Blogalisation

Virginie published a post on the tenth of October regarding the use of video in schooling. The post can be accessed here.

I decided to write a reply to this post because it relates directly to my last post on the use of play in the classroom. The project which Virginie describes is a perfect example of both the ideas Riebel discusses in his article. The students are incredibly motivated by the project because they are all able to pursue their own interests related to film making. The students are also involved in the design process, through which they all have different opinions and areas of expertise and they can all contribute to the project in a way that suits their talents, thereby increasing their self confidence and desire to learn.

I agree whole-heartedly with Virginie’s comments that a video production project offers amazing benefits to the languages classroom and hope to include this type of project in my own classes.

I’ve just read Georgie’s post regarding blogging for learning which may be accessed here. I found this post quite exciting, mainly for her comment on the effects of having an audience on the student’s motivation levels. This is something I hadn’t thought about previously with relation to ICT in the classroom, however I completely agree with the notion that having a published work will increase the motivation of students and therefore improve the quality of their work through inspiring pride. I would like to see more creative ideas for using blogs or other web 2.0 features/tools to aid education, currently I’m very excited about what can be done and how it might benefit the classroom however I have very little idea of how to actually implement the technology in my own lessons. Some exploration into voicethread will be a good starting point for myself to perhaps germinate some ideas of what I can do in my lessons.

Chris Betcher posted a list of 11 things that would positively influence the introduction and use of ICT in the classroom. The article may be accessed here. Chris asks if the list still holds up as it is about 5 years old, I believe it still does, schools have changed in the time since the list was originally posted, unfortunately teachers have not. Teachers still fear ICT, they still begrudge being forced to use ICT and they still use ICT as a means to deliver antiquated teaching methods. One of the factors that I believe influences a teacher’s use of ICT is their age, that is not to say that being young is a distinct advantage in the use of ICT however I have come across a number of individuals who are teachers of a more mature age that feel ICT is just beyond their realm of comfort, the feeling is that they won’t be able to use the technology, and if they try, they’ll probably break it. I believe people need to be comfortable with a technology to be able to use it effectively in the classroom. For instance, I’m not comfortable using a whiteboard as my handwriting is lacking on paper let alone on a slippery vertical service. Because of this I only use the whiteboard when I must, and then only for the bare minimum. On the other hand, I grew up using computers I’m completely at ease with them, so anything I can type on the computer and project onto the screen for the class to read or write, I will. This is not to say that I’m using ICT only as a replacement media to produce the same results as older technology, but there’s nothing to say one can’t do this. My point here is that because I’m comfortable using ICT rather than the whiteboard I do use the ICT rather than the whiteboard, whereas for a lot of teachers, it’s the other way around. I’m not sure how to go about it, but I feel the older teacher who fear using technology should have the option of doing a series of basic computing courses so that they do feel truly comfortable with a keyboard and mouse, a projector and remote control. It’s this comfortability which allows teachers to research in their own time the benefits of using ICT in their classroom and really find out just how beneficial and can be to their cause.

One of the best points in the post to me was point 9, linking home with school. I’m a big believer in making learning something the student enjoys, I feel school is a place for students to encounter a multitude of interesting subjects from which they can develop hobbies and interests and hopefully find something which they want to turn into a profession. It’s because of this that I feel the school should morph seamlessly into the home and community, school should be a gateway of interesting resources that students can access wherever they are, and students should want to access the resources the school has to offer. If a school site can provide students with the necessary resources they need to study for their classes and also provide them with a pass-time which they enjoy, ICT will surely revolutionise the quality of teaching our students receive.

Julia wrote an interesting piece regarding a newspaper article which you can find here.

In her post Julia makes some very good points regarding the need for internal knowledge as opposed to having external sources of information in the real world.

My opinion on the matter is that the two different testing types, the ‘external referrant test’ and the ‘internal knowledge test’ as I call them, serve two entirely different purposes. The external referrant test, in my opinion, is a test of the student’s ability to pool together different resources, filter information and come to a conclusion based on the data they have collected within the time limit, this tests their resourcefulness and critical analysis abilities. On the other hand, the internal knowledge test, tests a student’s ability to retain information internally, store and recall knowledge, and more or less act like a store of information, a hard-drive from which they can pull information supposed as fact. I believe both these test types are of much use and should be employed in conjunction with each other. Yes a doctor will in the operating theatre be relying on knowledge and experience he/she has gathered throughout their career or study, however if conducting a diagnostic test on a matter a little more complicated than the average everyday illness, will take samples and employ the use of the resources at his disposal before coming back to the patient with an answer, the emphasis here is on accuracy moreso than time, a critical difference between internal knowledge and external references, that is not to say that internal knowledge is not accurate, however is may be lacking in certain circumstances, one would not send in a surgeon who was lacking the knowledge to conduct the surgery in to cut open a patient. Likewise a Judge would not consult his references during court, however will at times adjourn court to consult past cases or current legislation to ensure the ruling is adequate and consistent with what is expected by society.

Therefore, it is my conclusion that both test types are needed as both skill sets are required to function adequately in society. Neither is more important than the other, especially now since the well of information one would have to internalise to be completely self sufficient is unimaginably larger than that of previous generations and is ever expanding, making the role of specialists and resource pooling all the more important.