28th January 2016

Collaborative Learning

What does "collaborative" actually mean?

Chai, Lim, So, Cheah (2011) define collaborative learning as "...when students interact for the purpose of achieving better understanding about a concept, a problem or a phenomenon, or to create a novel piece of knowledge or solution that they don't previously know..." (p. 6).  They further go on to differentiate between "collaborative learning" as opposed to "cooperative learning" and discuss that cooperative learning, where students are working effectively together, is the "scaffold" or beginning of collaborative learning which is more structured in terms of "group formation, interaction, procedure and outcomes activity"  (p. 8).  When students are truly working together collaboratively Chai et.al (2011) point out that they also acquire "soft skills" such as seeing the perspectives of others, improved communication skills and awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses (p. 6). I think it is important that children develop these skills as early as possible at school as they are essential skills to have in the workplace (team work) and in society in general.

I think that many confuse cooperation with collaboration, particularly in relation to group work. I think collaboration is happening in group work when all participants have equal input and contribution to the outcome, however often in reality, one or two individuals will dominate a group, doing most of the work while the others sit by passively and contribute little.  This is a particular issue in the adult ESL classroom where often there is some disparity between language levels within the class, so those more competent, particularly in oral skills, will take the lead.  Cultural background and personality also come into play in group dynamics in the adult ESL classroom.  Therefore it is essential for the teacher to plan collaborative lessons carefully to ensure learning outcomes are being met, particularly when ICT is being incorporated.  Group work is a favoured activity in ESL classrooms as it is the best way for students to communicate with each other and practice their oral skills, however it is important to always be aware of the group composition and try to encourage students to form new groups for different activities.

Chai et. al. (2011) further note that the "affordance" and ICT tool brings, meaning "the actions people can perform by using certain features of ICT tools" (p. 20) support collaborative learning, for example the structure of blogs is conducive to diary writing,  (this is one way I use blogs in my Cert III EFS writing class), with the most current entry on top. 

How can Web 2.0 technologies support collaborative learning?  What are the issues raised by Luckin, Clark, Graber, Logan, Mee & Oliver (2009) and how can they be overcome?

Web 2.0 technologies by nature can enhance social interaction, applications such as Facebook, wikis, blogs, forums and discussion boards etc., require the input of more than one person.   Luckin, Clark, Graber, Logan, Mee & Oliver (2009) conducted a study which showed that high school students in the UK had high level of access to Web 2.0 technologies, however few were aware of the complete range of Web 2.0 activities beyond social media (Facebook), playing online games or instant messaging for example,  and they found little evidence that many are "making effective and/or 'groundbreaking' use of Web 20 and other internet technologies" (p. 88).   Many common Web 2.0 technologies such as wikis, blogs and podcasts / discussion boards, were considerably under-utilised, with students reading information on these platforms but rarely contributing or collaborating on them (pp. 91-92).   They also note that most Web 2.0 activities are undertaken outside school and discuss research, for example by (Selwyn 2006) that the use of technology at school is limited and constrained by issues such as:

• filtering / blocked sites
• gatekeeping
• timetabling
• lack of access
• reduced connectivity / speed
• system bottlenecks
• outdated software
• lack of skills    (p. 88)

I can say that all of these issues have an impact on students using Web 2.0 ICT tools in my organisation.  As discussed in earlier posts, the organisation is unable to keep up with contant upgrades of hardware and software so what students and teachers are expected to use is very out of date.  The network often "goes down" for long periods of time and connectivity is often slow.  There has been a conscious move to a BYOD environment and decommissioning of dedicated computer rooms in an attempt to overcome some of these issues, but of course this raises another set of issues such as digital equity (discussed in earlier posts).

Luckin et.al. (2009) categorised the students in the study into 3 groups:
1.  "Researchers" - read a lot of material online, but little evidence of "critical enquiry or analytical awareness" - most students in the study were in this group (p. 95).
2.  "Collaborators" - file sharing, gaming and communicating on social network - few students in the study genuinely engaged in "collaborative learning using Web 2.0 technology" though (p. 96)
3.  "Producers and publishers" - share experiences online with input from teachers with evidence of "copublication and production" - despite the students extensive use or "consumption of products using Web 2.0 tools" e.g. YouTube, uploading and sharing photos, playing games etc., very few created or published content or fit into this group (p. 97).

