The Virtue of Virtual Fieldtrips (LEARNZ)

 

Barrie Matthews (LEARNZ Project/Technical Manager) facilitated this session (with Vicki Hagenaars - a classroom teacher extraordinaire with a focus on digital based learning - also sharing some of her experiences). The session  covered the benefits of Virtual Fieldtrips, looking at pedagogies, and encouraging participants to consider opportunities for, for example, students with SEN - due in part to the virtual nature of trip. (You can access a recording of the session here: http://connect.vln.school.nz/p89382630/; and the presentation show during the session here: http://connect.vln.school.nz/p36401599/).

Previous to the session, Vicki wrote I have used "LEARNZ as a method for making my students aware they can be part of an online, collaborative learning environment.  They are always amazed that their questions are mirrored and answered during audioconfereces. The best learning engagement so far has been the one trip last year that we sent an ambassador on - huge buy in to the daily diaries and fully understanding the trip we sent our dolphin friend Poseidon on". 

Barrie started by providing a brief overview of LEARNZ, but giving an overview of a recent trip called Kids restore the Kepler. As well as students being involved, it also showed that individuals can take positive actions themselves. Barrie talked about how to choose fieldtrips, and Vicki gave some insight how she goes about choosing trips by, for example, having a look at the planned fieldtrips at the beginning of the year and taking note of what and when so that she can plan them into her. The fieldtrips are also supported by outside organisations.

The online space for LEARNZ has recently been re-designed and it's much easier to use than it used to be to find your way around and use. The site has a range of features such as an integrated glossary. Vicki said that she uses the background pages about a week ahead to help start her learners thinking about the subject. She usually uses a buddy reading approach, followed by a lot of discussion and research around further ideas before the fieldtrip 'kicks off'.

All of the fieldtrips are curriculum integrated, and even though the most obvious link are science, maths, environmental education, there have been other focii such as health, art and history. For example, a recent fieldtrip involved students working with Ngāi Tahu visiting sites around Timaru, making the pigments, history, contemporary use etc. Vicki mentioned that the curriculum objectives are really useful, and helps her to engage students with relevant authentic activities and tasks. Many of the fieldtrips are aimed across sectors, and can be adapted for junior secondary.

   

The LEARNZ Newsletters are quite useful because they provide deadlines, especially when ambassadors from a school have been sent. The LEARNZ initiative is organic, and the team really appreciate input from the students and teachers who participate. Pete Sommerville (the LEANRZ project director who was also at the session) mentioned that "Without exception the evolution of LEARNZ has been as a result of excellent feedback from teachers". One example shared by Pete was re the Kids restore the Kepler: ''The two versions of the text was useful.  The inclusion of te reo Māori was excellent " (teacher feedback). A comment  from another teacher was '' I find the field trips as a great way of introducing vocab and scientific language to students. As well as teaching inquiry skills and science knowledge. I used the glossary section of the web site and selected words to use for word study prior to the field trip. We used the words for spelling activities, dictionary skills and quick writing activities. This is helpful for ESOL students that can have difficulty with vocab".

Teachers can send a class mascot or toy, for $30, on a trip. Each of the mascots has their own page. It helps cement the relationship and gives a bit of buy in. Vicki was a bit unsure that Intermediate students would buy into having a mascot go on a trip, but she found that having a mascot involved, and reading their ambassador's diary really helped engaged the students. Barrie also mentioned that secondary schools have had similar experiences. Anne K, in the chat said "Love the idea of a mascot travelling.... adds another dimension to the class involvement. [Brings] an almost face to face dimension tot he virtual trip". Ambassadors are usually returned, although there was a recent fatality rafting the Tongariro.

Students can post questions on the forums for the experts on the fieldtrips. Using an landline phone, Skype, and the audio bridge, students are able to connect with folk on the field trips via audioconferences, and post their questions in advance. Vicki mentioned that the "kids get quite a buzz out of being involved", and Pete said "Visual learning in a shared group is much less threatening than learning by yourself so there is a greater level of focus as you are supported". Often there are students from a number of schools, geographically dispersed, all online and asking questions at the same time. There is no video with it, for many reasons, but Vicki advised that "When we are listening I tend to have a print out of the questions for the students to make notes on.  Gives them focus". One teacher commented "Sometimes our computers don't oblige and that can be frustrating for the kids and me - that’s a school issue but does affect how we use the website. But this won’t put me off continuing to use LEARNZ as for the children who take part, it is the audio conference that stays with them. And for me especially  it is the way Andrew relates to the children - his commitment and warmth come through in all his interactions, even though he has done these trips before he always makes them fresh and exciting".

The videos are one of the biggest learning opportunities  and a couple of iterations later the videos are being put on to Vimeo, and are being accessed by mobile devices, as well as being downloaded to local machines or networks to be watched. Examples of videos can be accessed at:

• http://kidsrestorethekepler132.learnz.org.nz/ (Usr: webinar1Pwd: webinar1); and
• https://vimeo.com/68100107. 

