). LOs can show learning through real life authentic tasks that would not be possible elsewhere, connecting to the Productive pedagogy of ‘connectedness to the world’ (State of Queensland, Department of Education and Training, 2002). Students are also able to progress past recalling and understanding information to applying and analysing information, which stated by McInerney and McInerney (2006), produces deeper learning and develops higher order thinking. Furthermore LOs allow students to participate in activities that connect to the outside world in a safe and secure environment.

The third tool is a wiki, which is a part of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web content using any Web browser. I would use a wiki for activities that involve student collaboration as they support the constructivist approach whereby learners are actively engaged in creating knowledge. Students’ intrinsic motivation is encouraged through ownership and creative control of wikis as they construct and produce complex knowledge bases. I would apply the use of a wiki within group work whereby students have to consolidate information to present the knowledge base as a wiki. To apply this, the framework of the Big6 would support students learning as the construct and form their wikis. The Big6 would support students’ research skills as they shift through a mountain of information available on the Internet (Eisenberg & Berkowitz, 2002). Further use of a wiki would be to create a classroom newsletter of current events in and outside of the school; further ideas are posted on my blog (see first comment on wiki). The positive effect of using a wiki is the flexible and each student can be involved in the creation (see second blog comment on wiki).

The fourth tool I have chosen is online concept mapping. This tool enables the learners to clearly demonstrate and present the relationships between a concept or idea. It allows learners to interrelate concepts and visual representations of what they have learned. Concept mapping supports constructivist learning, which maintains that knowledge is constructed by the learner (Jonassen, Peck, & Wilson, 1999). I would use this tool to help students plan their work and then have students post their concept maps onto a wiki or website where students could effortlessly share and consolidate their information. This relates to the Big6 as students define their task and brainstorm possible areas to search for information. Students would then add on their key ideas that they found from their sources, which in relation to the Big6 would be locate and access, use of information and synthesis (Eisenberg & Berkowitz, 2002). I would also use this tool as a formative assessment to see the learner’s ability to describe and present their understandings of the complex inter-relationships of the subject matter. There are many positives in using an online concept map, rather than the traditional form (see blog comment). There are many different online concept maps that could be utilised depending on the age and ability of the learners (see comment).

ICT applied with sound pedagogy can transform the classroom to create new learning journeys and modes of teaching. Ultimately the positive effect of ICT is made possible through the scaffolding and use of constructive frameworks to support and enhance learning to create authentic and connect to the world outside the classroom.

References

Bloom B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives, handbook I: The cognitive domain. NY: David McKay Co Inc.

Education Queensland. (2002). Education and training reforms for the future:
ICT's for Learning 2002 -2005.

Eisenberg, M., & Berkowitz, B. (2010). The big 6. Retrieved from http://www.big6.com/

Marzano, R.J. & Pickering, D.J. (1997). Dimensions of learning: Teacher’s manual (2nd ed.). Colorado, US: McREL.

McInerney, D., & McInerney, V. (2006). Educational psychology: Constructing learning. (4th ed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson.

Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. (2005). Pedagogy strategy. Carlton South, Vic: Curriculum Corporation.

Prensky, M. (2005). Engage me or enrage me: what today’s learners demand.
Retrieved from
http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0553.pdf

The State of Queensland, Department of Education and Training. (2002). Productive pedagogies: Classroom reflection manual. Brisbane, Qld: Author.

Jenkins, H. (2010). Learning in a participatory culture: A conversation about new media and education. Retrieved from http://henryjenkins.org/2010/02/_children_and_young_people.html

Jonassen, D. H., Peck, K. L., & Wilson, B. G. (1999). Learning with technology: A constructivist perspective. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Kearsley, G., & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm

The State of Queensland, Department of Education and Training. (2002). Productive pedagogies: Classroom reflection manual. Brisbane, Qld: Author.