teacher jemo learns techno

I’m a very selfish person. I have already decided who I want to teach and where I want to teach. Shouldn’t the teaching profession be about others and not putting yourself first? Well I must have gone off track somewhere along the road.

Anyway, below is a very amateur digital story I created using iMovie to depict why or who I want to teach. However I feel the video doesn’t do my thoughts justice (my fault entirely) because what I really wanted to say is: In Australia, most of us are very fortunate to have quality teachers, a quality education system with quality facilities and resources. However some communities and countries around the world aren’t as lucky as we are and so I hope to alleviate this problem (in any way I can) and provide quality teaching to the most disadvantaged communities around the world. I hope to teach teachers and teach children in an attempt to make education accessible and enriching for all kids internationally.

Sounds like a big ask?

Probably is.

MOVIE : click here please

Please click above as embeding is currently not working.

Warning: This video was not intended to be funny! I thought the topic was of serious concern to me however some people may find my twisted mind assuming. Please note that this was not the intention.

I encourage everyone to read this particular article on Constructionism. In the 1980s Seymour Papert delivered the following speech by video to a conference of educators in Japan. Click here to read it

The reason i am so intrigued by it, is because it is so old. The speech is old in today’s technological standards so i wont tell you my opinion and views on the speech. You tell me what you think of it. Then we cna discuss.

I found this on Sarah Bakers edublog at Constructionism vs. Instructionism in which she wrote on April 21, 2008. Click on it if you would like to read her opinion.

Looking forward to your replies!

A long but fantastic report! The content in the report was indepth, intellectual and thought provoking. The process in which the Horizon Report is produced, is even more fascinating !

The Horizon Report is produced annually and in each report a hundred odd technologies are examined for possible inclusion in the report. Then an internationally renowned Advisory Board examines each topic in excruciating detail and the critiques it. But more to the point, the whole process is documented and updated on their own Wikispace (see horizon.nmc.org/wiki ) So I went on their Wikisite and wow! It was truly amazing. Professional, synced and well presented. It has to be the best use of a Wiki I have seen in all my life. It includes, graphics, downloads, previous reports, their current projects and diagrams. Really well balanced. Furthermore, I checked out the reference and advisory board list and was happy to see the wide variety of professors, deans and businesspeople who have contributed to the Horizon Report internationally. Europe, the Americas and a few Aussie universities which was fantastic.
So overall, the information on emerging technologies and their impact on teaching, learning and creative expression was outstanding and could see a lot of parallels to teaching in the classroom with these resources, however the way the report was technically produces on an online scale was inspiring too.

2006 e-Learning Grants by the Commonwealth Bank.

When recently checking my Commonwealth bank account, i found a mini advert notifying consumers of a Commonwealth Bank e-Learning initative. Seventy grants of $5,000 each up for grabs to any Australian primary school so they could have the funds to implement creative programs to develop students’ skills through the use of technology. By providing the grants, Commonwealth Bank attemps to help develop literacy, numeracy and/or financial literacy skills in Aussie kids. Schools which have be awarded the grants include schools who embrace the infamous ‘ipod’ as a way to engage students with severe intellectual and physical disabilities in progressive learning. Others used film to enrich and monitor students wellbeing as a way for them to record changes in the local environment. Others produced digital portfolios of their year’s work, achievements and accomplishments

I reckon its a fantastic idea andit made me realsie how many schools are pursuing the concept of eLearnign and are taking it beyond the basics or powerpoint and internet research. Schools seem to be willing to experiment and are collaborating new innovations with online presentations in a new, inspiring and creatvie way. I hope i get to see this on my university based practicums!

The only thing i question about the site, is it lack of recent news. This particular e-Learning initative which i am reporting on, was for 2006 and i havent been able to find any recent 2008 grants. Was this iniative a thing of the past? What are school doing not fro grants?  Click here to view the site and find out more. See if you can find a 2008 grant program and let me know if you can!

E-Learning Myths Busted

The growing knowledge economy is transforming the dynamics of the workplace. New trends are creating new realities; new realities are requiring new tools; and new tools are giving birth to new possibilities.