With reference to the videos and engaging the students, feedback has included "they said they did no real work watching the videos and completing the questions independently, however the level of understanding was higher than is typically observed from text based resources". Pete explained that "during field trips we aim to develop meaningful relationships between experts/students, LEARNZ Teacher/class teacher, LEARNZ Teacher/students and the multiple media helps this getting to know". Merryn, in the chat also commented that "It's amazing how much thought has gone into every aspect of this - so many ingredients, active and reflective".

Kids are challenged to 'do' something, and to take it to the next level. Schools have been inspired to create their own trips, and Pete shared that "Ah yes we do hear of schools organising their own trips - Stuart Cook from Methven School has a great story to tell about that". Barrie shared that if you are interested in signing up for any of the fieldtrips you can:

• Register: http://www.mylearnz.org.nz/index/register
• To choose field trips: http://www.learnz.org.nz/field-trip-chooser.php
• And to get started: http://help.learnz.org.nz/getting-started/

This was an incredibly comprehensive session, which clearly showed the development of a wonderful resource that has been developed over the last 11 years. Anna K commented that this was an "awesome opportunity to see the richness of LEARNZ - can't believe I have never been involved with this wonderful programme!"


Images:

• 'The path' http://www.flickr.com/photos/28989956@N00/4126509030 Found on flickrcc.net
• Returning birdsong to a Great Walk; LEARNZ http://rata.learnz.org.nz/summary.php?vft=kidsrestorethekepler132

Does formal education require timetabling?

The whole notion of the tyranny of the timetable and how it can stifle learning is quite a popular one - see for example Enslaved by timetable tyranny. There are many ideas discussed in the article, a couple of which included:

A primary head said to me recently: "Wouldn't it be marvellous if we could do the daily literacy and numeracy hours Monday to Thursday, and then have Fridays free for more flexible approaches?" One of the best literacy activities I do involves children acting as radio journalists and compiling a radio news bulletin. It needs a whole day, however, if a visit to the local radio station is to be included. A newly-appointed geography teacher in a very academic grammar once persuaded his head to suspend the timetable for two days so the whole school could do Project Africa. It was a knockout, and he went on to be one of the best heads of his generation.

There is also the negative effects that timetables can have on the teachers. For example, in this paper Living by the clock: the tyranny of the secondary school timetable, Kathy Brady quotes:

Bells ring to signal the passing of classes, each of which will spend some parcel of time with the teacher in his or her classroom. Though students may move throughout the building, high school teachers often never leave their rooms in the course of a day. For every ‘period’ or ‘hour’, there is a routine: taking attendance, continuing from yesterday, introducing today’s material, winding down. Repeated five times a day. (Johnson, 1990, p.6)

I wonder if some of the notions about organisation and standardised assessment tend to go hand-in-hand with timetables?

From a personal point of view, I know that when I am learning something it can take ages to get my head down and 'into it', and sometimes it's really frustrating to have the flow broken. And when you get back, sometimes those good ideas will have dissipated...along with some of the motivation to continue. 

I would say, though, that in my experiences with working with students, there needs to be quite a lot of initial support and guidance up front with a less formal, time-tabled structure...and skills to be taken on board such as time-management, digital literacy, research skills, self-reflection etc. (see, for example, Meeting diverse learner needs through blended learning). A continuum where you move from a relatively teacher-led approach at the beginning of a year, to a student-led/directed one by the end of the year seems to be fairly effective, and helps ensure that differentiation can be built into a programme...especially if a blended approach is used. What are your thoughts? Are you tyrannised by a timetable? Or do you and your learners have heaps of freedom?


Image:  'Alternative Pedagogies, hosted by Barry Joe &+Jill+Grose' http://www.flickr.com/photos/59217476@N00/7093752299. Found on flickrcc.net  

What do you think is the teacher's worst enemy? A convenient untruth

Learning styles have been under the spotlight for the last few years (see for example, this discussion). If you are still sitting on the fence with your thinking about learning styles, or maybe you are totally convinced...I'd strongly advise your read Steve Wheeler's post below. It offers a well-informed, thoughtful discussion. Initially Steve looks at "bad theory" and the impact it can have on beliefs about learning and practice. One point that I felt was key was the fact that as learning practitioners we might think that there are no issues with thinking about learning styles. However, Steve quotes a really key point - it's not about tailoring resources to suit learners with different learning styles, but rather it is a case of designing a learning experience that is relevant, clear, encourages active engagement...in other words, good design.

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The original post A convenient untruth  (in full below) was published by  on 24th November 2011


What do you think is the teacher's worst enemy? Some would say lack of time. Others would say unsupportive leadership, or the dreaded government inspection. Rigid curriculum, lack of resources and bad student behaviour may also be high on the list for many educators. For me, the worst enemy is bad theory. Bad theory, when accepted without challenge, can lead to bad practice. It's insidious, because bad theory that is accepted as fact without a full understanding of its implications, results in bad teaching, and ultimately, learners will suffer.


