Mobile Phone Wiki Reflection

The wiki activity was a constructivism approach to learning about mobile phones in the classrooms.  Peoples personal experiences and perceptions would influence their input in the activity.  Each hat allowed you to build on your thinking and learning, and add to the knowledge as you put each hat on.  The blue hat (process) and the green hat (creativity) also had elements of the connectivism approach to learning as the opportunity to acquire further information was open.

I love de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats.

This graphic organiser is a great way to take an objective and balanced look at an issue.  I have used this method, or something similar at least, in the past within my employment in business.  It allows you, and sometimes forces you, to consider a lot of different things which you may not have thought of, or been influenced by predetermined factors, opinions or judgements.  As was evidenced in my group, sometimes people’s preconceived opinions and beliefs can get in the way of the discussion.  It can be difficult to think with just one hat on at one time.  By putting on one hat at the time you are able to focus your thoughts on each step of the process so that the knowledge can build up to a useful outcome.

I did find it difficult to use the technology because I have no previous knowledge with Wikis and twice I lost all the information so had to cancel and start again.  I also had difficulty with my internet connection, again.  These technical difficulties are something that should improve over time and would not have been an issue if I wasn’t conducting the whole activity online.  Doing the activity online also meant that only one person at a time could contribute.  Others had already made points I would have made, and I think is restricts the subsequent discussion, and knowledge building, that would occur in a face to face session.  As there were not guidelines as to how the wiki was to be developed, it meant that I followed the pack, so to speak, on the way it was conducted.  I suppose this freedom therefore doesn’t put any constraints on the thinking.

I think that mobile phones could have a useful role in the teaching of content to a learner, in the right set of circumstances.  However, the mobile phone is not a technology that I would consider first to deliver a lesson to students in the classroom.  This opinion is based on my knowledge up to this point, and there were no persuasive arguments with the activity to change my opinion at this point.  There is just so much available technology out there these days, it is all a bit overwhelming where to start sometimes.

Wiki - Mobile Phones - Should they be used in the classroom?

Group 3 Mobile Phones Wiki

TPACK

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK).  TPACK is a framework for teaching.  Teaching is a complex activity which involves utilising knowledge of technology, content and pedagogy all at once to be able to teach a learner effectively.

TPACK diagram
by: (http://tpack.org/)

A teacher needs to have a synergy between knowing the content well, knowing how to utilise technology well, and knowing how to teach to a learner well (the pedagogy) by being aware of how they learn and what affects a student’s learning.  This has to be delivered all at the same time using all three elements together.      

Good teaching is about:

·      Knowledge of your learner – what they already know and feel, and what they want to know

·      Knowledge of your subject, and the concepts that make it function
·      Knowledge of the technology available, and how best to use it to get the learner engaged with the subject so they can benefit from that knowledge.

All this knowledge has to be fully integrated to be able to then teach the learner effectively, and it has some purpose for them in the future.

Productive Pedagogies

Productive pedagogies are reflective tools which allow you to determine whether you have achieved the student outcomes you require.  The key points for these tools are:

• facilitate higher order thinking
• collaborative learning
• student learning style
• problem based learning
• authentic
• student owns their own learning
• engaging and within belief system
• active citizenship

The GDLT ICT course provided a link to   Productive Pedagogies Tool to conduct the activity below.

My activity – How to Tie Your Own Shoelaces.

I could have put for a writing exercise at the end of how the learner felt about learning to tie their own shoes, to use as a review step and incorporate some literacy skills.

I liked the tool but found it challenging to link the pedagogies with the steps in the process.  Once a task is broken down there are more aspects involved that you first realise.  However, you are able to identify a lot more strategies used through the process than I initially expected.  This tool will be useful once I have a more practical application for the tool to be used in. 

Learning Styles

Learning Styles

Felder and Solomon  - Learning Styles and Strategies Questionnaire

Active – Reflective

Sensing – Intuitative

Visual – Verbal

Sequential – Global

1.          My learning style according to Felder and Solomon’s online questionnaire is:

Active – Do something with it (practical), group work.

Sensorial – learn facts, problem solve by established methods, like the detail, hands on. (My strongest preference)

Visual – Pictures, concept maps, colour coded, demonstrations, diagrams, films. (Modest preference)

Sequential – logical / linear steps.

I believe that this is representative of my habits in learning so far.

My learning experiences should be through group work, hands on, practical demonstrations, visual presentation, step by step information, facts and figures.

