More on digital tools

This week we have been asked to look at more digital tools that may be of use in the classroom. While there is a need to remember that technology is pointless for its own sake, it would be equally pointless, perhaps more so, to ignore its use due to personal prejudices. The tools we look at this week are digital images, podcasting/audio and digital video. Of course all these could be taught in their own right as part of an IT subject, at this time however, it is how they may be used to assist teaching across a more general range of subjects that is being looked at. Before starting though, everything mentioned below needs to answer this; like any classroom tool, if the teacher, and therefore the student, are unable to identify a clear purpose for its use, why use it?

Images have long been used in the classroom. Whether it be photography, paintings, digital art or even using graphs or other imagery to illustrate a point, the use is well established. The secret of their use has not changed. Students are not interested in watching a slide show of one irrelevant image after the other. The added challenge that digital images offer is that this is a much easier trap to fall into, as there is a whole internet full of quality images, each one better than the last. The key to this remains the same. What is its purpose? What point are you trying to make? I should not have to mention, is it appropriate? There it is though, just in case. The picture below could be used to start a conversation about domestic violence.

I have discussed in an earlier blog post how video has the potential to change how teaching is conducted. With that in mind, I will feel at liberty to discuss them in the same breath as podcasts and the like. Keeping with the idea that these tools should only be used to add to learning, something like this podcast from Radio National could be utilised. A series looking at multiculturalism, this could be used either as homework or broken into sections within the classroom then form the basis of a class, learning experience, conversation, or prompt for further research.

There is a great deal of material already available online, though that should not stop enterprising teachers and students from creating their own, unique material. A teacher could use a podcast or clip to explain a task or outline a topic. Poetry could be recorded so that individual interpretation would be able to be heard. Students could use recorded interviews with town elders as part of a local history assignment. In this manner, not only is the story recorded, the language and rhythm of the locality is captured as well. There are a wide range of tools to play with, including a variety of apps from the various players in the market. Below is something incredibly stupid I put together with the basic video maker that came with my laptop. Even with my ridiculously slow internet, this took only minutes to have this uploaded to youtube. With some thought, really cool things could be developed. Obviously this is not the case here, proving my earlier point that a purpose for learning should be clear.

Apart from not wanting to use these tools for their own sake, my only other real concern for having students use them, is the problem of getting caught up in the process. As cool as these things are, it is possible they can become distractions from the learning experience that the teacher is attempting to create. This too can be managed with a small amount of care and perhaps some restrictions. All in all though, these three tools are yet more to add to the teacher’s digital arsenal.

Drayton Sonnet No.6

A little bit of poetry analysis from this terms poetry journal

How many paltry, foolish, painted things, 

That now is coaches trouble every street, 

Shall be forgotten, whom no Poet sings, 

Ere they be well wrapt in their winding-sheet. 

Where I to thee eternity shall give, 

When nothing else remaineth of these days, 

And Queens hereafter shall be glad to live 

Upon the alms of thy superfluous praise. 

Virgins and matrons, reading these my rhymes, 

Shall be so much delighted with thy story 

That they shall grieve they liv'd not in these times, 

To have seen thee, their sex's only glory. 

So shalt thou fly above the vulgar throng, 

Still to survive in my immortal song.

Predating young Williams’s work, I would have to call this an English sonnet. The ABAB rhyme, three quatrains, the turn and a couplet leave me with no other choice. This sonnet caught my eye with the contempt or disdain Mr Drayton shows for all other women when compared to his heart’s desire. From the collection of sonnets that make up Idea, published in 1619, this sonnet is one of 73 proclaiming the glories of Anne Goodeere, whom Drayton was said to be in love with (Jokinen, 2007).

The ‘paltry, foolish and painted things,’ troubling ‘every street’, seem to be utterly unworthy of his, or anyone’s contemplation. He states as much in the second half of the first quatrain, they will be dead and gone with none to remember them. This language marks all other women as very poor things indeed. In this first quatrain he is also setting up the rest of the sonnet; the ‘whom not poet sings,’ line is in direct contrast to what he is offering below.

The next quatrain sees him let his ego off the leash, claiming that even queens will be glad to live on the leftovers from his praise. The idea of achieving immortality through words is presented more clearly in these lines; only hinted at in the first quatrain. This immortality is a gift able to be bestowed by the author, the words surviving long after what ‘remaineth of these days’. Drayton is gifting Anne with ‘eternity’.

The last of the quatrains bring both their glories together; his writing and her splendour. Written at about the same time, it is not too far leap to the sentiment of Shakespeare’s St Crispin’s day speech in Henry V. where those not able to be at the battle or, in this case, witness the beauty shall ‘hold their manhoods cheap’ or ‘grieve they have not lived in these times’. Again, Drayton is returning to the idea of immortality achieved through words. This time he is suggesting that not only will they be wishing for but a fraction of the praise outlaid in these sonnets, they will also regret that they were not around to witness the beauty here described, the turn crowning her the female ‘sex’s only glory’.