One of the biggest myths known to teacherdom is learning styles. Time and time again, the belief that students can be placed into specific categories such as activist or theorist, or that they are predominantly inclined toward one modal category of learning (e.g. visual, auditory, kinaesthetic) is inserted into professional conversations as if the theories are fact. And time and again, such beliefs are the justification for placing students into a specific style of learning so that a class can be 'managed' more effectively. Such categorisation of students is an absolute nonsense and the practice of doing so should be challenged strongly. It is lazy pedagogy, and the only reason I see that such beliefs persist, is that it is a convenient untruth which allows some teachers to stay within their comfort zones.




In an excellent expose on learning styles, Riener and Willingham (2010) argue this:


"...learning-styles theory has succeeded in becoming “common knowledge.” Its widespread acceptance serves as an unfortunately compelling reason to believe it. This is accompanied by a well-known cognitive phenomenon called the confirmation bias. When evaluating our own beliefs, we tend to seek out information that confirms our beliefs and ignore contrary information, even when we encounter it repeatedly. When we see someone who professes to be a visual learner excel at geography and an auditory learner excel at music, we do not seek out the information which would disprove our interpretation of these events (can the auditory learner learn geography through hearing it? Can the visual learner become better at music by seeing it?)"

Multiple Intelligences (Photo credit: London Permaculture)

Clearly one of the problems that emerges when teachers administer a learning styles inventory or questionnaire to their students is that the result tends to become a 'self fulfilling prophecy' (See Rosethal and Jacobson, for more on this phenomenon). One of the most notorious (and vacuous) inventories is Honey and Mumford's LSI, which in essence is nothing more than a repurposing of David Kolb's earlier experiential learning cycle model. Another is Neil Fleming's VAK model (Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic) which is basically a reworking of 'tell me I forget, show me I remember, involve me I understand'. Such learning styles theories are based on little more than anecdotal observations, and are akin to folk medicine. But the student doesn't know this, and simply trusts the teacher's judgement. The student then sees the results of the questionnaire which informs them that they are for instance predominantly a 'reflector' or that they are an 'auditory learner'. They then actively seek to maximise their 'learning style' by engaging in reflective activities, or visually rich media. This all progresses to the detriment of the other learning modes, which become deficient and atrophied. Result - the learner fails to gain a holistic learning experience, and misses out on the many rich opportunities to expand and develop their other sensory or cognitive skills. Worse still, as Barbara Prashnig explains:


"....it remains a fact that every human being has a learning style which can consist of contradictory components, often leading to inner confusion and uneasiness. Style mismatches between teaching and learning, physical learning environments not conducive to information intake and unmet physical needs during the learning process can lead to frustration, stress, learning problems, underachievement, low self esteem, discipline problems among younger students, and dropoutism in high schools."


Do we really need to label people and brand them in this way? Riener and Willingham again:


"...learning-styles theory is sometimes offered as a reason to include digital media in the classroom. While including multimedia may be a good idea in general (variety in modes of presentation can hold students' attention and interest, for example), it is not necessary to tailor your media to different learning styles. We shouldn't congratulate ourselves for showing a video to engage the visual learners or offering podcasts to the auditory learners. Rather, we should realize that the value of the video or audio will be determined by how it suits the content that we are asking students to learn and the background knowledge, interests, and abilities that they bring to it. Instead of asking whether we engaged the right sense (or learning mode), we should be asking, what did students think about while they were in class?"


The final nail in the coffin on learning styles comes from a report by Frank Coffield and his colleagues (2004) who reported that not only was the concept of learning styles so ill defined as to be virtually useless in pedagogical terms, the instruments used to 'determine' student learning styles were flawed. They failed to measure accurately what they were purported to measure (validity construct) and they failed to measure learning styles consistently over time (reliability construct). Probably the only reason some teachers (and many training organisations) hang on to the idea of testing learning styles is that it is convenient to do so, and that to ditch the idea altogether would leave them having to work harder with students.


We can conclude that in the selection of digital media (and any other learning resource) teachers should not be dictated to by the fallacy of learning styles, nor should they attempt to measure what turns out to be a moving feast of approaches to learning that are actually dependent more on changing context than they ever will be on any deep-seated human propensity. Would it not be better to simply acknowledge that all learners are different, and that all can benefit from a range of varied experiences that ultimately leads to enriched personal experiences? It may mean more work, but it would certainly be a lot fairer.


References
Coffield, F., Moseley, D., Hall, E., and Ecclestone, K. (2004) Learning styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning: A systematic and critical review. Learning and Skills Research Centre.
Riener, C. and Willingham, D. (2010) The Myth of Learning Styles. Change Magazine, Sept-Oct.
Rosenthal, R. and Jaconson, L. (1992) Pygmalion in the Classroom, New York, NY: Irvington.

A convenient untruth by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Posted 24th November 2011 by Steve Wheeler

Related articles

• The Learning-Styles Debate: Missing the Point? (bokcenter.harvard.edu)
• Student "Learning Styles" Theory Is Bunk (Daniel Willingham) (larrycuban.wordpress.com)
• The truth about learning styles (margaretmoon.com)

Nearly 78% of teachers in NZ support bring your own device to class...