E-Learning Beyond the Workplace- Wadi D. Haddad

This article was written in 2001 by Cher Ping Lim (Ph.D. National Institute of Education, Singapore) and is surprising not outdated (to me). It focuses on particular myths about eLearning and extinguishing the central ideas about elearning in the corpoarte workplace envrionment.

If some one asked me to describe e-learning in one sentence, unfortaunly i still dont think i would be able to do it-however i would be able to tell them exaclty what e-learnign is not!

E-Learning is and does:

• not exist in isolation; it is interwoven with the other medias and human participants
• not all about technology
• not all about information
• not all about web-based learning
• not all about the interactions between the
  computer and learner.

But i can say that elearning IS a process. Its not just a subject, it is a process in which students and teachers alike can grow, evolve, create and explore. It is a process which, if used appropriatley, can foster a
learning community

TechKnowLogia, May/June, 2001 © Knowledge Enterprise, Inc. www.TechKnowLogia.org

I have even joined a Facebook group called ‘e-Learning in Developing and Developed Countries’. You should join too so we can collectively search for ways to promote, develop, and encourage others to see the value of connecting the world via e-learning!

This Facebook group also brought to my attention an article on ‘E-Learning Growth and Promise for the Developing World’ by Joanne Capper, World Links for Development, The World Bank. A growing number of organizations are now delivering training and education over the Internet. This article gives an overview of e-learning, its current status, its benefits, what the future holds, and what it promises for the developing world.

Constructivism and its place with elearning.

Constructivism: the broader view of Constructionism

That guy Piaget seems to creep up in every uni subject!  Firstly before i begin, i am not going to provide info on Piaget’s life and critique all his developmental theories. If you would like that sort of information click here. If not, please continue to read my thoughts.

So, what has old man Piaget got to do with elearning? I for one remember that he died in 1980 so he sure certainly didn’t contribute to online learning! Or did he…

I believe he did contribute to the wide world of elearning but indirectly.  

Developmentalist Jean Piaget became well renown for his particular theory on Constructivism. AS the name implies, it is based on constructing- that children are making/creating something. ‘Constructivism — particularly in its “social” forms — suggests that the learner is much more actively involved in a joint enterprise with the teacher of creating (”constructing”) new meanings.’ (www.learningandteaching.info) 

So basically im writing this blog to remind myself as a student teacher to not only use technology as a means to present or display information, but as a way students can discover, fiddle and build on their own learning and create new meanings. This can be done by just browsing the net or using creative programs like Scratch. 

For further information and insight on Piaget and his constructivist theory, I recommend taking a a quick read of Gillani B, O’Guinn C.

Joyce, Alexa (2006) eLearning for developing countries: what’s needed? Belgium
elearning-global.blogspot.com/2006/11/elearning-for-developing-countries.html

I stumbled across this thought provoking blog which reminds us how lucky we are when it comes to obtaining technologies and how fortunate we are to be involved in the ever expanding growth of elearning. Developing countries are not so fortunate for reasons other than financial. As Alexa points out, ”technologies are designed and deployed in a developed country context, and thus have a number of limitations when trying to implement in a developing country.”

Alexa brings up interesting ideas on how minority countries should utilise technologies in schools, ”despite the status quo of low bandwidth, poor infrastructure, low levels of training and support for teachers”. Ideas such as LAN based Learning Management System (LMS) installation,  platforms based on mobile phone technologies and offline content creation. I agreed particularly with her knowledge of open content repositories with a language agnostic approach. This is why I believe that minority (developing) nations are not pursuing elearning in schools for 2 main and obvious reasons:

1. Lack of web content available in minority languages. How many websites are out there in Khmer, Slovak or in Tamil? Not many i would assume. Many educators in developing countries say that there is little content available in their languages, but who should translate it or do large corporations feel there is no need because they are such a small markets/audience compared to the English/Spanish/Chinese speaking audiences?
2. Low ICT infrastructure. We are so so lucky in Oz to have the facilities we do whether it be broadband at home, work, uni or in an internet cafe. It seems pathetically greedy to be holding a nation wide debate about demanding nation broadband coverage whilst minority countries are lucky enough to even get a computer with internet for a whole community. Internet speeds and connections are SO expensive in developing countries, (and thats to our price standards) no wonder its not an educational priority.