The couplet contains a promise, that through his words, she will forever be above all others, or the ‘vulgar throng’ in Drayton’s words. The promise of immortality also returns, this time directly attributing this ability to his ‘immortal words’.

I am left in no small amount of awe at the level of devotion Michael Drayton displays in this work. This particular sonnet I found quite amusing, though all of the sonnets combined are an epic work of flattery. Mr Keating spoke of poetry being used to 'woo women', this takes it to a whole other level.

http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/draybio.htm

Teaching tools of the web - week 3 e-learning blog

This week in e-learning, we have been asked to come to grips with a variety of tools available to all in the online world. The expectation has been for us to engage and play with three in particular, websites spaces such as Weebly, collaboration sites like Wikispaces, as well as the wonderful world of the blog like we have here. I was only supposed to discuss one, though became excited and did all three. At first, either knowing nothing about the tools or, having not used them, not being aware the extent of their capabilities, it may seem like this might all just be tech for tech’s sake. Indeed, there are many sceptics out there, who say that, beyond a few key tasks, the uses of technology and Web 2.0 tools are much overrated. Even those of us who are excited about the whole idea, such as myself, are only just waking up to the possibilities.

The most obvious place to start this discussion is at home, right here in blogworld. As I have stated elsewhere I started this more as a repository for myself than anything else. In its most simplest form, the same application can be made in the classroom setting. To push it along that path, perhaps a blog may even be a replacement for exercise books. Imagine a world where a student can no longer say they left their book at home or ‘the dog ate it’. It gets better though. The teacher no longer has to lug around books for marking. Checking for plagiarism would be a simple matter of cut and paste into a search bar. Students can support each other without spending hours on the phone. The ability to link to clips and articles makes the task a lot simpler for all involved. If I had had this at school, it would not have mattered that my hand writing was, and is, horrible. This really is just scratching the surface with thoughts arising as I type. A quick search finds many resources, such as these, these and those ones. Thinking of my own teaching disciplines, a blog could be where students post their essays for English. For HPE, they could embed a clip of someone performing an action, serve or jump for example, for critiquing purposes. Students and teachers need only be limited by their will and imagination.

Had I known about Weebly earlier in the year, I probably would not have started this blog when I did. It really is the kind of space I was looking for to store links, clips and other bits and pieces. On top of this, it presents information in a way that is so nicely ordered that, as a place to store items online, I have not seen better, although I dare say there are others out there offering pretty much the same service. For a teacher, it is easy to see how this could become your online classroom. Lessons arranged in topic folders. Links and clips all in one space. The ability to interact through comments. This is a tool I know I will be using. Often I have seen in the classroom students becoming distracted by the level of information available to them. While it is an important skill, to be able to cut through the rubbish and find the gold, having a space they can come back to where there is order could be most helpful. As I mentioned when discussing the blog, this is another tool that could help to replace the exercise book, at least as an item to be handed in. My first stumbling steps are here.

The last tool we looked at this week was Wikispaces. We have used this before in this course, the De Bono’s hats below, as well as other courses this term. This is the classroom in your pocket. As discussed in the earlier post, the level of interactivity is incredibly high. Students and teachers are able to edit the page with their own findings and questions. There is space for conversation at the bottom of the page to keep the task and the chatter separate. Earlier today, I quickly whipped up this space as an example. The idea would be for students to do their own research and develop their own opinions before sharing them with the class. As new questions may arise, myself or a student could add them to the table. This can be a static or ever expanding room for interaction based on sharing views. Particularly in subjects where there is interpretation and opinion, this is probably the most obvious web tool we have looked at. The space you are able to create is very customisable and the scope for use very broad.

While there is a continued need to be thoughtful in the application of technology in the classroom and technology does not hold all the answers, there is no need for fear and scepticism. For me, as I have explored each tool, uses have become apparent the more I have interacted with them. I am sure I will adapt some things and leave others as experience builds, just as I am sure others will use these tools quite differently to the way I will. There is cause for excitement in all this. Technology is not the enemy; it is a fantastic addition to the teachers storeroom of resources.

Does connectivist learning theory lead to ignorance?

Reading an article on the results of an Australian science survey, reminded me of a conversation I once had with a mother regarding her apparently gifted son. The article, linked below, suggested one of the potential reasons for the falling results was the increasing reliance on technology to provide speedy answers. The mother in the conversation, questioned why there is a need for students to put things in their own words, rather than just cutting and pasting. I did explain that this could be considered a little thing called plagiarism, though she was quick to dismiss this through referencing. It may seem a reasonable argument in this day and age. Why is there a need to be able to recall facts when they are so readably available? By finding the right information, the student is demonstrating knowledge of the task being asked of them and how to go about piecing together. Is any more really necessary?