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Paul O'Leary dropped me a line recently, with the results of a recently conducted survey of 280 people in the education sector on the use of ICT in schools across New Zealand (a joint venture between Adobe and Interface Magazine). Paul wrote "The survey results provide insight into the thoughts of educators in New Zealand on technology in education". There is a superb accompanying infographic (but, unfortunately, it's in .pdf format so I can't embed it, but I can link to the .pdf file here). Paul provided a neat summary (see below), and you can access a fuller online Interface Magazine summary at http://bit.ly/IoRHX4. It would be interested to hear your thoughts and responses to the survey results - anything surprising there? Anything jump out and grab you?

Research highlights

• 68% of respondents think ultra-fast broadband will change the way they currently teach.
• One in five schools (21.8%) operate a Bring Your Own Device policy. A further 42.1% of schools are currently considering introducing a BYOD policy.
• Three quarters of teachers surveyed (75.7%) support the idea of students bringing their own device to class.
• Lack of funding is the most common barrier to using new classroom software and devices for teaching with almost 7 out of 10 teachers (69.3%) citing this as a problem. The next most common issue was lack of time with half of teachers listing this as a barrier.
• Only 1 in 4 teachers (25.4%) notice a digital divide between themselves and students in terms of knowledge about software and devices used in the classroom.
• Seven out of 10 teachers think there are opportunities to apply the teaching technologies that already exist in school differently to produce better education outcomes.
• Three quarters of teachers (75.2%) think that it is valuable for students to learn office productivity tools in preparation for entering the workforce. 65.5% of teachers view learning creative and design software as important for students in preparation for entering the workforce.
• Communication and critical thinking and problem-solving are seen as the top real-world 21^st century skills for today’s learners with nearly all respondents rating them as important or extremely important (97.9% and 97.5% respectively).
• Collaboration follows closely with 94.6% of teachers rating is as important or extremely important as does self-directed learning (92.8%).

Related articles

• BYOD - What is it? Can we do it?
• Beyond BYOD: Mobility Without Compromise
• Yes, BYOD, but fix it yourself.
• BYOD Pilot Readying for Takeoff

Inquiry learning - from knowledge to understanding

Jane Nicholls recommends, "another video for your toolbox, this time one from NZ Curriculum Online". Jane goes on to say that if you are an educator working with an inquiry learning approach with your students, or who would like to consider doing so this video "explains the heart of inquiry better than I have heard before". "Vic Hygate explains how she carefully focuses her planning, then uses events and provocative statements to make inquiry relevant and fully engage her students". Vic Hygate opens the video by saying:

The biggest difference for me as a teacher with ‘inquiry’ is it’s that shifting your students from knowing about their world to understanding their world - and understanding is so much more than knowledge!

Jane leaves us with the following question: 'How do you use inquiry learning to move from knowledge to understanding?".
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Please click this link to view the video.

First steps: The experiences of an academic team journeying into blended learning

Image by Melody Campbell via FlickrPhilippa Buckley and Fiona Gilmore presented today on a study of teacher educations as they develop a web based teaching approach. There was emphasis on working with students in an online environment. One of the key points is that they were very aware of what they wanted the students to get out of the course by the end. They were used to workign with a distance mode, but not within a technical framework.

They have been working on a number of smaller courses, and then weave them together in a way that was meaningful. The process involved course restructuring, as well as situating the study. The courses were 15 credit. Mass lectures were introduced, along with dula delivery cohorts, and teacm teaching. Courses were put on Moodle - which was quite challenging. Philippa and Fiona didn't have the technical skills to start with, and were working within a tight timeframe.

Because it was participatory research, ethical issues had to be considered in depth. There needed to be transparency around the results and what was being said in the research study write-ups. Two questions shaped the study: "How did a group of teacher educators develop and effective blended teaching course? How did the process challenge conceptions and existing teaching practices?"


Image via WikipediaThe development team followed a model where the academic staff member with the overview, worked alongside a technical advisor. The team of academics "knew what they wanted to do but did not have a clue how to do it!" This meant they took a very long time to get established...in a time poor environment. The initial steps forward were small, and were based around a culture of making concrete decisions and thereby keeping things moving forward. The communication style of the team was very open and direct. The technical support person was key, and differentiated the way that she worked with people. The access and transparency of Moodle was a bit of a surprise, and led to a culture shift.

They set out to developp and create a professional community that had a strong collaborative focus "It was a huge team on one site, And you know what they say about too many cooks. But you managed not to burn anything". Around the innovative pressures, one participant said "I just feel that my technical abilities are not matched and I see that it consumed so much of my time and that the workload doesn't reflect that, I just don't see how I can sustain that. And I found that really frustrating to the point I was in tears." And this was a factor that lurked behind them.

The results so far include the recognition that the professional conversations were essential and were focussed on the pedagogy, where they started to think about their online teaching in a very different way. Much of the shifting in practice has since been transferred to the face-to-face students. The conversations have been very rich, and have really enhanced the practitioners involved in the programme.

