Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Topic 2: Laptops
For my second topic I have chosen to investigate the use of laptop computers in our education system. I am interested in looking at research and studies on the effectiveness of this technology and how they are impacting on schools. I know that part of Labors 2007 election campaign was to supply all year nine students with a lap top so I will also be interested in looking at how that program is going and if there is any current data on this program.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Research Analysis
Information Communication Technology (ICT) continues to play an ever increasing part in our education system. With more of what we do becoming digitized it is no wonder that traditional blackboards and whiteboards are also becoming digitized and replaced with the new generation of Interactive Whiteboards (IWB). For my first research topic I have chosen to examine Interactive Whiteboards. The main issues surrounding the use of IWB include the way they influence the classroom, how they promote student engagement and whether they improve the overall quality of education.
One of the main arguments in favour of the use of IWB is that they allow students to engage in visual imagery in a deeper way than they do with just the spoken word. (Marentette & Uhrick,[nd]) The ability to create dot points and provide images, slides or video clips is a huge advantage and can provide a visual link to theory thereby engaging students in the subject being taught. History teacher Richard McFahn stated that since IWB were introduced at his school "the students have gone from being completely uninspired to being enthused with the prospect of learning.” (Murray, 2006 p. 13). There is a ludic or fun element to IWB, with the interactive interface, touch screen and the ability to integrate animation, sound, video, and text gives the sense of play which is an important factor in keeping students engaged (Cuthell, 2005).
Besides increasing student class engagement, the use of IWB can provide teachers with the flexibility to tailor lessons to students various learning styles (Cuthell, 2005). This point was illustrated clearly in an article called ‘Use of SMART Boards for Teaching Kindergarten’. Students with limited literacy skills were able to utilise the board to demonstrate an understanding of outcomes in a science lesson through visual cues and then the children touching the screen for the correct answer. (Preston and Mowbray, 2008).
Further benefits that IWB provide is the advantage the software gives teachers in lesson planning. The ability to cut and paste material in planning and then the immediacy of being able to switch between power points to writing on the boards or use clips and images is a long way from traditional methods of relying on handouts and posters or needing to set up a television set prior to the class to use a clip from a movie. (Barker, 2007).
While there are many positive views on the use of IWB with their use being internationally regarded and rolled out throughout schools, there are other issues which also need to be considered. First and foremost of these is cost. The technology is quite cost prohibitive at around AUD8,000 for a basic model, this becomes very expensive to be utilised broadly within a school (Dudeney, 2006). Dudeney goes on to argue that to get the critical mass needed to make training and software licences viable schools need to acquire about half a dozen, this can be extremely expensive or unachievable for many schools.
A lack of specialised software for some Key Learning Areas, such as languages was also an issue raised in several articles. This can limit the resources available to some teachers, defeating the purpose of having the technology in the first place. And result in IWB being under utilised (Dudeney, 2006).
One point that was often discussed was the training of staff. Appropriate training is essential to ensure IWB are utilised to their potential. If teachers are just given them without training they won’t know how to use them. One UK
Through my research I can see that the use of IWB can take classrooms to a new interactive level. From their desks students can participate in interactive tours, watch clips and videos relevant to the content taught and have a summary of the lesson in a visual format. I think these are all good educational progressions that may not influence test scores but I believe IWB will engage this tech savvy generation. I also believe that adequate training is important to IWB being properly utilised. I think that more Australian research can be undertaken on how much they are currently being used in Australian schools. It is important that educators are relevant and find new ways to engage students. However, these are a tool that teachers can use and I do believe that fundamentally, you can not replace good pedagogy.
Bibliography
Bax, S. (2006). Interactive white boards watch this space. IATEFL Call Review summer 2006. Retrieved September 4, 2010, from http://associates.iatefl.org/pages/materials/itskills25.pdf
Cuthell, J.P.,(2005), Seeing the meaning: The impact of interactive whiteboards on teaching and learning. BECTA. Retrieved September, 3, 2010 from http://www.virtuallearning.org.uk/whiteboards/index/html
Duneney, G. (2006). Interactive quite bored: IATEFL Call Review summer 2006. Retreived September 4, 2010, From http://associates.iatefl.org/pages/materials/itskills25.pdf
Marentette, L. & Uhrick, A. [n.d.] Reaching learners: Immersive education through interactive multimedia.
