Tomas' blog

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Ed Foundations 2 comments (round 2)

G'day Phill,

Here are my two blog comments.

Natalie's Blog

Krissy's Blog

Cheers Tomas

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Critique of Research Journals for ELPC G1

When beginning my Research Journal for ELPC G1 I was very unsure as to what was being asked of me and how I should go about it. This was mostly due to my lack of knowledge and research in the area and so my first research journal wasn’t quite as successful/engaging as I would have liked. The topic was far too broad, my findings weren’t very detailed at all and the majority of my sources were out of date. However with some help and guidance from Megan Poore I was able to begin my second research journal for ELPC G1 with a much stronger idea of what I wanted to achieve and how I would go about it. For these reasons this critique will be mostly based on my second research journal with only a quick summary as to how I would have been able to better my first.

Topic 1: ICT’s effect on teaching and learning. From the title it is evident that the topic that I chose for my first research journal was not going to be successful. Already there are many questions that can be asked. For example: What part of ICT is in question? Which technologies are being used? How are the ICT technologies being used? etc. ICT is an ever-evolving topic and issue (Prestridge, S. 2010) therefore if one is to write about it and make conclusions/informed opinions this must be done with recent sources of information. As previously mention my sources for this research topic were out of date meaning that they weren’t relevant to my topic due to new research and developments done in those areas. For my second Journal I made an effort to provide relevant and up to date sources with the oldest reference only being from 2008. In this reference White and Johnston (2008) discuss how social computing tools such as Moodle and WebCT are reliable and resourceful tools for students. These tools are still being used today even by us which is what makes it an appropriate source for that topic.

With these issues in mind I tackled my second topic of research: ICT within rural and regional education. I chose this topic because I thought it was a relevant issue within ICT and Education today as it not only addressed the problems that rural and regional schools have within education but the impact and benefits that ICT can have in those schools for both students and teachers. The main issues that were covered in this journal are the application of ICT within rural and remote education, how using ICT may enhance educational opportunities within rural and remote communities and how ICT is not only educationally helpful for students but also for teachers.

Although there has been a significant increase in the use of the Internet by Australians continent wide, there are still some significant gaps and inequities that need to be acknowledged if not resolved (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2010, Miniwatts Marketing Group 2010). With this in mind I chose for my first entry how ICT is applied within rural and remote education. To begin with I outlined how there is an increase of ICT in rural schools, however there is still not enough.  I then explained how the National Broadband Network (NBN, 2010) attempted to reduce these inequities by providing equal distribution of broadband Internet to rural and remote areas. I chose only one area of ICT and that was the Internet connection. In hindsight, although I mentioned it in the post, further examples and further research in the following areas would have provided a better understanding for readers as to how ICT is being applied within rural and remote education.  What determines the amounts of computers per schools, how to improve comprehensive support both technically and economically for schools attempting to integrate ICT into their teaching and learning as well as how to upgrade the infrastructure for networked communications.

My second topic discussed how using ICT might enhance educational opportunities within rural and remote communities. This topic I believe was covered quite well with two examples of how ICT enhances educational opportunities within rural and remote communities and both examples being supported with reliable and recent sources. One thing I could’ve reiterated in this post was although there are all these positive opportunities; these opportunities are still along way from being distributed equally and appropriately (Shaw, 2010). The third topic that was covered referred to how ICT is not only educationally helpful for students but also for teachers in rural and regional areas. Teachers can sometimes experience professional and social isolation when living in rural or regional areas due to the location and resources available to them (Trinidad 2010). Examples were given as to how these problems were overcome using ICT not only in Australia but also rural China. These two examples clearly illustrate how ICT is also educationally helpful for teachers, not only students. Further research could’ve been conducted on Readings (2010) forum on his Professional Learning Model in order to gain a deeper understanding of this model and to clearly demonstrate how it helps the teachers involved.

