Monday, September 12, 2011
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Social networking
Letting Social Networking into Schools
Creating & ConnectingResearch and Guidelines on Online Social - and Educational - NetworkingNational School Boards AssociationSeptember, 2007
School districts may want to reexamine their policies and practices in order to use social networking for educational purposes, says this report. Time spent using social networking services and Web sites now nearly equals television viewing among youth. A remarkable 96 percent of students with online access report that they have used social networking technologies, such as chatting, text messaging, blogging and visiting online communities, such as Facebook, MySpace and services designed specifically for younger children, such as Webkins and the chat sections of Nick.com. Yet the vast majority of school districts have stringent rules against nearly all forms of social networking during the school day - even though students and parents report few problem behaviors online.
Both district leaders and parents, says the report, believe that social networking could play a positive role in students' lives and they recognize opportunities for using it in education - at a time when teachers now routinely assign homework that requires Internet use to complete.
What do students do online?
41% post messages
32% download music
30% download videos
29% upload music
25% update personal Web sites or online profiles
24% post photos
17% blog
16% create and share virtual objects
14% create new characters
10% participate in collaborative projects
10% send suggestions or ideas to Web sites
9% submit articles to Web sites
9% crate polls, quizzes or surveys
The report recommends that school boards:
Explore social networking sites.
Consider using social networking for staff communications and professional development
Find ways to harness the educational value of social networking.
Ensure equitable access
Pay attention to the nonconformists (defined in the report as skilled online but lukewarm about school)
Reexamine social networking policies.
Encourage social networking companies to increase educational value.
The pdf file of the report is in the file box for those who want to read it.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Thoughts about ICT in schools.
Although some research by Lally and Macleod (1984) suggested that computer aided instruction types of programs had limited use due to applications not leading to improved teaching procedures but merely computerising existing techniques, many still believe this process will work.
In order for ICT to be integrated into the curriculum Yelland (2001) states that changes in the learning process occurs which are characterised by (CEO forum 1999):
Problem or project oriented – whereby investigations are authentic and where there are many solutions to the problem
Student centred – students feel empowered by their work and participate in developing their own investigations. Teachers act as guides, facilitators, and provide the materials to support their learning. While teachers remain the cornerstone of the educational process a partnerships is formed with students, parents, peers and other professionals. The teachers’ role is less authoritarian and more one of encouraging and guiding the students towards their goals.
Collaborative – since learning with authentic tasks is an interactive experience between teaches and students and as students acquire and use information they need to exchange ideas and create relationships with each other and with professionals relevant to their work
Relevant – learning with ICT has the potential to create educational opportunities to meet the needs of individuals and groups in diverse ways and allows them to work according to their needs and interests. Teachers can use digital devices to record and report on students’ performance in enhanced ways, tracking achievement through databases or using video for observation of skill development.
Productive – the use of ICT encourages both teachers and students to become ‘content producers’
The characteristics of exemplary teachers who integrated computers into their classrooms as found by Becker (1993) included that they created an environment for learning in which the computer directly related to the curriculum goals as well as incorporating a wide for variety of uses which were relevant to knowledge building across the curriculum. These teachers also had greater access to formal professional development and also had smaller class sizes. In this work Becker states that his ‘assumption of the exemplary teaching label was based on the important academic outcomes which result from systematic and frequent use of computer software for activities which involve higher order thinking, such as interpreting data, reasoning, writing, solving real world problems and conducting scientific investigations (p. 316).
Another study by Swan & Mitrani (1993) found that many studies that had been conducted concentrated on how the computer reinforced or enhanced basic skills and measured by testing outcomes in standardised tests. Another point that they made was that many studies found that when such skills were presented on the computer that they were learned more effectively. However they maintained that such use of computers was detrimental to a broader use which would impact on the actual processes of teaching and learning. They maintain that when computers are effectively integrated into the curriculum and are a natural part of the teaching process that the learning is more student-centred and collaborative than in the more traditional classroom settings. In this setting they found that the dynamics between the teacher and students changed with the teacher taking a facilitators role. From this work they stated that ‘technology alone will not change schools’ as they felt that there also needs to be a change in the classroom climate and pedagogy for the use of ICT to have an impact.
Diane Brooks