The Learning Powered School

Image by wlibrary via FlickrGuy Claxton today facilitated a webinar entitled The Learning Powered School. One of the first things he started by asking was why is it that the 19th century approach to learning and teaching is so 'sticky'. He suggested that few people disagreed that education in some way needs to change, and proposed a vision that suggested 21st century education needs to help you people to learn to be open-minded and inquisitive, while also discovering their passions. They should also be encouraged to make and repair friendships, enjoy seeing different sides of a subject, and be unafraid of uncertainty. So, as far as the latter point is concerned this would involve the design of a curriculum that offers, regularly, experiences that are increasingly uncertain.

Guy cautioned against using the academic jargon often used in the writing of vision statements, which are as a result impenetrable and inaccessible to a large proportion of, for instance, government ministers. Values, he also feels should be relevant to life in general, not just for a test. Fancy language gets in the way of being taken seriously!

One of the key points Guy discussed was what does it take to so a 21st century education properly? He advised that eight core principles have been distilled from research:

1. Broadening the core aims of education
2. A vision that offers success for all
3. A strong rationale
4. Precise and accessible language
5. Progressive change to school culture
6. Focusing on teachers and teaching
7. Honest self-appraisal
8. Committed leadership

 Leadership he advises will really make or break shifts in practice, along with clear, visible endorsement by leaders that reinforces objectives. The traditional education agenda, he argues, will not be changed without strong leadership.

Having an 'and' mentality is essential. People who are looking at assessment scores can also be looking at key competencies, but it is reliant on having a complementary set of ways of tracking the key competencies. The government is not stopping us changing by the focus on assessment.

The way in which education needs to change is on a whole lot of different levels. Where the issues are now are in helping and supporting, primarily teachers, but also students, teachers, and members of the wider community how change is going to happen and what it will look like. Where the world is now is moving from "vision to precision", and it requires clarity around, for instance, the role of parents in their child's learning experience. Clarity will help address misunderstandings and 'fogginess'.

Webquests and ePortfolios - both free :-)

The following resources were recommended by a member of an online community, John Oliver.

This Webquest site looks great. There are Webquests created and shared by educators from around the world, and covering a heap of different disciplines (geography, economics, history, culture, drama to name but a few). Each of the Webquests states the key focus and grade level, and everything is tagged for easy location of resources. You can also contribute your own.

The second resource is a free ePortfolio service - Foliji- which describes itself as "the easiest way to build your own folios (portfolio, website, webpage) and it provides both the structure and a template for you. It is a web-based software for creating folios in a short time without writing any HTML codes." There is also a handy, step-by-step "how to" video that shows you how to set up your own ePortfolio.

A discussion about the impact of the study of metacognition on classroom practice

Image via WikipediaIf you are looking for a paper that covers metacognition and how it affects learning outcomes, then it is worth reading Nayana Karia Metacognition and Classroom Practice: A discussion about the impact of the study of metacognition on classroom practice. Karia, having given an overview of metacognition and its importance in human development, then goes on to explore notions of the reflective practitioner, as well as strategies around group work, peer tutoring, and reciprocal tutoring. There are several examples of what this might 'look like' when some of the approaches are used with learners, including hyperlinks to resources.


An extract from the paper (Karia, 2007, p. 12) reads:: "A move to newer models of assessment necessarily implies a change in teacher focus from content to strategy instruction. To this end, teachers must be offered training to enable them to accurately perceive student aptitudes, preferences and motivational beliefs. Students must be encouraged to individualize strategy knowledge and teachers must instruct for both far and near generalization (Maccini and Gagnon, 2006). Changes in instructional strategy must be preceded by changes in teacher training offerings. There are also inherent weak links in a system that allows young learners to formulate their goals based on perceived task value. Today’s teachers must be all the more sensitive of the need to scaffold learners in the formation of goals, strategies and self-evaluation. And, they must be aware that:

“The key factor at the heart of successful scaffolding is not only the ability of the more able learner/teacher to offer appropriate help, but also their ability to withdraw or fade the support they offer when the learner is ready.” (Luckin & Hammerton, 2002)

Metacognition

Related articles

• Thoughts on Metacognition (thedeezone.wordpress.com)
• Students as Learners Quiz 2 (slukej.wordpress.com)
• Concept Map on Emerging Technologies: What does it take to Learn? (waithash.wordpress.com)

Learning and teaching French: Examples and resources

Image by Storm Crypt via Flickr

BEFORE you start reading - please note that all the links (shown in green text) in this blog post go to examples, sites and tools,

If you are learning or teaching French you are likely to find some of these ideas and resources of interest. There is definitely a trend to empowering learners to create their own multimedia artefacts, and to collaborate, not only as a class or local group, but also on projects with learners across the world. Multimedia tools are being used by teachers to create content, as well as to capture learners' voices in creative approaches. The fostering of thinking skills is also catered for with interactive, often inquiry-based activities.

Voicethread is being used extensively for language learning and teaching, and some example of Voicethreads in action are: L'art franais, French for maths, To find out more about Voicethreads, click HERE.

For listening annd visual resources, the French Listening Resources Page offers a variety of podcasts and videos. The BBC also have a wide range of multimedia resources for learning French at beginner, and intermediate levels - for example, there are 10 online topics based on the 20-part TV series that build on the absolute basics of Talk French. With French in a click learners can access topic-based modules with exercises, explanation and activities, play interactive language games for free online (but you need to be a member to hear the audio), find out about French grammar and vocabulary, and use the online dictionary.