In summary, the first Research Journal presented for ELPC G1 was more of a test run in an attempt to clarify what was being asked as well as how to go about researching and presenting the topic I chose. The feedback that was given after the first research journal was submitted proved to be worthless in my preparation for the second research journal. It clarified a majority of things and presented me with a more defined set of instructions as to how to go about the second research journal entry. This critique was focused mainly on my second research journal because it was of a higher standard academically but also because of how the trail and error of the first journal helped me shape the second.

  Resources

·      Australian Bureau of Statistics (2010). “Household Use of Information Technology, Australia.”

·      Miniwatts Marketing Group. (2010). “Australia Internet Usage Stats and Telecommunications Market Report.” from http://www.internetworldstats.com/sp/ au.htm

·      NBN. (2010). “NBN Co announces next rollout locations.” from http://www.nbnco.com.au/publications-and-announcements/latest- announcements/doc/nbn-co-announces-next-rollout-location

·      Prestridge, S. (2010). ICT professional development for teachers in online forums: Analysing the role of discussion. Teaching and Teacher Education Vol 26.2, p 252-258

·      Reading, C. (2010). Using ICT to increase professional connectedness for teachers in remote Australia. Australian Educational Computing Journal. Vol 25.2 p 3-6

·      Shaw, G. (2010). Getting There: Teacher experiences in applying ICT in rural and remote education. Australian Educational Computing Journal. Vol 25.2 p 17-21

·      Trinidad, S. (2009). Using social computing tools to connect regional and remote teachers and students in Western Australia. In Proceedings of the International Symposium for Innovation in Rural Education (ISFIRE), Innovation for Equity in Rural Education. Vol 12. p. 254-263

·      White, B., & Johnston, S. (2008). The impact of using social computing tools to teach physics across two campuses. Australian Council for Computers in Education, p 626-631

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STS 1 (Post 3)

This week's module covers the National Curriculum and skills for learning. Roger had a good chat to us about how knowing the content of what you teach is of the utmost importance and the national curriculum shows you what that content is. Without you're "expert knowledge" on content you are delivering the students find it hard to respect you and to listen to. On the plus side if you have to go through the learning process yourself then it will hopefully be easier to present this topic to the class in a learnable format. This also touches on the provocation of to what extent is teaching an intellectual pursuit. As you begin to cover more topics and even begin teaching out of your area you continue to learn and so I believe that teaching certainly is an intellectual pursuit. 

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Ed Foundations Blog Post 2

Wayne teaches at an inner city public high school. While he is really excited about his new job close to the inner city suburb where he lives and went to university, he’s finding that not all the students share his enthusiasm for learning. Wayne really enjoys the subject matter of his senior classes and spends a large proportion of his planning time ensuring he has the depth of content covered. However he is finding that his class is falling into two groups. In one a group a number of apparently highly motivated students are intellectually pushing him. Another group seems to consist of students who don’t really want be there. Both groups are causing Wayne concern as it appears that the ‘motivated’ group don’t engage at a deep level and instead want to know the ‘correct’ answers, while the ‘less motivated’ group are difficult for him to engage. A number of students seem to be distracted at school, he thinks they are tired or have perhaps been using drugs and alcohol. He is also concerned that a number of students seem anxious and fearful of not getting into the nearby University

Module B

Something that caught my eye with this scenario was the comment on how Wayne thought that some of his students had been using drugs or alcohol. Zeigler et al (2005) stated that adolescence is a high-risk period of initiating alcohol use and engaging in patterns of high risk drinking, this relates directly to Wayne's thoughts about his students taking alcohol or drugs.  At this stage of their life the human brain is still developing (Leinroot and Giedd, 2006) and studies have shown that Heavy underage drinking causes functional neurological deficits in areas such as verbal and nonverbal performance, memory and learning, problem solving and perceptual motor skills (Parsons, 1998). Another study found that verbal and full scale IQ scores were significantly lower for adolescent alcohol abusers who also displayed inferior reading recognition and spelling achievement (Moss et al, 1994).