The issues identified in this study are complex.  Policy and curriculum needs to be more specific about the integration of Web 2.0 technologies, and schools / educational institutions need to be supportive in terms of providing the infracture (up to date hardware and software; high speed internet access for example) and also importantly, provide professional learning opportunities for teachers to learn how to plan and integrate Web 2.0 technology into their programming and lessons to bring the students beyond the "researcher" stage into "collaborators" and ultimately "producers and publishers".  I think there is an expectation that having students bring their own devices will go some way to solving the inadequate hardware / software dilemma and that teachers will 'figure out' themselves how to integrate new ICT technologies in the classroom.  Of course neither of these expectations are realistic. 

" Interactivity" in the classroom and its impact on learning. 

Beauchamp & Kennewell (2010) discuss the idea of "orchestration of resources" being the key element of "interactivity" and classroom practice.  (p. 764).

Describe briefly what a group of your students would look like if they were using a form of ICT of your choosing and participating in each onf the following:

• Group interaction:  Beauchamp & Kennewell (2010) describe group work as "orchestrated by learners rather than teachers, though teachers may have a significant influence" (p. 760).  If the group in my class were contributing to the class wiki for example, they would have a guideline from me: i.e.  "post your thoughts about the smoking ban on campus", from there the activity would be guided by the learners themselves, contributing and sharing ideas.
• Authoratitive interactivity:  Beauchamp & Kennewell (2010) give an example of students working individually using tutorial software to "carry out a fixed procedure to complete a familiar task" (p. 760).  My students often use tutorial software such as "Brain Pop" to practice new vocabulary or grammar points.
• Dialectic interactivity:  Students working individually again may use a more constructive mode of tutorial software such as "Grab a Word" which is more interactive with the students and records their progress through the activities.
• Dialogic interactivity:  Beauchamp & Kennewell (2010) give the example of students using the interactive whiteboard (IWB) to search the internet together so ideas can be "explored and their thinking focused by evaluating what they find on the web" (p. 764), this is an activity that my students could do as a class activity to practice using search engines to locate specific information for their information reports.
• Synergistic interactivity:  Beauchamp & Kennewell (2010) described this as "independent reflective activity carried out by students collectively in the whole class setting" with teachers and students choosing ICT tools and "orchestrating features" (p. 764).  I have not been this far with my students!   Is it possible?  Beauchamp & Kennewell (2010) go on to say that for this method to work successfully, "the ability of all learners and the teacher to use the tool to contribute on equal terms is central" (p. 764).  As I've discussed before, there is great disparity in ICT capability with my learners, in one class there can be ICT engineers and students who have never (or hardly) used a computer before.  However this would certainly be achievable in a class of homogenous learners, for example the "Skillmax" class which we run for migrant professionals - most of whom come from ICT and / or engineering background.

References:

Beauchamp, G., & Kennewell, S. (2010). Interactivity in the classroom and its impact on learning. Computers & Education, 54(3), 759-766. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2009.09.033  

Chai, C.S., Lim, W, So, H., Cheah, H.M. (2011).  Advancing Collaborative Learning with ICT: Conception, Cases and Design.  Ministry of Education, Singapore, 1^st Edition.

Luckin, R., Clark, W., Graber, R., Logan, K., Mee, A., & Oliver, M. (2009). Do Web 2.0 tools really open the door to learning? Practices, perceptions and profiles of 11–16‐year‐old students. Learning, Media And Technology, 34(2), 87-104. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439880902921949

 

27th January 2016

Classroom behaviour management and technology.

There are five elements of classroom management practice identified in the first article, briefly describe how would you plan to incorporate these elements in your lessons? 

Supporting activities for ICT Tools

In my experience teaching with technology there are usually technical difficulties which can cause a lot of frustration, particularly for students who aren't experienced with computers.   As Lim, Pek & Chai (2005) suggest, we provide written step by step instructions for beginner students to perform routine procedures such as starting up the computer, entering username, password; saving work.  Graphical representations are also useful for students with low levels of English.  The instructions are laminated so they can be re-used.

