Teach them to fish

This past weeks resources have made it clear to me that I have a love and talent for teaching. I day this with confidence because everything ive tried on my own as a teacher has been proved to be in the right direction.

Firstly the way I tried to create a classroom environment through the use of my understanding of behavioural psychology seems to be a good start. In the video they speak of creating a safe classroom environment which is controlled through focusing on creating  and promoting acceptable  behaviour. In my classroom I was clear about wach learners responsibility in creating an environment for themselves conducive to learning. I asked them to list the rules they wanted and the results of breaking those rules. They did this with ease and they managed the environment to that end. They learnt that they could play and focus whilst learning if they kept to the rules they set themselves. Eventually the classroom became a beautifully open space for expression and learning.

Secondly the idea of being mindful as explored in the reading was clearly a thing I could create in my class. All I did was ask them questions about what they wanted, how they felt in the classroom and when they felt calm and focused. The main themes were that they liked to participate but didnt not like it when one learner took over and made a noise. Thus I told them that we needed to respect each other and let everyone have an uninterupted turn. Most classes I let them read out the textbook, giving everyone a chance to read. This eventually lead to each child feeling valued and as a result they started to give each other a chance to speak. The dynamic of the class became a place of calm and focus. The learners became mindful and thus could perform much better.

My conclusion of the resources given to us this past week is that they are a great addition to help any teacher become more than a talk and chalker. We as teachers must not be afraid to give the learners the power. We as teachers must create the space and then guide rather than command. We as teacher must feel part of the class rather than above it.

Knowledge is happening

In a world with an ever increasing amount of learners' access to information through various forms of technology it has become prudent to ascertain the potential of technology-mediated self-directed/distance learning. Can one attribute a standard to this type of learning? How exactly can one learn in such an environment? Has it been done and to what extent was it a success? To find clarity of these questions I shall draw from Hamilton (2014) and the Independent Project (2011)

Various organisations such as the International Society for Technology in Education, maintain that ICT must have specific standards in order to function. Hamilton sees these standards as “designed to systematically oppress students required to adhere to them”. This makes sense as once anything becomes standardised it creates a limit for itself, it kills creativity and exploration in new directions.

We as pedagogues strive for the very qualities oppressed through standardisation. The idea of making a tool rigid robs it of many, perhaps, undiscovered qualities. This is why there is need for an environment which is both constructive and open to redefinition.

The Independent Project created such a space. It is a space where the learners are able, through group and self-directed learning, to explore the world and find new ways to make learning engaging. The learners are able to do become the creators of knowledge rather than the ‘empty vessels’ which knowledge is dumped into. This flipped sense of teaching destroys the oppressive standards of learning once thought to be the only way. The Independent Project is thus an example of how technology-mediated self-directed/distance learning can be possible. 

At the heart of ICT literacy is the issue of communication. In order for something like the Independent Project (IP) to be successful is the learners’ ability to communicate through various forms of technology. Effective communication creates a positive learning environment. In the IP the learners had access to the baseline technologies they needed for their communication and learning. The idea of access is, however, much more complex than it would appear. It is not simply a ‘yes’ ‘no’ issue. Adam Banks speaks of the material access to technology but also considers functional access, experiential access, and critical access. These four types of access are important in considering the potential of technology-mediated self-directed/distance learning. Will it be possible for learners from different levels of access be able to communicate in a manner conducive to learning?

Bali and Sharma say that we should not try and create a utopic environment of education; rather we must strive to create the best possible environment for communication and learning. Bernado Trejos sees the gap of communication as a “fertile ground from which teaching can grow”. Knowledge can thus be said to be the product of making meaning with rather than making knowledge through. In other words knowledge is not something that can be standardised. It needs to be lived, knowledge is happening. It is active not passive.

By giving learners the chance to live their knowledge they become active rather than passive. The potential of technology-mediated self-directed/distance learning is thus almost endless. It is an environment where creativity takes place, a place of engagement. Like the IP, the learners become active learners who are able to manipulate and share the way knowledge is lived, causing an ever expanding world of knowledge.  

The Torrent of Knowledge

The two articles for this week’s digital pedagogy were perhaps the most practical we have covered. They warned of dangers, dispelled some myths, and gave some very welcome insight into both the way teachers are using social media and which types of social media are available.

There is a myth surrounding the use of social media in classes. This myth assumes that by letting the learners use social media in the classroom there will be chaos. It states that learners will not be learning anything; instead they will be spending their time using social media to be, well, social. This is an incorrect assumption. There is a big difference between social media and socializing.

In the classroom the learners need to be focused on the task at hand; their acquisition of knowledge. This can be organized through the use of different types of social media So called sandbox social media sites (such as fakebook) create a safe environment for the learners as there is no contact other than the learners and their teacher. There are some teachers already employing such ideas and many more.

Teachers like Don Wettrick who gives his learners the chance to create podcasts concerned with their subject matter, and sharing them with other learners around the world. The same intent is shown in the class of Joli Barker whose students are encouraged to share their learning with others across the world. These teaching styles are at the forefront of the new age of teaching and learning. These digital pedagogues are empowering learners’ knowledge capacities through sharing over social media.

The process alone is not the main idea. It is the reading of others’ ideas and the response given to these that spark the flame of knowledge distribution and growth. Different realities create different perspectives and through the process of sharing and responding we add to both our reality and to the reality of others.

Perhaps an apt metaphor would be to imagine a stream of your knowledge flowing down a rocky mountain. Your stream has the purpose of reaching the sea (your goals). Your stream is moving in the right direction but lacks the volume and strength needed to reach the sea. Imagine then that many other streams join yours. Your stream, as well as the streams of the other people, creates a raging torrent that is able to move over the obstacles in its path with ease in order to reach the sea. The idea of sharing and responding is a tool to enlarge ones knowledge stream, creating a river of knowledge capable of reaching any goal. How can we get the streams to cross and enlarge each other you might be asking yourself?  Some ideas have been clearly marked in our second article.

Social media tools such as Remind, Twitter, Instagram, and blogging all have a great deal to offer learners in their quest for knowledge.

• Remind is confidential text message programme which can be used to send students documents, pictures and of course reminders about their subjects.
• Twitter is all about connecting and sharing ideas with one another. It is a quick and easy way to keep learners up to date and hungry for knowledge, sharing blogs and other sites through twitter opens up the path to information and creates the space for responding to that information with others.
• Instagram is great for visual information, images that grab the attention of the learners, creating intrigue and wonder about the world.
• Blogs are the place where learners can really express their knowledge and thoughts on the subject matter. It is a place where others can read and respond with their own thoughts and conclusions. This is vital to the process of learning through social media.

These digital tools are some of many. They are being used in a constructive way to facilitate learning. The fact that a learner can give an idea to his/her fellow learners and engage in others’ material enough to give meaningful feedback increases the learning experience exponentially.