All of the previously mentioned skills are of utmost importance to students because it directly influences their ability to learn as well as their ability to participate in the classroom. If Wayne's suspicions about the group that appear unmotivated are correct, then this could be the reason why they appear like they don't want to be there. Wayne would find it difficult to engage these students because the students might have difficulty remembering what was being taught in the previous lessons therefore do not understand the content of the current lesson. The students might also be finding the content harder to keep up with due to these developmental problems and so disengage and give up.

When relating this scenario back to the nine provocations, there are a couple that interest me. What kind of a teacher do I want to be? As we travel further and further into the course I'm slowly learning that I won't be able to connect with every single kid in the class and provide them with the support and encouragement that they need to strive in a positive learning environment. However if I were in Wayne's situation I would direct more of my focus and energy in engaging the unmotivated kids while simultaneously providing challenging and stimulating material for the students who are excelling. As well as that, I would like to be considered as a friend by the students, this would allow me to talk freely and openly among them with confidence about the effects of their alcohol use and how it influences their learning.

What will students want and need from me? In Wayne's case, the class demands a lot from him because of the different levels of engagement and content knowledge for the students. There may also be external factors that are influencing his class. There is only so much Wayne can do in this case. Wayne should obviously keep providing the positive learning environment for his students that he has been doing so far but at the same time maybe try and figure the reason why the other group of students don't really want to be there. Only then will Wayne be able to tackle this problem as he knows the reason and may be able to structure his class's better for them or offer external support/advice for the students.

Resources

Lenroot R.K., Giedd J.N., (2006) Brain development in children and adolescents: Insights from anatomical magnetic resonance imaging. Neuroscience and Behavioural reviews. Vol 30, p 718-729

Moss H.B., Kirisci L., Gordon H.W. and Tarter R.E. (1994) A Neuropsychologic profile of adolescent alcoholics. Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research

Parsons O.A., (1998). Neurocognitive deficits in alcoholics and social drinkers: a continuum? Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research. Vol 22, p 954-961 

Zeigler et al, (2005) The neurocognitive effects of alcohol on adolescents and college students. Preventative Medicine. Vol 40, p 23-32

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STS 1 (Post 2)

As Kerrie openly discussed her past teaching experiences it reinforced that fact that it most if not all pre-service teachers are relatively scared when beginning their first few weeks of teaching. This lecture, I believe, was probably one of the most useful lectures Kerrie has given in the fact that it informs us (pre-service teachers) of some real life experiences and how they were dealt with. It got me thinking as to what type of difficulties i would be facing in my future years as a teacher and how i might be able to successfully deal with them. It also brought my train of thought around to the provocation "Am I ready to teach". I believe that STS along with ELPC, Ed Foundations and PPLE have provided us with more than enough both theory and practical knowledge/ideas/inspiration to be able to manage a successful classroom and learning environment. 

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STS 1

To begin with I really enjoyed Kerrie's Year 8 SoSE class example. It allowed me to realise that involving our students is key to their learning and positive attitudes. She clearly presented how it is possible to employ cross-curricular teaching. She did this by integrating the subjects in both a functional and useful level. This got me thinking on what will students want and need from me. As a teacher, the students not only want the knowledge of the content you are trying to teach but also they want to know how it is applicable to their everyday lives as well as how they might be able to integrate this knowledge to benefit other aspects of their life. 

In this tutorial Roger discussed how important it is to keep the students active and engaged. This message resonated with Phil's tutorial as he stated that interest; relevance and emotion are all necessary to engage the student into deeper and more functional learning. This then encouraged me to think about whether or not i will be allowed to be the teacher i want to be. I think that it will allow me to be  the teacher i want to be because i would like to provide an active learning environment with plenty of group work and discussion in my class. Hopefully this will afford my students relevant and emotional engagement, as they will be accountable to their peers as well as themselves. 

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ICT for the future or ICT is the future?