Role of Teacher

Teaching in dedicated computer rooms can be challenging as the physical layout means that students are looking at a computer monitor, rather than the teacher.  It can be challenging to encourage students to work collaboratively as well for the same reason.  In the computer room we teach in most of the time we have computers set up around the perimeter of the room with desks in the middle facing the front.  Most of the lesson is conducted with students seated at these desks, students move to the computers only when working on the tasks.  As Lim, Pek & Chai say,  the role of the teacher does shift from "information giver" to "guide on the side" (Frand, 2000) or facilitator.  In our computer room there is a teachers' computer that can override the students' computers so if the teacher needs to grab students' attention quickly to demonstrate something on the computer, they can take control of the class computers so all students can see what they are doing.  This is useful in classes of students with little technical knowledge or experience.

Role of Student Helpers

Students in my area usually have widely varied experience and knowledge of technology in the classroom, some students have worked in ICT in their country or origin while others have never used a computer before (some Tibetan refugees for example).  So we usually assign experienced students to assist others with less experience.  This usually works well as it encourages communication and collaboration between students, we always like them to talk to each other as much as possible in ESL classes.  Of course there are challenges too as we don't like to hold back the experienced students from getting on with their own work.  Often it is necessary to have students working at their own pace when incorporating technology.  We have a learning centre to help students with basic computing skills, this centre is open outside class time so beginner students can go there for some help getting started.

Technical Assistants

How great it would be to have a technical assistant in the classroom all the time!  That will never happen in my workplace, 2 or 3 technicians support one entire campus, so we have to log a help desk call and wait for someone to come, we can select "urgent, affecting classroom delivery" and someone will come fairly quickly, but if there are a lot of problems at the same time (e.g. the network going down) no one will come to assist for some time.  I do keep the mobile number of one of the tech support people in my phone which I will use in an emergency.  Usually if there are technical problems we have to work around them, as Simmons (2009) points out, lesson objectives and outcomes  should be written so that a variety of activities can be used to achieve them, so if you are teaching an email lesson for example and the network is down, you can still teach the lesson with communicative activities, teaching terminology, language features of emails etc.

Establishment of Rules and Procedures

Rules and procedures are essential in any classroom or chaos will ensue.  As Lim, Pek & Chai point out, many rules used in traditional classrooms can be applied in ICT classrooms (Wong 2000), however additional routines particular to computer usage need to be implemented such as procedures for starting up computers and rules about which activities are to be performed.  Unsupervised students will usually surf the net or check their facebook accounts, so teachers need to be constantly moving around to check what students are doing.  The configuration of computers around the perimeter of the room is helpful for this as the teacher can stand in the middle of the room and see what students are looking at on their screens.

References:

Lim, C.P., Pek, M.S., Chai, C.S. (2005) Classroom management issues in information and communication technology (ICT) - mediated learning environments:  back to the basics.  Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia.  14.4 p. 391

Simmons, C. (2009) Teaching ICT:  Planning to teach an ICT lesson pp 54-105

20th January 2016

Ethical Issues

In the previous post I hadn't accessed my organisation's relevant policies, I have now.  They are:

Work Health and Safety (WHS) Policy - sets out WHS requirements and Department's commitment to the health and safety of everyone it its workplaces (Work Health and Safety Policy p. 1)

Intellectual Property Policy - TAFE NSW - purpose is to manage, protect, share and commercialise Intellectual Property within TAFE NSW (Intellectual Property Policy p. 1)

Most relevant to this topic:

Online Communication Services - Acceptable Usage - TAFE NSW  which "specifies the standards for the acceptable use of TAFE NSW internet services and collaboration and communication tools by TAFE NSW staff, learners and users who may be authorised from time to time to use these services" (Online Communication Services - Acceptable Usage Policy, p. 1)

This policy covers 5 areas::