2.         Traditional Classroom on 25 students.

Variety of activites which have a balance between active and reflective learning.

Most people are visual learners.

Big picture overview, which chucks of practical logical (sequential) steps.

Provide practical information with detail, and concepts that link everything together.

Reflection activity, and link the activities to the theory / concepts being taught.

3.         Design and Digital Pedagogy to support learners better.

ICTs are a great way to visually present with flexibility to drill down through information to the detail, and at the same time you can get just an overview of the topic without all the detail.  You can have the freedom to deal at both ends of the comprehension scale.

4.         Profiling Questions.

What things do you like to do?

What is your favourite book, song, TV character, sports star, colour, animal, etc?

What place did you go on your last holiday?

How many brothers, sisters, cousins do you have?

Do you play any sport, play a musical instrument, etc?

5.         ICT supports differences in learning styles.

ICTs are flexible, visible, and information can be presented in a number of difference ways.

The amount of information is nearly limitless and there a so many ways to get to that information that you are bound to be able to engage with multiple learners each time.  Life is full of so much technology that you are able to learn to so much more in this day and age.

Multiple Intelligences

Howard Gardner - Multiple Intelligences.

Kinaesthetic (Body Smart)

Linguistic (Word Smart)

Logical (Number Smart)

Interpersonal (People Smart)

Intrapersonal (Myself Smart)

Musical (Music Smart)

Visual / Spatial (Picture Smart)

Naturalistic (Nature Smart)

Multiple Intelligences Quiz Website

My learning style according to Gardener’s online questionnaire is:

Myself Smart – 23

Number Smart – 21

People Smart & Word Smart – 20

Body Smart, Nature Smart & Picture Smart – 19

Music Smart – 16

I believe that this is representative of what I know so far.

We all learn on multiple levels.  To engage our learners we need to present a topic from a number of different angles so that we can appeal to the different intelligences with the learners we have.

For example, if learning about the environment you could have an activity of writing a poem about a garden, have an excursion to a botanical garden, watch a film on how plants grow, have an experiment of growing some plants with different conditions, etc.

Prensky “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants”

Prensky wrote in 2001 that students today are all native speakers of the digital language, and that all students before today are digital immigrants.  And therefore, students today think and process information fundamentally different from their predecessors.

I think that today’s young learners are more indulged and are aware of the larger amount of choice available to them to do what they want.  They are “entertained by” the technology available.  But I think the suggestion that all students are digitally wired is not representative of the diversity of the learners of today.  There are still learners out there who don’t have a computer, mobile phone, or video games etc, for a number of different reasons.

Learning should be fun, and can be fun.  Let the young learners fulfil their dreams by empowering them with all the knowledge they need.  ICTs can both bring the knowledge to these learners as well as engage them with the learning of the knowledge.  If the learners are not engaged in the classroom, then they may become enraged and not want to learn from you.  There is so much information and choice out there, they do not need to go through school to get the knowledge they want or need.  Engagement can take many forms and we really should not treat all learners the same.

Connectivism

Behaviourism – conditioning creates changes in behaviour.  Break down learning into smaller instructional steps that can be repeated and provide feedback.

Cognitivism – how the mind processes and uses information. Sensory register, short term and long term memory.  Present information through schema, or mental maps, of how it is relevant to the learner.

Constructivism – process of constructing knowledge rather than acquiring it, based on personal experience or perceptions.  Informs much of our online design which is known as scaffolding. Vygotsky.

Connectivism  - Siemens wrote in 2005 that it is more important to identify how and where to find knowledge than it is to know – the learning theory for the digital age.  The learning resides outside of ourselves and is focused on connecting information sets.

Because the digital age has opened up so much information to the masses, then there is a seemingly unlimited amount of knowledge to be learned.  I think Siemens is on the right track in identifying learning as being able to access the knowledge through technology, rather than keeping it all within.  Connectivism seems to be what learners both individual and as a group/business are using, and need to use in today’s world of information overload.

But is that really learning?  To learn something you really need to be able to retain and recall that information.  All learners are different and therefore learning most effectively will need to happen in a number of ways.  There will not be one right theory to suit every learning situation. So learners need to be able to relate to activity to enable the learning to occur.

Example of Connectivism:

Learning about dance - find a dance class to connect in to with Skype to teach you how to do a dance, eg the bus stop.  Also find information about how the dance was created, when and by whom by using the internet to conduct research.  Then you could make a digital video recording of the learners doing the dance and upload on to the internet for the parents and other school community to view.