Information, Communication and Technologies is quickly become a staple tool in modern day schooling and teaching (White, B. 2010). With more and more evidence suggesting that an interactive classroom provides a higher level of student engagement (Gregory, C. 2010) it is becoming increasingly obvious that ICT is the way of future teaching not only for the engagement of face-to-face students but also perhaps for the inclusion of rural or remote students who are not able to be part of a local schooling community. 

ICT is such an effective learning/teaching tool that we are even beginning to use it to teach our future teachers! A fantastic sounding project called "Teaching Teachers of the Future" has received $8 million of funding by the minister for School Education. This project aims to connect ALL of Australia's pre-service teachers across 37 different universities in order to provide support for these teachers as well as a supplying the standard for the use of ICT in future teachers (Romeo, G. 2010).

Resources 

Romeo, G. (2010) Editorial, Australian Educational Computing Journal. Vol 25.2, p 2

Gregory, S. (2010). Enhancing Student Learning with Interactive Whiteboards: Perspective of Teachers and Students. Australian Educational Computing Journal. Vol 25.2, p31-34

White, B. (2010). Using ICT to enhance curriculum opportunities for students in rural and remote areas. Australian Educational Computing Journal. Vol 25.2, p 27-30

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Win Win

Trinidad (2009) stated that many people experience professional and social isolation when living in rural or regional areas due to the location and resources available to them. However with the help of ICT not only can the students use it to their advantage but so can the teachers. Teachers who feel isolated in rural or regional communities and use the ICT tools for both social and professional means. A great example of this can be seen in a very similar situation the Chines are experiencing. They've set up a series of teacher learning resource centres for the more remote and technology poor areas of china so as to improve the interconnectedness and communication between such areas (Robinson, 2008). This system allows fellow teachers to share experiences and learn from each other's mistakes or success's. Although it is certainly different to face-to-face professional development, it still allows teachers to discuss they're thoughts and ideas with others. 

Similarly an updated model, called the Transformative Professional Learning Model has been suggest by Reading (2010), provides teachers from all over Australia the opportunity to have discussions about ideas, teaching styles, teaching techniques as well as their teaching experiences over the internet. These all occur in a forum dedicated to this purpose only. With these resources at hand teachers in remote and rural communities can interact with other teachers and not feel the professional or social isolation that is being experienced throughout rural and remote communities in Australia.

Resources

Reading, C. (2010). Using ICT to increase professional connectedness for teachers in remote Australia. Australian Educational Computing Journal. vol 25.2 p 3-6

Robinson, B. (2008). Using distance education and ICT to improve access, equity and the quality of rural teachers’ professional development in western China.International Review of Research in Open and Distance learning, 9(1), 1-17.

Trinidad, S. (2009). Using social computing tools to connect regional and remote teachers and students in Western Australia. In Proceedings of the International Symposium for Innovation in Rural Education (ISFIRE), Innovation for Equity in Rural Education (pp. 254-263). Armidale: UNE

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ICT to Enhance Opportunities

The use of ICT has massively expanded our accessibility to resources other than those provided by the school or educational institutions that one is at (White, B. 2010). Expanding on this idea, for some students a trip to the museum may be accessible by bus but for others that bus trip could be 8 hours one way. What ICT allow us to do is hold things like video conferences or virtual tours. these tools allow teachers and students to visit places on the other side of the country without leaving their classroom. The repercussions of this are quite big when considering the content that can be learnt through such and "excursion". It also means that the school then doesn't have to fund such trips and provide the adequate supervision for such trips. This allows the already few teachers in remote communities to stay and teach their other classes rather than having to call in substitute teachers to cover the teachers other classes while they are away on such trips. 

Another great example of how ICT is used to enhance opportunities for the students is the use of sites such as Moodle or WebCT. Such sites allow teachers to post either podcast or videos of their lessons. It also allows teachers to provide a various range of digital resources for the students by posting them on the site as well as text documents or PDF's. With all these options students who may have been absent from classes are able to catch up and watch the lesson instead of just missing it. White and Johnston (2008) believe that social computing tools such as Moodle and WebCT are very reliable and resourceful tools for students allowing them a great range of opportunities outside the conventional classroom. 