Teaching French at school? For primary students there are links to sound files, songs, newsletters, podcasts, and lesson plans on a range of common topics. For teachers of slightly older students there are movies, stories and letters, grammar explanations and activities, and worksheets.

If you are looking for a comprehensive annotated list of links to resources Frenchteacher.net is the place to go. There are links to the usual worksheets, quizzes and Powerpoints, as well as to ready-created multimedia resources. The Free Language site also has links to French learning podcasts, TV, videos, and communities.

There are also sites that offer complete, free courses in French. The Word to Word site lists about 10 such sites, and if you click here this link will take you to an example of one such course.

Thoughts from Joel Dodd - Cultures old and new

Image by Will Lion via Flickr

Joel Dodd is a teacher of mathematics, researcher, and statistician. He is also active in using ICT to enhance his students learning experiences, while also reflecting on his own practice.

This is an extract from Joel's blog post (Friday, 19 March 2010) where he discusses traditional classroom culture and the influence it has not only on today's students, but also on their parents and the community outside of the school. To read the blog post in full, please click HERE.


"A change is going to come...

What this project involves is a three-way culture change. How people think about education, learning and support. From a teaching perspective, I am looking to move away from the traditional style of education, and taking on the IT tools that are not made available for teachers to use, but that the learners have themselves elected to use...."
"The students have already had nine years of entrenchment in traditional school environments....The students perceptions of how they learn have been shaped by their prior experience, and they come to class with a preformed set of expectations that does not closely match the new style of education. The tech devices and resources that are a central part of their lives outside of school are now becoming prime resources to help them to learn....The mental separation between school and personal lives is being blurred and broken....And, the students are being expected to become pro-active in their learning, and to take personal responsibility for preparing for school."


"The families of the students are having change imposed upon them. Many have not typically been involved with the school environment for many years, and their expectations of school and education are shaped by their own experiences and memories of learning in a different era, currently an era before the internet. Now, they have school entering their homes via the internet and social networking sites. Some families place restrictions upon their children's access and use of computers and the internet, so the new model is a direct challenge to their domestic authority. As schoolwork increasingly requires students to use the internet at home, parental control will be confronted, and potentially eroded. It is a challenge, then, for parents and caregivers to understand how their children are being taught, how they are learning, and how to review their control over the IT resources at home. Is it a case of a challenge to personal control, a fear of what the children could be exposed to via the internet, or a combination of both that leads parents to restrict or prohibit the use of the internet at home?"


Joel concludes by suggesting that the adoption of this model of learning will only be successful if there is a (supported) culture shift in school, home and the wider community so that there is "a dynamic balance between the needs and expectations of each party, and how far they are willing to modify their own perceptions and willingness to change". The resulting synergy, Joel suggests, is where the best learning will happen."

What are your thoughts?

Teacher beliefs and their influence on learning (Michael Philips, ACEC 2010)

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Michael Philips started by looking at some of the barriers around teachers not adopting technology as part of their everyday practice (including being able to access computers during classtime). Philip's findings, while based on a small case study, offer some key indications as to how beliefs and planning are intricately connected. It may well offer some insights to those practitioners involved in teacher development.

He explored some the 1st and 2nd order barriers, in particular ones that challenge beliefs about teaching and learning. Second order barriers are less tangible and visible.

Examining teachers' beliefs is problematic as it involves inference. Philips asks why we should be looking at beliefs around the adoption of the use of technology. Belief systems have an onion-like structure with core beliefs being the most difficult to influence. There is also a difference between the espoused and enacted beliefs of teachers - with discrepancies occurring between the two, but with one having a strong influence on the other.

Philips looked at teacher planning to work out what the relationship is between beliefs, planning and practice. His assertion is that there has only been a small amount of research conducted where the focus is on lesson preparation which he argues has an important relationship with successful teaching practices. He went out to a private school in Melbourne to conduct the case study.  He had two females and two males in the study. He found that teacher's espoused beliefs about the sue of technology are not necessarily reflect in their enacted planning practice. There are many factors that may cause this discrepancy, including self-efficacy of ICT literacy.

Technology transforms learning and teaching? (Christine Jager, ACEC 2010 Day Three)

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Christine Jager begins the conversation by looking at the promise of digital technologes and asks if they lead to increased teacher efectiveness, and improved student achievement.

Christine has been working in the Middle East with education institutions for a number of years, and has found many teachers to be defensive, and competitive (a teacher wanting to look better than a colleague because of the test scores students are achieving). The teaching is traditional and teachers are seen as the catalyst to learning - if a student fails it is seen as the fault of the teacher.

She looks at John Hattie's research (Visible Learning, 2009) to help consider ways of measuring performance / effect (including Key Performance Indicators, standards-based evaluation of performance, and student achievement gains). Hattie has looked at 800 quantitative studies from around the world (83 million students from around the world), and he ends up listing the 28 aspects of learning and teaching. From his analysis he discovered the use of computers would mean "a change in the conception of being a teacher...it necessitates a different way of interacting and respecting students". Hattie identifies that feedback, a student's prior cognitive ability, and the trust build by teachers with their students were paramount to effective learning.