 The concept of connective learning, the idea that it is more important to know how to access knowledge than to acquire it, seems fairly rational at first. We are told we live in the knowledge era; where all knowledge is freely available and that knowing how to apply that knowledge is the most important thing. This is all very good and, for the curious minded, very exciting. Is knowledge simply a commodity though? A means to an end? I would suggest not.

While certainly able to be treated in this manner, it is not and should not be reduced to this. To me, this treatment answers the how, what and where. Perhaps the most important question of all though is the why. The why is the driver of innovation. The why is what drives new thought and causes sleepless nights as a person lies there, pondering that exact question. Why? Young children know this importance. They ask it constantly. It can be quite wondrous to explore how something works. To explore the intricacies that go into something greater than the sum of its parts. This view, nevertheless, sails straight past the conceptualisation of it all. Whether it is a jet engine, or the concept of flight, without a mind asking the why in the first place, the idea would never get off the ground.

Which brings me back to the question in the heading. Having recently been going over learning theory again, the concepts were fresh in my mind and caused me to ponder. The other three core learning theories, behaviourism, cognitivism and social construction, seem to be obvious in their connectedness. Each builds on the other to create effective learning. Connectivism and those who wittingly or not believe it to be the way of the future, seem to be saying that it can exist in relative isolation. In response to this, I ask what is the point of having all the knowledge in the world if you know not what it means? If the survey, also linked below, truly is a sign of things to come, then rather than an era of knowledge, we are approaching an epoch of committed ignorance.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-17/science-literacy-falling-among-young-adults/4824232

http://www.science.org.au/reports/science-literacy.html

Another way in which the Internet can effect real change on schooling 

I have been very interested in this for a while, the concept of flipping the classroom was brought home to me today as I discussed the idea with a teacher is attempting to implement this in their current school. Very much following the concepts outlined so eloquently by Salman Khan in the TED talk linked to below, I have been able to listen to some the obstacles he is facing from those who are not believers. While I understand the concerns, as well as it flying in the face of decades, if not centuries, of teaching theory, there comes a time when new ideas need be pushed ahead regardless of the resistance.

More and more we are hearing about the knowledge era which is superseding the computer age. The idea that education can only come from a teacher belongs to the past. In my last post I discussed that for E-learning, we had been looking at the use of mobile phones in classroom settings. Developing that idea with what Salman talks about below, we can imagine a student engaging in their lesson while waiting for their parents to finish grocery shopping, catching a train or really any spare moment they have with a wifi connection.

Mobile Phone wiki

Mobile Phone Wiki Activity - Reflection.

As part of E-learning, this week we have been looking at the use of mobile phones in the classroom. To allow us to do this in a truly collaborative E-way, a wiki was set up for us all to comment in. De Bono’s six thinking hats were used as the structure for discussion.

The activity utilised the five Dimensions of learning theories, which is the framework on which effective learning is built (Marzano & Pickering, 1997). In particular, aspects of dimension three, such as analysing perspectives were used, as well large chunks from all parts of dimension five.

The collaborative use of the thinking hats framework truly allowed our group, which is scattered across the nation, to have a free flowing exchange of ideas, while still keeping us within defined parameters. The thinking hats themselves, I find, really push and challenge my thinking, forcing me to question preconceived ideas. The subject matter of this task, mobile phones in classrooms, was an excellent choice for this exact reason. My first thoughts were all very black hat; seeing the elements of added distractions in the classroom, with limited, if any, ideas of how they might be used effectively. Being forced to think outside what I thought I knew, I started to become quite excited about the possibilities that the technology may offer. The use of the wiki allowed me to witness other students going through the same thought process.

Reference

Marzano, R.J. & Pickering, D.J. (1997). Dimensions of learning teacher’s manual (2nd ed.). Aurora, CO: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning.

Image

 http://gigglepotz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/poster1.jpg

Multiple intelligence/learning style quizzes and me.

Have performed this test multiple times now and seem to get variations on the theme depending on how I am feeling at the time. Perhaps it also depends on how honest I am being with myself. This test and others like it, have assisted me learning the reason behind things I do without thinking, as well as understanding why some learning experiences have been more successful for me than others. The need to vocalise what I am learning, hopefully to others, should have been readily apparent to me. It was to my long suffering wifey. Despite this, it took it being highlighted to me to come to a true, maybe actual is more accurate, awareness. Hopefully this need for vocal clarification assists me when it comes to teaching.