1.  Access and Security - e.g. password protection, internet usage, communication and collaboration should be related to learning and TAFE NSW business.
2.  Privacy and Confidentiality - keeping email addresses and personal information confidential, not forwarding or publishing emails outside the organisation without permission
3.  Intellectual Property and Copyright - users never plagiarising information, adhering to copyright of resources including books, graphics, ideas on TAFE NSW and other websites etc., not illegally copying software.
4.  Ethical Behaviour - ensure no conflict between user's interest and what is in best interest of TAFE NSW, not attempt to gain unauthorised access to network, not use obscene, rude or threatening language in public or private messages or other online communication, not engage in personal or discriminatory attacks on other individuals, not access inappropriate sites such as gaming or gambling sites, or pornographic material, or material that promotes illegal acts or violence or discrimination.
5.  Misuse and Breaches of Acceptable Usage - users are responsible for their actions while using the internet, collaboration and communication tools and other online services, misuse as outlined in the policy may result in disciplinary or legal action.    (Online Communication Services Acceptable Usage Policy TAFE NSW pp 1 - 7).

All users must acknowledge that they understand this policy when they log into the network.


All of these issues are relevant to me in my role of head teacher and as a teacher in the classroom and employee of TAFE NSW.  As I've discussed in earlier posts "Intellectual Property and Copyright" are the issues I mostly deal with in the classroom.  Standards for this vary greatly across cultures so it is important to teach students what the Australian standards are early in their course.  It's also important for teachers to understand copyright laws when reproducing material for use in the classroom.

References:

Intellectual Property Policy - TAFE NSW retrieved from NSW Department of Education Intranet
https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/policiesintra/category.do?level=TAFE

Online Communication Services - Acceptable Usage - TAFE NSW retrieved from NSW Department of Education Intranet
https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/policiesintra/category.do?level=TAFE

Work Health and Safety (WHS) Policy retrieved from NSW Department of Education Intranet
https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/policiesintra/category.do?level=TAFE

16th January 2016

Web-based learning

Record in your blog some of the web-based resources that you may be able to use and how you will integrate them into your teaching.

I was impressed to see the large variety of apps in the Google Education suite.  I read the case study of Brown University who in 2009-2010 used Google Apps for Eduction to revolutionise their email and collaboration for students, faculty, staff and alumni.  Like TAFE, they used Microsoft Exchange and found that the storeage quota of 200MB vastly inadequate, the cost of constant server upgrades was excessive and they also wanted "life-long" email access for their alumni to keep collaboration and networks alive. By tranferring 20,000 email accounts over from Exchange to Google they saved $800,000 per year over 5 years and millions in email server upgrades.  They also utilised Google Groups, Google Docs and Forms to collaborate and share information and Google Drive to store three million files. (Google for Education, 2014). 

After reading this I wondered how much easier my life would be if my organisation were bold and innovative enough to do a similar thing.  Presently we have to constantly archive and empty our Outlook inbox and sent items or the account disables and cannot be used.  I don't have time to archive so each week or two I delete hundreds of emails and attachments.  Of course most emails can and should be deleted but it would be nice to be free of the constraints of Microsoft Exhange and to have access to all the additional features that come with Google Plus.  It is interesting that Google Plus came about from "Google 20% time" where Google allows its engineers 20% of their work time to engage in a project not related to their job description.  (AITSL, 2014).

From the Google for Education suite I could integrate the following into the classroom:

1.  Google Cultural Institute - students usually undertake field trips to the Sydney Art Gallery and Museum and other cultural events that take place in Sydney.  It would be wonderful to take virtual field trips to sites and exhibitions all over the world. 

2.  Google Scholar - I am using it for this course, students in Cert III English for Further Study and Cert IV English for Academic Purposes could make good use of this app when researching their assignments and essays, it can be linked to relevant libraries to make searching easier.

3.  Google YouTube EDU:  we already use YouTube extensively for students to listen to TEDX talks and lectures among other things, this app can be used to categorise and personalise topics for particular classes / subjects.

4.  Google Translate - we are already using it in the low level classes so students can quickly translate new words or phrases into their own language when needed.