Putting the control into the hands of students can be concerning to students as they are not sure what this would actually look like in practice. The most important thing is what the students bring to the learning situation, followed closely by what a teacher brings, as well as the influence of home, peers, schools and principals. Putting technology into schools is only a small part of the equation. When teachers see learning through the eyes of the student and when students see themselves as their own teachers, that's when you get the most effective outcomes.

Christine's presentation was well-informed, had time for audience participation, and discussion, and raised some key questions, while also suggesting some suggestions (in part sourced from the NZ National Curriculum).

Keynote follow up with Sylivia Martinez (ACEC 2010, Day 2)

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In this discussion session with Sylivia Martinez (which was a follow up from her earlier keynote session) people asked questions about issues that came up in the keynote, and also shared examples of what they are doing at their schools.

Sylvia has kids from the age of 10 to 18 years old to peer-assess, teach and so on. The students can act as teacher aides as well - who can, for example, help set up a class of 20 students around a media project. She has found that when teachers see the students helping out, that is when they become convinced that students helping is a great idea. These initiatives cannot just be free labour, there has to be something in it for the students, such as upskilling, confidence, payment, and other associated academic benefits such as a head start on a certificate, or cross-crediting for other courses.

There was a question around security. Some of the schools define a new level of access for students who are providing tech support somewhere between students and teachers. After an apprentice period some students may then need to be give a higher access. In other schools, the students do not require special access - there are lots of things things that students can do without requiring special access. It shouldn't be a fight with IT, so if necessary the students can do other appropriate jobs. Sylvia pointed out that all the kids know how to get around the filters - setting up barriers throws down the gauntlet. One of the first thing to do is to ensure that students involved in initiatives like this know what is a reasonable expectation of them in role.

Technology isn't a subject, rather technology is a discipline of using the tools in an appropriate way to achieve something else.

When assessing technology literacy what are we testing? Vocabulary? There is a need to have an assessment that tests the authentic use of a tool. Authentic assessment can be taught to students, where students can ask other students the steps that were taken in a project, where they found resources and so on. A student explaining to another student can uncover a lot of errors that a multiple choice test would not uncover.

Sylvia suggested following up on the work that Martin Levins is doing with students in Australia.

Students as professional developers - Sylivia Martinez (ACEC 2010, Day 2)

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Sylvia Martinez keynote speaker on the second day of the ACEC 2010 conference, spoke about teacher development. She was keen to suggests that students can train ans support staff and teachers, provide technical support, develop resources and communicate for schools, and help peers. This was an inspirational presentation, which continued to reinforce the message that appears to be coming through as a key theme at this conference - empowering students and valuing what they have to contribute to learning. It is giving learners and learning purpose, authenticity, and space for students to take responsibility. Scaffolding and guidance are still important, but the students are helped to so something that they are passionate about, and something that enables them to embrace 'citizenship' of learning communities. It's what the students and the teachers do that counts.

The idea is to build a technology ecology where the student is doing something authentic - giving them real problems to solve - one of which is using technology in schools. So, the mantra is waste nothing, including talent, energy and passion. Students can provide informal technical support, for example drop in sessions for staff. Students need to know something and to take ownership and responsibility, an increased sense of purpose. It is not just about the technology it is about the philosophy - student-centered and focussed.

There are a lot of kids and adults who have things to share in the form of ideas and passion. Students care about their education, and rise to the challenge of leading events for teachers. It is worth looking at the Tomaz Lasic 'Catch a teacher day' initiative (Perth). Also, the Media Smart days which were organised by students, where there were student and teacher run workshops on media and technology topics.

Sylvia Martinez emphasised the importance of projects, and the key associated notions of tech support, professional development, and student technology fluency. She suggested that projects are graded by a peer-mentor - this gives different types of kids opportunities to shine and to show off their talents.

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• Project-Based Learning: How Students Learn Teamwork, Critical Thinking And Communication Skills (masternewmedia.org)

The Amazing Web 2.0 Projects Book!

"The Amazing Web 2.0 Projects Book" is a collaborative initiative (coordinated and edited by Terry Freedman) that brings together ideas and experiences from 94 contributors around the world. The hands-on practical aspect of the eBook means that, rather than just talking about Web 2.0 tools, there are how-to suggestions and guidelines, as well as reference to benefits and pitfalls and challenges to be prepared for, and how to handle them. The resource is free, and can be downloaded by clicking here (it's a 2.09 MB .pdf file).

Some of the comments that Terry has received about his book include:

David Kapuler: "This is one of the best collaborative resources I've seen on Web 2.0. It covers everything from wikis, blogs, to digital storytelling and podcasting. Terry Freedman...does a masterful job of organizing the content which has been included from such high esteemed educators from around the world, such as: Kim Cofino, Silvia Tolisano, and Shelly Terrell".

