In the past decade schools have experienced a whirlwind of technological jargon with little support or approval by administrators to implement any real pedagogical changes. Is the popularity and availability of mobile phones going to revolutionise the way we teach? The following post presents some of my recent changes with regards to teaching in the Social Sciences and “it’s out with the old and in with the new”.
Teaching is a dynamic profession and I am constantly reviewing my teaching practice to hopefully remain an effective teacher of the Social Sciences and as a Head of Department. In the past 2 years I felt that the rapid changes in ICT’s really needed to be considered carefully and applied to units of work especially in the junior school. The Social Sciences offers interesting content and processes and I knew it would be enhanced by a more authentic, interactive and learner centred approach to the teaching and learning experiences.
I concentrated my efforts on revamping the geography unit on Natural Disasters. The literature confirmed numberous benefits of a connected learning environment and I was committed to a more collaborative approach to teaching and learning hence designed activities that allowed both independent and collaborative involvement.
The unit incorporated a number of interactive websites and these were used to build students’ knowledge and understanding. Traditionally, these lessons were all teacher centred. The new approach required students to investigate the tsunami in Banda Aceh through Jacaranda’s new Virtual Fieldwork Activities and create a weblog. Student progress was easy to track and the material was placed on a wiki site and students were required to make comments on the discussion board.
Now that I have completed a number of readings about mobile media and the different apps available on Smartphones, I can see the potential to further improve this geography unit with more meaningful and authentic experiences. The incorporation of global positioning systems (GPS) available with many new mobile technologies promotes collaborative and situated learning in and outside of the classroom and this can be combined with virtual information to allow for a better grasp of the real world. I have used podcasts of Indonesian people speaking about the effects of the tsunami and a mobile device could broaden those opportunities and students could develop even better understandings of these difficult and complex situations.
The idea that kids will come to school with nothing more than a mobile device is rather daunting. My own narrow understanding of a mobile was packaged securely in my small dependable nokia but I realised a few weeks ago that is was time to upgrade. I decided on an iPhone 4 and at school, I immediately linked up my outlook calendar, the College Intranet and a few educational apps that I plan to use in the classroom i.e. world maps. I now use my iphone to check my emails, update my calendar, search the library catalogue and update the Social Science wiki page. I am convinced that Stald, 2008 was correct in saying that the common mobile “is a kind of Swiss Army knife,” which holds a number of useful tools.
The challenge for the future is to use of mobile technologies to transform learning into a seamless part of daily life to the point where it is not recognised as learning at all. The fact that young people see mobile phones as very personal in nature, and “the always on” participatory nature youth now employ offers great potential for individual and collaborative learning. As a teacher and a parent of teenagers I am aware that the mobile is the glue that holds together various nodes in their social networks. I have also seen that many sites are now offering online participation by youth; “myfuture” has joined the social media community with the establishment of Facebook and Twitter accounts. It appears second nature for students to check updates from their social media sites and therefore, opportunistic for teachers to also post updates and corroborate with students through these social networking sites.
In a large school context there will be some obvious concerns with regards to mobiles having small screens, batteries running out of charge quickly and the design too fragile. However, the low cost and accessibility of mobiles makes this device very attractive for schools especially those in low-income communities. This is also very important in schools where justice and equity are part of the Mission Statement.
There is no doubt in my mind that Smartphones are the tool of the future, they are the “always on” technology and in the very near future their entrance into mainstream use for teaching, learning, or creative inquiry is inevitable as they offer an increasing range of activities and opportunities (2010 Horizon Report). As a teacher I hope to be a critical user of this technology but this begins with knowing the potential of mobile media for both teaching and learning and tapping into the ways in which it is currently being used by our students.
Mary, your blog entry on the rapidly changing teaching profession provides an insightful reminder of the challenges we face.
ReplyDeleteI am impressed with your upgrade to an iPhone 4 and with the ease you have managed to link to work, creating an “always on” environment.
You make a valid point, that if we as teachers are going to embrace technology; we need to become familiar and comfortable in using them, so we too can become tech-savvy citizens of the future.
Your discussion on the use of social networking sites, such as Face book and Twitter bring to the forefront one of the key challenges for educators. Since youth identify with these sites as their “glue” that hold their world together, then as educators shouldn’t we too embrace the endless opportunities these sites provide for connecting and collaborating with our students? The government, media and many corporations have already recognised this ‘always on’ opportunity and the possibilities as a facilitator for open learning. With the benefits of free, ubiquitous access to Face book and Twitter that most plans provide today, it is timely that we as educators need to consider using these sites.
(Fiona's response)
Mary I support the view that schools have gone through a process of rapid change with little or no support from administrators. There often seems to be no strategic implementation of these technologies and teachers are left to contend with the difficulties with the latest ‘in vogue’ device or piece of software. Consequently, they use these tools as bolt on to their existing pedagogy instead of looking at contemporary ways of learning, or never realise the full potential of the device, or technology, on offer. Gaffney’s report (2010) documents the measures needed to be taken by Government, education authorities and schools to ensure better take-up of digital content and technologies.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that this course has provided the stimulus to look at new ways of delivering your units of work and I like your thinking in regard to allowing students to have more ownership over their own learning by carrying out their own research and using interactive sites.
REFERENCE:
Gaffney M., (2010) Enhancing teachers’ take-up of digital content: Factors and design principles in technology adoption Retrieved 10th September 2010 from www.thelearningfederation.edu.au/...Enhancing_Teacher_Takeup_of_Digital_Content_Report.PDF