5.  Google Now - to quickly access information e.g. ABC news.

6.  Google Blogger - which I am using now, I can see real benefits for students to use this app as an electronic journal to improve their writing skills through collaboration with teacher and each other.


Bibliography:

AITSL (2014) 50 examples of innovative approaches to professional growth from across the world - Based on the Global Trends in professional learning and performance & development - some implications and ideas for the Australian education system report.  Accessed from:  http://www.aitsl.edu.au/public/innovative50/index.html?page=Google-20percent-time
on 16/1/2016.

Google Apps for Education.  Accessed from http://www.google.com.au/edu/tools-and-solutions/index.html#  on 16/1/2016

16th January 2016

Cyber Safety and Digital Citizenship

Post to your blog your ideas for ensuring your students are "good digital citizens" and "safe" users of technology in your classroom.  This is much easier said than done, however there are a range of strategies you will have found recommended.  This will need to be in your assignment of course, so it's worth thinking about carefully.  How will you address their use of technology at home?  This is where a great deal of cyber bullying occurs and will often appear subsequently at school.  What are your ideas, based on the policy documents.

I teach in an adult learning environment (TAFE) so the policies are slightly different to those in schools, however there are students under 18 at TAFE so the Department's policies for schools are applicable to them.  I'm unable to access the intranet to download and read the policies at present (the site is closed for maintenance until Sunday evening) so I will revisit this blog and add my comments about the policies in due course.  I can say that everytime teachers and students in my organisation log into the network they 'tick' that they have read, understand and will abide by the Department's "Acceptable Use Policy" which includes not accessing inappropriate internet web sites,  respecting the privacy of other users and not engaging in offensive behaviour (i.e. bullying) when online.

Many of my adult students have issues with their children accessing inappropriate material on the internet and being bullied on social media, my own son had issues with cyber bullying when he was about 14.  I suggest that they have the computer in a common space in the home (not in the child's bedroom) where parents can easily see what their children are up to when online.  Of course with the advent of mobile technologies this is becoming increasingly difficult as kids have access to the internet on their smart devices which they carry around on their person.  The only thing parents can do is control access to the internet if possible.  I don't think children should have mobile technology 24-7 (i.e. smart phones) until they are at least 15, however with the BYOD policy being implemented in primary schools as well as high schools children will soon (if not already) be required to have a smart device of their own.

Educating school students and adult students about the issues of cyber safety and digital citizenship is imperative so they know what it means, and what is required of them in the educational environment and at home.

14th January 2016

Web 2.0 Resources and Issues

Post to your blog the ways you are considering using Web 2.0 or social media in your lesson plans.  If you are not planning to, how could you utilise its potential in the future if you were teaching your assignment topic?

How are you going to take advantage of the affordances of the participatory nature of Web 2.0 applications and address any potential difficulties?

In the past some teachers in my section have set up class wikis for individual courses.  About 2 years ago the Northern Sydney Institute of TAFE (where I work) contracted to use the SAKAI learning management system and instructs teachers to use that platform to upload course information and lessons notes etc. to collaborate with students.    It works in very much the same way as a moodle or wiki but is not as user-friendly so unfortunately a lot of teachers are not using it.  We also have a section sharepoint which students can be given access to, however ours is not being utilised for interaction between teachers and students, it is primarily used by teachers to share course information with each other, teaching and learning plans, assessment tasks, course evaluations etc.  So there is a real gap in integrating Web 2.0 technology in my teaching area.

Some individual teachers are using their own choice of Web 2.0 technologies in the classroom such as Youtube, Facebook and wikis, but a lot are not. After reading Chapter 10 "Developing & Using Web-based Activities" in Roblyer & Doering (2014) and  Hew & Cheung's (2012) report on studies into the effects of Web 2.0 technologies on student learning, I think there is sufficient evidence to support integrating certain Web 2.0 technologies into English language learning.  For example, Hew & Cheung's analysis of a study by Arslan & Shahin-Kizil (2010) who examined the effect of blog-integrated writing instruction on a group of TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) students' writing performance showed that the use of blogs to support writing "improved their writing significantly" (p. 55).  The students in the experimental group's draft writing and revisions were done on a blog which was viewed and commented on by a large audience including family members and peers from other universities - in addition to their own peers and tutor (p. 55) and this additional feedback and collaboration was seen to have a significant positive effect (p. 55).

