[Year 12 IPM] Computer Lab usage
Laurie Savage
sav at pvgc.vic.edu.au
Thu Sep 7 10:02:58 EST 2006
Thank you for the considered and thoughtful response. Most of the rooms
in which I have worked (other than dedicated labs) have identical desks
and chairs. This flexibility lets me rearrange the room to the needs of
a specific class or lesson - "Horses for courses". Students and classes
have differing cultures, needs and expectations. I find lesson plans
that fly with one group fail miserably with another. If nothing else,
modern teaching demands flexibility, curiosity and a preparedness to
take risks.
Laurie
Stephen Digby wrote:
> Such certainty !! Such passionate extremes !! Who are you ?
> 6 sessions a "nightmare". Some have the same description of 4, 3, 2, 1 (I
> even remember 8 session days !!!)
> The appropriateness of session length is a function of teaching goals,
> teaching methods and student characteristics. As so many say these days
> "there is no one right answer". It depends. Increasing proportion of
> students come from families without a "learning culture" i.e. little
> experience of success through persistence; a feedback cycle of shortening
> attention and commitment fed by a belief that lowered expectations are
> preferable to experiences of failure; etc; etc etc. These students do not
> thrive in school settings which are designed for self-motivated students who
> are used to success through perseverance. They actually do far better with
> short sessions of highly directed learning which gradually expands the scope
> for autonomy within careful limits.
> The "one size fits all" confidence is what often amazes me.
>
> Chairs in rows - "so wrong". The subconscious inference that there is a
> moral failure in not adopting the latest teaching fad. Flexible tables
> would not do, "we are now looking at that furniture that can't be set up in
> rows". A rather immature response, I would suggest.
> I would suggest that the most flexible classroom arrangements have all
> tables the same (i.e. no teacher's table), this means that there is no
> presumption that the teacher will be apart from the students or "out the
> front" - but without prohibiting this arrangement.
>
> School plant, equipment and staff should be built for maximum flexibility,
> variety, creativity and responsiveness. Let's not move from one
> straitjacket into another - even if it is more fashionable !
>
> ============================================================================
> ==========
> Stephen Digby, Learning Technology Manager
> mailto:admin at cheltsec.vic.edu.au
> Cheltenham Secondary College www.cheltsec.vic.edu.au Ph: 613 955 55 955 Fx:
> 9555 8617
> ============================================================================
> ==========
>
>
> The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au] On
> Behalf Of Bell, Cameron P
> Sent: 06 September 2006 02:46 PM
> To: Year 12 Information Technology Processing and Management
> Teachers'MailingList
> Subject: RE: [Year 12 IPM] Computer Lab usage
>
> Yep! We are moving to a 4 period day next year. My last two schools were
> 4 period days and moving back to 6 was a nightmare! Can't wait for that.
>
> We do battle with the make-up of the rooms. We are now looking at that
> furniture that can't be set up in rows. I can't stand walking into a room
> where all the desks are in rows facing the teacher, it is so wrong.
> Needless to say any attempts to create a more group orientated layout
> quickly gets set back into rows. :(
>
> We still need a teacher's desk to put the teacher's laptop on though.
> (We do our rolls via the laptops. That change went very smoothly! :)
> )
>
> We would not be able to support a student owned laptop program just yet.
> School demographics are against that.
>
> I agree with a lot of what you suggest but I need a whiteboard. I prefer a
> whiteboard that I can project stuff onto and be able to write on at the same
> time. Can't do that with screens.
>
> Spare a though for my next issue. A school-wide switch over to Open Source
> Software. That will be a fun one!
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au]
> On Behalf Of Mark Scott
> Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 1:26 PM
> To: Year 12 Information Technology Processing and Management
> Teachers'MailingList
> Subject: RE: [Year 12 IPM] Computer Lab usage
>
> Cameron
>
> Some strategies:
>
> 1. Introduce a four period day. Most teachers when faced with longer periods
> will adapt to the new circumstances. They will find very quickly that they
> cannot chalk and talk their way through an 80 minute lesson.
>
> 2. Introduce a student owned laptop program. Give teachers a laptop each but
> ban their use within classrooms.
>
> 3. Make technology a part of every report that goes home to parents.
>
> 4. Remove the whiteboards from all the classrooms. I have never been able to
> convince a Principal of the validity of this but just imagine...
>
> 5. Remove the teachers' desks from all of the classrooms. Make them get up
> and wander around the classroom.
>
> 6. Stop making square classrooms designed to fit 25 students into a box.
>
> Mark Scott
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au]
> On Behalf Of Bell, Cameron P
> Sent: Wednesday, 6 September 2006 12:44 PM
> To: Year 12 Information Technology Processing and Management
> Teachers'MailingList
> Subject: RE: [Year 12 IPM] Computer Lab usage
>
> *snipped*
>
> So that change can happen, how do you encourage "recalcitrant" (for want of
> a better word) teachers to accept that we must constantly change and adapt
> to new circumstances so that it is not seen as a burden, but an opportunity?
> Would love any additional strategies people can suggest.
>
> Cameron
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au]
> On Behalf Of Murray O.
> Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 11:17 AM
> To: Year 12 Information Technology Processing and Management
> Teachers'MailingList
> Subject: RE: [Year 12 IPM] Computer Lab usage
>
> Mark
> I disagree with you.
> Based on my experience, I think teachers are highly adaptable to change be
> planned or unplanned. That being said I too get frustrated at trying to
> facilitate change in schools.
>
> Can you tell of other professions or groups of adults that change quickly?
>
> Regards,
> Oliver Murray
> Web Developer
> Westbourne Grammar School
> www.westbournegrammar.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au]
> On Behalf Of Mark Scott
> Sent: Wednesday, 6 September 2006 10:30 AM
> To: Year 12 Information Technology Processing and Management
> Teachers'MailingList
> Subject: RE: [Year 12 IPM] Computer Lab usage
>
> We are talking teachers.
>
> This is a species renown for not changing quickly.
>
> Mark
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au]
> On Behalf Of jturner
> Sent: Wednesday, 6 September 2006 10:11 AM
> To: Year 12 Information Technology Processing and Management
> Teachers'Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Year 12 IPM] Computer Lab usage
>
> The big mistake people continue to make is seeing technology as the catalyst
> for sustainable change in education when it should be people.
> Technology is invaluable whatever its peculiarities but learner centered
> means people at the center.
> John
>
> On 05/09/2006, at 3:41 PM, Mark Scott wrote:
>
>> I have said it before and no doubt I will say it again.
>>
>> The biggest advantage in introducing student owned laptops into a
>> school is that it can be used as a catalyst for change.
>>
>> You can start to talk about learner centred classrooms instead of
>> teacher centred ones.
>>
>> ... and of course this is not the only strategy you try, just one of
>> several.
>>
>> Mark Scott
>> Luther College
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au]
>> On Behalf Of Michael Walker
>> Sent: Tuesday, 5 September 2006 3:06 PM
>> To: Year 12 Information Technology Processing and Management
>> Teachers'Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [Year 12 IPM] Computer Lab usage
>>
>>>>> Laurie Savage<sav at pvgc.vic.edu.au> 09/05/06 12:07pm >>>
>>>> And now we have a generation of people who cannot do the simplest
>> calculation in their head.
>>
>> Laurie
>>
>>>>> Mark Scott wrote:
>>> They said the same thing about calculators back in the early
>> seventies.
>>
>> Ah generalisations, you've got to love them... 8^)
>>
>> I would argue that with the use of calculators, you don't need to do
>> the simplest calculation in your head. However, it requires a
>> different skill set to check that your calculator is giving you an
>> accurate answer rather than no skill set at all, hence the higher
>> emphasis on estimation that occurs in teaching maths now than when I
>> was at school. Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis...
>>
>> I would also argue that those kids I know of who have trouble
>> performing the simplest calculation aren't all that flash on using the
>> calculator either. I would suggest that a greater cause is lack of
>> interest for whatever reason from boring teaching methods in previous
>> years showing the kids how irrelevant maths is to lack of support at
>> home for doing homework and school in general. Now there's a can of
>> worms or three...
>>
>> Although I don't think laptops are a cure for all ills, I suspect that
>> under some circumstances they can be a useful tool in the hands of the
>> right practitioner, and in others are a complete waste of time when
> the
>> circumstances of the school and students are taken into account. To
>> give some examples, I am sure that in some laptop schools, the laptops
>> are an expensive pseudo notebook / electronic textbook whose primary
> advantage
>> is larger capacity, neater handwriting (typing vs scribble) and better
>> searchability. Obviously Mark's school is not one of them based on his
>> response. That's not to say schools with poor use of laptops don't
>> exist, and anecdotal evidence would suggest that they do. On the other
>> hand, the same applies to schools who have changed their teaching to
>> make good use of new teaching methods available from every student
>> having the tool and having been taught a proficiency with it.
>>
>> On the other hand, I would suspect that there would be scenarios where
>
>> a
>> $2000 laptop would be a poor use of family or school resources for the
>> perceived benefits compared to alternatives. Would a struggling
> western
>> suburbs secondary school be able to justify making every student buy a
>> laptop, even on finance? Would alternative approaches such as good use
>> of Moodle with external access be more appropriate in terms of bang
> for
>> buck?
>>
>> I would suggest that neither black nor white are correct and that
>> although there is a place for laptops in schools, it would be silly to
>> try and suggest that it would be desirable for every school in the
>> state and every student in the state to have a laptop and be in a
>> laptop program. Or to suggest that every maths student in the state
>> can't do simple calculations in their head...
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Teachers Association Inc
>>
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>> http://www.edulists.com.au - FAQ, resources, subscribe, unsubscribe
>> IPM Mailing List kindly supported by http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au -
>> Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority and
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>> Teachers Association Inc
>>
>>
> Dr J Turner
> Head of Information Technology / VCE Coordinator Presbyterian Ladies'
> College BURWOOD Victoria 3125
>
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--
Laurie Savage
===============================================
Student Assessment, Reporting and Tracking
Pascoe Vale Girls College, Pascoe Vale, Vic, AU
+613 9306 2544
===============================================
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