Its thought provoking stuff and as informal and ‘unqualified’ her opinions may be i encourage you to check out her website by clicking here. She has other interesting posts about how MySpace can teach education technologists and about teen habits on the internet.

I began to get a little worried when i read a friends post about a You-Tube video called Telling the New Story. She was commenting on a US primary school class who communicate with ’schools around the world, learning about other cultures and languages from students their own age.’ And was was like uh oh, there goes my whole idea for my LAMS task. So i watched the video and soon discovered all was under-control. The clip was based upon an amature computer user teacher and her use of computer based technology in the classroom. Although it was a poorly made and edited video i enjoyed the different perspectives of teacher, parent and student and their views on online technology in the classroom. Overall, it was actually great to watch and as another viewer noted on You-tube, it clearly expressed that ”teacher attitude and not skill level is a barrier to using technology with students.” The video certainly hasn’t tainted or hindered my idea for the LAMS task but has enriched it.

To view the Youtube video and to read Emilys reviews, click here.

Kwei Wang, S. & Han, S. (2001). Six C’s of Motivation. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology.

After scrolling through a fellow friends blog i noticed a rather ‘controversial’ posting. The post was a critique regarding Kwei Wang & Han’s (2001). Six C’s of Motivation article. The only reason it would be deemed controversial was because Eliza wrote negative comments on the article. I haven’t come across 1 blog-site which does not recommend the article which they had reviewed. So i reckon that was a super brilliant idea  of Eliza’s. So much so i decided to read that particular article purely to see were eliza was coming from and why she believed all the information was common knowledge for teachers.

The article was exactly how Eliza portrayed it. Teaching strategies of cchoice, challenges, control, collaboration, constructing meaning, and consequences are unfortunatly not novel ideas. Just because they all start with a C doesn’t mean they are ‘creative’. The Ms. Betty  scenario certainly wasn’t ‘cool’ either as it was fairly unrealistic. For example, i dont think tenth grade students would be too enthusiastic to present their newspaper project at school book fair…

To discover Eliza’s 6 C’s blog and other click here

I found this picture on flikr and felt it captured the idea of learning perfectly.

To me, school is like a whole heap of doors and teachers have the keys to open them. For centuries, schools have been the way to educate people about the world and how to live and interact with society.  Teachers can be seen as the keys to the doors because they are the ones who provide the opportunities to seek. Teachers are, or should be the mentors, the guiders and the leaders for students. They shoould encourage the students to open the doors and inquire and learn. 

Even when students have finished school, whether it be primary or secondary, teachers would have allowed students to make a copy of those keys so you can, at any time, open those doors throughout your life and keep finding information.

When i think of the word construction, i think of a building site.

I think of cranes, bulldozers and men in hard hats.

Do you?
The notion of a building site is actually not too far from the truth, because  constructivism is a theory about the way people learn – through  experiencing/making things. To fulfill the notion of constructivism, we as learners must ask questions, explore new knowledge, and assess what we already know.

I think i hit the jackpot when i was searching for information on constructivism on  the web as i came across thirteen.org. they have this fantastic ‘concept to classroom’ site which allowed me to read up on the theory of constructivism and then find out how we can relate the theory to a pedagogical point of view.

I wont comment as yet about the theory and my point of view because i want to research it further and supplement this info with other websites first in order to make a well rounded summary.

So i now leave you with 2 tasks:

1. Go to this website:  Constructivism as a Paradigm for Teaching and Learning
2. Think about these questions below after reading the information. If you agree and answer yes to these questions (taken from thirteen.org) , well constructivism is your kind of theory!

Think about how you learn. When you hear, read, or see something new, does it help to talk about it and reflect on it to better understand the new information? How about research? Does it help to do some active research on this new information?

Frances and i created an image which illustrates what we believe e-learning is.

We have included a picture of ourselves and a brief caption describing our metaphor.

Check it out!