Resources

White, B. (2010) Using ICT to enhance curriculum opportunities for students in rural and remote areas. Australian Educational Computing Journal. Vol 25.2, p 27-30

White, B., & Johnston, S. (2008). The impact of using social computing tools to teach physics across two campuses. In Australian Computers in Education Conference: Conference Proceedings. Canberra, Australia: Australian Council for Computers in Education, pp 626-631.

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Application

Applying ICT to rural and Remote education

Research that has been carried out during the years of 2007-2010 and present shows that although there is a constant increase in computer equipment throughout rural schools it is still in most cases very limited with its capabilities and/or numbers (Shaw, G., 2010). It also stated that particular schools with access to corporate and community support had a lot more access to computers and availability to such machines than schools located in rural areas.

Although there are a number of initiatives attempting to improve the accessibility to ICT for rural and remote locations for example the National Broadband Network (NBN 2010), the progress and implementation of ICT in these remote areas such as the Northern Territory are still far from finished (Mclaughlin, 2010). So while the application of ICT across the board in rural and remote Australia is reasonably recognised there is still many important issues left to deal with. These issues include amounts of computers per schools, improved comprehensive support, both technically economically, for schools attempting to integrate ICT into their teaching and learning as well as upgrading the of infrastructure for networked communications (Shaw, G. 2010).

Resources

McLaughlin, M. (2010). Remote revolution. The 7.30 Report. Australia, ABC  

NBN. (2010). “NBN Co announces next rollout locations.” from http://www.nbnco.com.au/ publications-and-announcements/latest- announcements/doc/nbn-co-announces-next- rollout-location

Shaw, G. (2010) Getting there: Teacher experiences in applying ICT in remote and rural education. Australian Educational Computing Journal. Vol 25.2 pp 17-21

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ICT Within Rural & Regional Education

After my first set of journal entries and not having done that well I was very unsure as to what my second topic of research would be for our ELPC Research Journal. Not having much of an idea as to what to do I picked a very broad topic and one which i wasn't very interested in. So I decided that for the next set of entries I would try to choose something that I might enjoy looking deeper into. I read an article by N. Alloway and L. Dalley-Trim (2009) which states that both teachers and students believe that rural or regional communities miss out on important educational opportunities due to lack of ICT resources. Although this is also a very broad topic within ICT and education, i believe that it addresses many problems within Australian education. Results have been shown that through the use of ICT, disadvantages suffered by remote schools can be reduced (Reading. C,. 2009). This can relate to the disadvantages suffered by both the students and the teachers.

So for my second topic in my research journal for ELPC G1 i've decided to look into ICT within rural and regional education. Within the next few post i will be covering the areas of the application of ICT within rural and remote education, how using ICT may enhance educational opportunities within rural and remote communities and how ICT is not only educationally helpful for students but also for teachers. Below is a cheeky mind map of the topics that i'll cover.

Resources

Alloway, N., & Dalley-Trim, L. (2009) ‘High and dry’ in rural Australia: obstacles to student aspirations and expectations. Rural Society, v.19, no.1, pp 49-59

Reading. C., (2009). Social computing: reducing isolation in remote Australian schools. In Innovation for Equity in Rural Education: Symposium Proceedings SiMERR National Center, UNE, Armidale NSW, Australia pp 197-204

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Decision Time

Although there is no data to suggest that there is a direct connection between the use of ICT and improved learning of the student, there is evidence of its benefits as previously stated. According to research, it is widely agreed by influential educational researchers that it a direct link will never be made between ICT and Learning because it is only one piece of the puzzle. it must be used in collaboration with many other tools and learning environments in order to be employed successfully (Newhouse, C.P., 2002).  