Web 2.0 technologies are the ideal way for students to collaborate with their teacher, each other and also peers in other intitutions and other countries.  Roblyer and Doering (2014) give some wonderful examples of successful Web 2.0 technology integration in schools on p. 264 and pp. 268-269 and I think there is a lot of potential for successful integration of similar technologies into the adult ESL classroom.  One particular Web 2.0 technology where I see real potential is to implement blogs into reading and writing lessons, particularly in the higher level classes.  My experience using blogs (e.g. this one!) in this course has been extrememly beneficial, it formalises and structures my learning in a way I've never experienced before, so why can't the same be applied in my classroom with my adult learners?

There will always be the issue of "digital divide" as described by Roblyer and Doering (2014) pp 234-236 and digital equity when integrating any technology into the classroom so teachers always need to be aware of all those issues and devise ways to overcome them when planning to integrate technology.  However I think it is important to persist with integrating Web 2.0 technology and in the future Web 3.0 technology so we and our students can truly participate in the 21st century teaching and learning environment.


References:

Hew, K.F., Cheung, W.S. Use of Web 2.0 Technologies in K-12 and Higher Education:  The Search for Evidence-based Practice, Educational Research Review (2012) doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/edurev.2012.08.001

Roblyer, M.D., Doering, A.H. (2014) Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching.  Sixth Edition.  Pearson Education Lt.

11th January 2016

The Internet in Education

From the five potential problems listed on pp 234-236 in Roblyer, which may have the most impact on your classroom and students and why?  How will you address these concerns in your lesson planning in your assignment and in the future? 

Another issue related to internet use - particularly in schools - is the restricted nature of internet access.  We have seen why this would be considered necessary, but it also stifles the ability of both teachers and students to access the resources they need.  What are you able to access at your school or intitution - or not?  Does this work?  What does this mean for an educational institution where many students have internet capable smart phones?  Does this mean restrictions should be relaxed and better supervision should be utilised? 

Roblyer & Doering (2014) list the following 5 common Internet problems:

1.  Accessing sites with appropriate materials
2.  Safety and privacy issues
3.  Fraud on the Internet
4.  Viruses and hacking
5.  Copyright and plagiarism   (pp. 234-236)

Number 5 copyright and plagiarism has the most impact on students in my section (adult English language learners), particularly in Cert III English for Further Study and Cert IV English for Academic Purposes courses where students are required to write academic essays.  There is a cultural aspect to this as it seems that in some cultures plagiarism and breaching copyright laws is more acceptable than it is in Australia.  We have had students with post-graduate degrees from other countries blatantly plagiarsing the work of others in academic essays, sometimes even copying and pasting text from an Internet site (word for word) and passing if off as their own.  We have developed a unit of work in each of these courses explaining exactly what plagiarism is and how to reference correctly in the Harvard style.  To say we enforce and reinforce this is an understatement!  As most of these students plan to enter university in Australia it is essential that they learn this.  Most seem to be quite savvy about the other 4 issues, however students often express their concerns over their children accessing inappropriate material on the Internet so we introduce them to filtering software such as Net Nanny to use at home (I installed this on my son's laptop when he was about 15 - he wasn't happy about it but it was effective).

Up until about 2 years ago all social networking sites and Youtube were blocked in my institution (TAFE).  However it became apparent that social network sites such as Facebook are the way most students receive and send information as well as communicate with each other.  It was also realised what a valuable teaching tool Youtube is, so these sites were "unblocked", TAFE now advertises its courses on Facebook and each Institute has its own Facebook page which students are invited to join.  There are still blocks on certain sites, I don't know what the criteria is but the firewall kicks in at odd times. for example the Oz Lotteries site, however we are now able to access the majority of websites that we need to.  Of course there is the issue of students connecting to social media to chat to their friends on their smart devices during lesson time,  this is another classroom management issue for teachers to deal with.