The paper I just read: (no hyperlink PDF) - A Theory of Learning for the Mobile Age. By Sharples, M., Taylor, J., Vavoula, G. (2007). To be published in R. Andrews (ed.) The Handbook of Elearning Research. London. is very insightful and delves into mobile learning theory much more than previous papers I have discussed. It not only looks at the devices that support mobile learning but also learning characterised by the mobility of people & knowledge.
Two points in particular jumped out at me: Firstly, effective learning must be learner centred building on the skills and knowledge of students, enabling them to reason from their own experience. And secondly learning must be knowledge centred where curriculum is taught efficiently and with inventive use of concepts, methods & demonstrations. Within my teaching of PD/H/PE I aim to further utilise both the above mentioned strategies especially building on previously learnt skills in a practical sense.
Another consideration within the paper reinforcing the important factor of the mobility of people and knowledge is the fact that just under 50% of reported learning episodes occured away from the learners usual learning environment. It is critically important for me as a teacher to be aware that all this learning is occuring out of the school context as they are mobile learners and it would be naive of me to believe all learning is happening within my classroom. Thus, making it even more valuable to be aware of the personal life experience my students bring to each lesson and how they learn in this mobile age.
Kriste’s insights into the use of technology in PD/H/PE were definitely thought provoking for me as she discussed many gadgets that I had not thought of in a tecnological sense.
Gym equipment such as digital treadmills, rowers & cross trainers are all relevant technologies that could be utilised in my practical PE lessons. Getting the students to learn ‘hands on’ is a much more discovery orientated learning experience and will also provide practical skills that can be used outside of the school environment.
Combined with other tecnologies such as heart rate monitors, timing gates and boby composition equipment, a very rich unit of work can be developed. By entering all the data collected into a computer students will be able to see concrete personal results on their own fitness and wellbeing making it a much more meaningful exercise.
Lee Rainie detailed in a speech some staggering statistics involving a particular group of young people born between 1982 and 2000 called the Millennials. The article/speech is aptly named-Life Online; teens and technology and the world to come.
Rainie puts forward some fantastic graphical illistrations to get the point across of how media devices in the home are drastically increasing as time goes on. 99% of 8-18 year olds live in a home with a television and 86% have a computer. The paper was written in 2006 so I can only assume these figures have increased since. Importantly for me as a future teacher, Rainie also points out that watching tv & videos, using a computer and listening to music are all conducted by this group more so than reading a book. School work and assignments should be tailored to tap into their talents using those mediums such as a video analysis of a sporting movement in PD/H/PE.
Furthermore, in the future with students becoming even more ‘digitally native’ they are going to become more self directed in their learning and as Raine explains they will become better arrayed to capture new information. In my experience, students love the self direction that the internet provides, we just have to point them in the right direction.
I just read an interesting blog posting by my online university lecturer Maree Skillen titled: Who’s teching who?
It jogged my thinking back to my first practicum where I actually attended a professional development seminar regarding the use of the interactive white board or ‘smartboard’. I took some information in but was not ready to utilise it in a classroom environment. It was made harder that many of my supervising staff were not familiar with the technology either. However………my second practicum was a different story. My supervising teacher was quite proficient with the smartboard and was able to tutor me in a 1 on 1 situation. He had obviously attended some professional development seminars and I observed how he incorporated it into his lessons. Maree highlights the fact that students these days are digital natives, but in my experience the smartboard was one piece of tecnology that the teacher actually knew more about!!
The use of it in my lessons was fantastic, I became more confident and excited with what things could be done on it. The students were highly attentive and on task especially towards the end of term where their enthusiasm usually drops. I highly endorse the approprite use of this technology within the classroom and encourage all teachers to attend professional development seminars regarding the use of technology.
This Podcast is spoken in reference to an article I read by Marc Prensky (2003) along with one of my previous blogs on mobile learning tecnologies……………
I refer to an article by Miawling Lam that I have kept since 29th June, 2008, from The Sunday Telegraph - titled: ‘Technology’s a real pain’. Unfortunately it is not posted on the Telegraph’s website so I must explain this different look at technology. Lam explains that in this digital revolution, children as young as 5 are being treated for shoulder pain and spinal injuries due to excessive computer use. This is one downside of the computer revolution. According to chiropractor Dr Patrick Sim, children are suffering from poor posture, heart stess & breathing difficulties due to overuse of technology.