ICT has the potential to very positively impact both the teaching and learning experiences in schools today. It is most commonly used as a facilitator in providing further access to knowledge and information as well as creating positive learning environments. Although ICT has the potential to cause problems the benefits greatly outweigh the negatives which is why there is such widespread use of ICT today. 

Reference:

Newhouse, C.P., (2002) The Impact of ICT on Learning and Teaching.Western Australia Department of Education. p 51-52

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Why Less is More

With such a rapid level of technological advancement some teachers would argue that it is hard to keep up! A very clever point made by Rieber and Williver (1989) brings them back down to earth. Reiber and Williver (1989) said that the lecture and text based model of teaching is actually a product of new technology as well which back then was the printing press. On the other hand the students might find it all a bit overwhelming being asked to participated in various ICT applications at once. From personal experience I find it quite difficult to manage our Ning, Twitter, Moodle, Tumblr, Wiki and my personal email. When using ITC in the classroom is is also important to take into the account the computer literacy of the students. Although a larger majority of the class may be interested in and enjoy the use of computers there is on average 5% of students in class's who do not (Newhouse, P.C., 2002). So in order to make ICT a more useful tool, for this 5% of students or for the overwhelmed student, simplification as well as unification of ICT applications may be key.

References:

Reiber, L.P., & Welliver, P.W. (1989) Infusing educational technology into mainstream educational computing. International Journal of Instructional Media. p21-32

Newhouse, C.P., (2002) The Impact of ICT on Learning and Teaching. Western Australia Department of Education. p 51-52

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Facilitator or Facinator

A study performed by Haywood et al (2004) illustrated that only 3% of students at the University of Edinburgh (out of a sample population of 1200) thought that ICT was either a hindrance or something of a distraction and the remainder 97% of students in the survey considered it as a very considerable benefit or at least helpful. This is a very strong trend that shows ICT as a facilitator in learning. Another study showed that 95% of respondents to the survey used their "WebCT" to view online lectures and 76% of the respondents used it to view past exam papers (Haywood et al, 2004). 

With reference to the information above it is safe to say that ICT can provide very positive and useful tools for students to learn as well as teachers to implement in their teaching. This however can only be successful if the teacher is able to competently manage and employ these tools.

Reference:

http://74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache:_Ws1a7PF-C4J:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5

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ICT's Effect on Teaching and Learning

For hundreds of years class rooms around the world have thrived without the help of ICT but now that its available it seems as if teaching cannot be done without it. In 1999 Becker et al stated that teachers are more inclined to use ICT as a teaching aid because in doing so it will provide a better learning environment for the student. This resonates with the learning pyramid in that it allows for student interactions like discussions (be it online) as well as visual learning and practice by doing. However, even though ICT can provide large benefits  it must also be used in collaboration with other resources and techniques in order to provide the positive learning environment in which a student learns best. 

Although ICT (if implemented well) can be a very positive tool,  it also requires a measure of risk evaluation in terms of the students privacy and personal information. this can also lead to tangent issues. for example student miss-use as well as inappropriate conduct. 

References:

Becker, H.J., Ravitz, J.L, &Wong, Y.T. Teacher and Teacher-Directed Student Use of Computers and Softwear. Irvine, Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations, University of California. (1999)

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Teaching and Learning Revamped

What is ICT's impact on modern teaching and learning experiences? How does it affect the students? 

Higgins (2003) states there is evidence suggesting that ICT can have a positive impact on student learning and that it can also improve teaching efficacy. Higgins (2003) also identified however that various concerns of ICT have to be taken into consideration if it is to work effectively. 

The mind map below is an outline of what i'm going to be covering in my journal. I will attempt to explore the above questions and make an informed decision as to whether or not ICT does make a difference.

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Reference:

Higgins, S.J., (2003) Does ICT improve learning and Teaching in schools? British educational research association. p5.

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Mind Map for Teaching and Learning Revamped post.