Paul Hamilton: "Any teacher with an interest in effectively reaching every learner in his or her classroom–with meaningful, accessible, and engaging learning activities–would do well to take a look. The book is well organized, with activities categorized according to the general age range of the learners involved".

Stephen Downes: "It's pretty light and breezy, but the information is well-structured (using a template that identifies things like age ranges, applications used, reactions and outcomes) and the content is clearly and well written throughout".

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Teaching for excellence: Excellence in teaching

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Earlier this year at the eFest meets Teaching and Learning Conference (hosted at UCOL), I was privileged to take part in the conference wrap up led by Lisa Emerson (Ako Aotearoa) - "Teaching for excellence: Excellence in teaching".

Lisa began by discussing the quote: “The classroom, with all its limitations, remains a location of possibility" (Bell Hooks, 1994, p. 207), and then went on by looking at the notion of excellence in tertiary teaching, referring back to the main theme of the conference. She asked how we can bring student evaluation of teaching into our teaching institutions, and teaching practice. We have clear empirical methods to research outputs; the push for this empirical data then moves to the evaluation of tertiary teaching. How do we measure excellence in teaching. Lisa listed 1) retention, 2) success rates, 3) student evaluation, 4) compliance measures, 5) willingness to engage with new technologies, 6) willingness to show commitment to teaching by engaging in PD, and 6) by willingness to disseminate good practice (e.g. by publishing in academic journals). She then went on to discuss who wants to measure excellent, including the teacher (especially for career development), the institution, political bodies (to measure value for money), and others such as Ako Aotearoa (for example there may be a desire to raise the profile of teaching within the tertiary sector).

Emerson reflected on some experiences she had working with award winning teachers, who were incredibly humble about their teaching practice. She then went on to unpack the following: “It is crucial that we challenge any feeling of shame or embarrassment that teachers who do their job well….For when we hide our light we collude in the overall cultural devaluation of our teaching vocation” (Bell Hooks).

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The session included an interactive exercise that involved participation from the audience. As we went in we were given a pen and a piece of A4 paper with the words Why?, How?, A moment, and A model/metaphor on them as headings at equal intervals down the page. At the appropriate moment, Lisa asked the audience to look at the first question, gave some background behind it (why do you teach and what do you hope your learners will be able to do), and then each person wrote down their response to the question. The top of the paper was then turned over, and the audience had to swap papers with someone close by. This process was completed for the rest of the sections, swapping papers with people around the room after each one was completed. It was a really effective exercise as not only were the audience engaged and active, but it personalised the topic and the issues for them. To complete the exercise, 50% of the audience (in groups of 3) considered question 1 and selected 1 response that they felt resonated with them; 50% of the audience (in groups of 3) did the same for question 4. The microphone was finally circulated, with a nominated speaker reading out each group’s selection.

Examples of answers (all anonymous) on the sheet that I came away with were 1) Why? “I want my student to have the ability to survive the future”; 2) How? “One thing I do well is detailed instructions”; 3) A moment (of success) “Working with a group of Maori nursing students and having them tell me about the concept of Waiora, mindmapping what they shared on the board and offering it back to them as a structure for their presentation. Tutor as learner/learner as tutor.”; 4) A model/metaphor (for learning and teaching) “Reciprocal learners about life”.

I felt it was a shared reflective activity that appeared to work well. Each person had a ‘voice’ and had the opportunity to contribute to the discussion (although some people chose to opt out). Judging from the responses, people invested time and effort to respond meaningfully. The activity is one I will certainly use in Professional Development sessions with academic faculty, as well as at conferences when I present in the future!

Lisa summed up the exercise by revisiting the questions Why?, How?, A moment, and A model/metaphor. The second and third questions were designed to help celebrate who we are – to help us revalue our profession. At the heart of teaching is the relationship between a student, a teacher and a subject and this is where the models and metaphors are so useful. She suggests that metaphors do not describe reality, but that they create it. The image of the learner as consumer places the learner as passive, as a receiver…also, as a customer, the learner knows what they want, and that they are always right. Also, the metaphor suggests that the institution is the ‘shop’, and the person who sells the product rarely evaluates how the customer uses their purchase.

Other models that Lisa has collected from her other meetings, included co-learner, facilitator, mediators, mentors, guides, colleagues with a serious duty to care, and a co-traveller who sees things that otherwise the learner may miss. She argued that the whole dynamic between teachers and learners would change if the metaphor of consumer were abandoned and replaced with an alternative. The challenge is how this can be opened up for discussion in institutions, and unpicked with students, so that the customer model is left behind.

One analogy that a group of us discussed after Lisa’s session was that of a greenhouse (extending something that someone had written in the session about a teacher as gardener). We felt that the greenhouse idea included the notion of planting seeds, growth happening within each individual seedling, and the learning environment being safe (protecting from frosts), nurturing (the right balance of warmth and moisture, that is constantly monitored). It also allowed for differences (tomatoes not being the same as melons), and the notion that the seedling will eventually be transplanted to the outside world. Could be maybe stretching an analogy to breaking point and beyond, but it does focus on the fact that the teacher cannot do the growing for the learner, and that the learner has to be actively involved in the process.