[Yr7-10it] new learning
Dr Paul Chandler
paul.chandler at YVG.vic.edu.au
Wed Oct 31 13:57:55 EST 2007
In my youth, my grandmother and her sister had a 'secret code'. When
one was visiting the other, and then returning home, to let the other
know that they had returned safely, one would make a phone call and let
it ring twice (without answering). And then do the same again. The
rationale was to save on telephone bills! When it comes to using the
phone (or the mobile, or skype or whatever) there is no longer so much
of a social or economic imperative to minimise use. If we need to call
someone, we ring them. If I need to e-mail someone, I do so. In 1989,
when I first used e-mail as part of a learning activity, it was rare and
exotic and a 'special treat'.
BUT when was the last time I asked students to use a telephone as part
of their learning? Or their mobile? Or their playstation? Or (name
the technology). I feel that we should be conducting education in the
full knowledge that all kinds of technologies are part of the world
which our students inhabit, but that does not mean that they need to be
part of the learning activities. Since 1989, most of my students have
known that I "do" e-mail, use ICQ, write programs, etc, etc, but that
does not mean that we have to use those technologies in any/all of our
classes. By anology, there are a whole bunch of really interesting
activities for teaching "computing" on http://csunplugged.com/ - but you
don't need a computer to do them!
The other side of it is to say that we should be seeking to expand our
repertoire; to ask ourselves questions like "how can we use mobile
phones as part of our teaching" (ie put on your de Bono 'green hat').
As the world of technology expands, we need to seek to expand the
repertoire, but we shouldn't think of ourselves as failing our students
if we give some thoughtful consideration, but decide not to go down a
particular path.
________________________________
From: yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au
[mailto:yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Bill Kerr
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 1:17 PM
To: Year 7 - 10 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Yr7-10it] new learning
In my youth I had books and radio. People read books partly because
there wasn't much else to do
With TV, mobiles, ipods etc. the culture has changed and many students
expect to be entertained at school - isn't that the purpose of life?
Teachers cultivate sense of humour and the quick quip, it goes with the
territory
Media celebrities such as Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Peter
Garrett end up telling us how we should be running our lives. For some
reason Arnie doesn't seem the same to me when fighting the bushfires,
cf. his earlier exploits.
In his book "Amusing ourselves to Death" Neil Postman critically
analyses a TV show that was developed as part of "integrating TV into
the curriculum" - The Voyage of the Mimi, which featured a crusty sea
captain, humpback whales, navigational and map reading skills. Sounds
educational - but chosen mainly because it was eminently televisable
ICT is not really the same as TV although there can be and is a TV-like
ICT culture, web surfing mainly for entertainment - much of the
blogosphere is like this IMO
It seems valid to use ICT to engage students provided the educators know
what they are doing and can justify it in terms of articulated
educational goals - but what are those goals, how should ICT transform
the curriculum?, are we planning to do later versions of The Voyage of
the Mimi?
I like this quote from alan kay:
"Computing spread out much, much faster than educating unsophisticated
people can happen. In the last 25 years or so, we actually got something
like a pop culture, similar to what happened when television came on the
scene and some of its inventors thought it would be a way of getting
Shakespeare to the masses. But they forgot that you have to be more
sophisticated and have more perspective to understand Shakespeare. What
television was able to do was to capture people as they were. So I think
the lack of a real computer science today, and the lack of real software
engineering today, is partly due to this pop culture."
--
Bill Kerr
http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/
On Oct 31, 2007 10:20 AM, Russell Edwards <
edwards.russell.t at edumail.vic.gov.au
<mailto:edwards.russell.t at edumail.vic.gov.au> > wrote:
Jenna,
> With this increase in technology within our world, the
traditional
> approach in teaching and learning is no longer a choice
because of
> this technological approach to education.
>
I tend to think that this is all over-hyped. Mostly that just
means
that time and money is wasted, but when this really bothers me
is when
technological developments are given as a justification for
displacing
important parts of the curriculum. This is usually the catch cry
of
those rebutting arguments that schools are moving towards
neglecting
the basics.
When TV was invented, we didn't insist that the "traditional
approach in teaching and learning" be abandoned and TV be
integrated
into every classroom. You could say the same thing about
telephones,
walkmans, etc etc. Like the current new wave of ICT, all these
things
quickly became pervasive and altered our society in very major
ways,
yet we didn't hear people calling for a massive paradigm shift
in
education. New technology gets incorporated but should
complement
tried and true content and delivery. Having a calculator
doesn't
negate the value of knowing your times-tables, and having access
to
wikipedia doesn't mean you shouldn't know how our system of
government
works.
cheers
Russell
On 30/10/2007, at 10:32 PM, Jenna Hubbard wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> What are your thoughts about the application of the New
Learning
> paradigm to pedagogy in schools - e.g students nowadays are
> surrounded my technology, through myspace, you tube, instant
> messaging, second life. Because of this increase in
technology,
> there has been a fundamental disconnect between the way
students
> think, learn and communicate and the way in which schools
interact
> with them.
> With this increase in technology within our world, the
traditional
> approach in teaching and learning is no longer a choice
because of
> this technological approach to education.
>
> Thanks,
> Jenna
>
>
>
> From: htzelepis at msj.melb.catholic.edu.au
> To: yr7-10it at edulists.com.au
> Subject: Re: [Yr7-10it] issue for exam
> Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:14:13 +1100
>
> Thank-you so much.
> :-)
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: claire
> To: Year 7 - 10 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List
> Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 9:37 PM
> Subject: Re: [Yr7-10it] issue for exam
>
> The Age Technology section always has some interesting issues.
> http://www.theage.com.au/technology/index.html
> Claire Bloom
> Warrandyte High
>
> Litsa Tzelepis wrote:
> hello,
> does anyone know of a good website that looks at current ICT
issues
> in society.
> I am trying to locate an interesting piece for my year 9 exam.
> thank-you kindly.
> :)
>
> -----
> Litsa Tzelepis
> Mount St. Joseph Girls' College
> Learning Team Leader of Technology
> htzelepis at msj.melb.catholic.edu.au
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