The following is a link to an article from the Daily Telegraph website explaining the Rudd Government’s ‘Digital Education Revolution’ plus other dangers that this initiative may present.
I was just trawling through some you tube pages in an effort to find some resourses that may assist me in teaching my KLA of PD/HPE. I didn’t realise the depth of video’s that are available to view. The links I have provided below would be great teaching tools to utilise when starting practical units on athletics in Strand 2′s movement and skill performance.
What makes these video’s even better is that they are not too long and straight to the point, focussing on the key technical points + what muscles are used in the movement. Students will not become restless when viewing them:
Robert Parkes from Charles Sturt University describes in his article just how useful the ‘WebDilemma’ is in promoting intellectual engagement using the internet.
I wish I had read this article before going on prac as it highlights many fantastic tips when planning an ICT lesson. The main focus is enabling students to think for themselves and promote higher order thinking using the internet as a resource. A WebDilemma is a simple tool that gets students on task from the outset and provides the studenst with the relevant links to information needed to construct their own opinion. They are simpler and save important teaching time as opposed to WebQuests. This last point is critical as many of my lessons were simply not long enough as Parkes, (2005) elaborates with factors such as slow internet speeds, high class numbers & unproductive internet searches detremental to quality learning time.
However, for a WebDilemma to work effectively it is still up to the teacher to develop an appropriate, meaningful question for students to research. Furthermore the teacher must also provide appropriate and accurate links for the dilemma to be answered effectively utilising the ‘think, pair & share’ method.
The publication ‘VISION’ by Futurelab highlights some interesing points regarding the use of mobile technology.
There is no doubt that the students that we will be teaching these days have access to more information than ever before. The use of mobile phones is fast becoming a popular learning tool, it really isn’t a great surprise when reading this description:
“The notion that you’ve got this tool which can be a camera, a cinecamera, a television, a computer and a calculator as well as something you use for talking to other people in your pocket all the time means that you’re armed with a very powerful learning tool.”
What makes this concept of ‘learning on the run’ even more relevant is a fact I have found out during prac that all year 9 students next year will be issued a personal laptop computer. Students work, assignments and assessments will be stored on these allowing them to literally learn on the run. It seems students will be able to link their mobile phone technologies with their laptop and make it a much more collaborative learing tool. We have to be aware and flexible as teachers in planning our programs to suit the new technology that will be becoming avaliable in the not too distant future…………..
I recently read an article by Mitchel Resnick titled ‘Rethinking Learning in the Digital Age’. (PDF: Found under Literature – BIG IDEAS for 7-12 Eduction!). No hyperlink available but here are the details:Resnick, M. (2002). Rethinking Learning in the Digital Age. In G. Kirk-man (Ed.), The Global Information Technology Report: Readiness for the Networked Word. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
He points out some important ideas in relation to digital learning. Firstly a positive point is the fact that the cost of computation is on the decline which will pave the way for technology to reach even more people throughout the world. Negatively, even with increased availability it seems approaches to teaching and learning remain unchanged and as Resnick discusses we are simply using the technology to reinforce outmoded approaches to learning.
The article highlights the fact that as teachers we cannot simply dispense information into the heads of our students. Learning is a much more active process where students have to construct their own understanding of what is relevant to them through active exploration, experimentation, discussion and reflection. I agree with this viewpoint as our students should not just get ideas they should make them. Of course computers are an excellent source of accessing information, however we have to embrace the fact that they can do so much more. Teachers and students need to be fluent in creating and expressing that information. I consider myself not digitally fluent and I realise now after reading this article that I am definitely not utilising its full potential. The more fluent one becomes in this digital age greatly influences the significance of their constructions.
The underlying premise is that we as future teachers have to think about assisting our students to become more active and independent learners. We have to deliver meaningful content to prepare students with new skills that are needed for living in a digital society.