VP sales & marketing, Nextwindow. Retrieved August 19 2010 from http://www.presentationproducts.com/sites/pproducts.com/files/Infocom%20-%20ReachingLearners.pdf
Monday, September 13, 2010
Smart Board in the Music Classroom
Barker, J. (2007). Smart Board in the Music Classroom. Music Educators Journal, 93(5), 18-19. Retrieved September 13, 2010, from Education Research Complete database.
This article by Barker gives a teachers account of learning to use Interactive Whiteboards (IWB)'s and then using them in the implementation of her music lessons. Barker a teacher of 20 years provides a positive experience of the posibilities that IWB's provide, the author loves the way that this technology has made everything immediate as well as being impressed by the software smartboards provide to do lesson plans. Barker believes that this technology is the future as it not only provides enhanced student engagement but makes life easier from a teachers point of view, by being able to cut and paste relevant material and not having to stuff around with hand outs and cds. This article has been a good first person account of implementing IWB's into the classroom.
This article by Barker gives a teachers account of learning to use Interactive Whiteboards (IWB)'s and then using them in the implementation of her music lessons. Barker a teacher of 20 years provides a positive experience of the posibilities that IWB's provide, the author loves the way that this technology has made everything immediate as well as being impressed by the software smartboards provide to do lesson plans. Barker believes that this technology is the future as it not only provides enhanced student engagement but makes life easier from a teachers point of view, by being able to cut and paste relevant material and not having to stuff around with hand outs and cds. This article has been a good first person account of implementing IWB's into the classroom.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
"Interactive Quite Bored"
Duneney, G. (2006). Interactive quite bored. IATEFL Call Review summer 2006. Retreived September 4, 2010, From http://associates.iatefl.org/pages/materials/itskills25.pdf
This article by Gavin Dudeney is a pragmatic look at Interactive whiteboards (IWB)'s and the economic viability to this technology. The author asks the question, that whilst this technology is useful and quite impressive, is it really fesiable to roll this technology out to the world wide educational community. Dudeney list two major problems with IWB's, That being materials and cost. The materials are such things as converting all our text books two IWB software, as well as the fact that teachers can become straight jacketed by them and slip into just presenting a presentation and forget to interact with their learners. And like all technologies they all lose there wow factor after a while. On the finance side Dudeney says that it is no good just getting one of these things that to get the critical mass needed so things like teacher training is worthwhile the average school wil need to buy 5 or 6 IWB's, and not all schools have 40k lying around. In this article Dudeney makes some good points that add another side to this issue, a worthwhile article indeed.
This article by Gavin Dudeney is a pragmatic look at Interactive whiteboards (IWB)'s and the economic viability to this technology. The author asks the question, that whilst this technology is useful and quite impressive, is it really fesiable to roll this technology out to the world wide educational community. Dudeney list two major problems with IWB's, That being materials and cost. The materials are such things as converting all our text books two IWB software, as well as the fact that teachers can become straight jacketed by them and slip into just presenting a presentation and forget to interact with their learners. And like all technologies they all lose there wow factor after a while. On the finance side Dudeney says that it is no good just getting one of these things that to get the critical mass needed so things like teacher training is worthwhile the average school wil need to buy 5 or 6 IWB's, and not all schools have 40k lying around. In this article Dudeney makes some good points that add another side to this issue, a worthwhile article indeed.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Interactive whiteboards watch this space:
Bax, S. (2006). Interactive white boards watch this space. IATEFL Call Review summer 2006. Retrieved September 4, 2010, from http://associates.iatefl.org/pages/materials/itskills25.pdf
This article by Stephen Bax in the journal of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language was a review of the literature surrounding Interactive whiteboards (IWB's). Some of this literature at the time was positive towards to new technology, (remember this was written in 2006) and some of the literature was negative towards IWB's. Bax looked at this idea that new technologies were a failure if they didn't improve exam results which the author replied "If this was the case pens should be thrown away". One of the articles that the author looked at in regard to negative feedback to IWB's was an article by Dunley, (2006) in which Dunley compared IWB's to Interactive video disks which today are just expensive museum exhibits. Dunleys main argument against this technology is that IWB's are cost prohibitive he also argued lack of programs and training would see this technology not taking off. Bax concluded by giving his own opinion and disagreed with Dunley saying that there would be a tipping point in the roll out of this technology where the more popular IWB's get will attract more competition in the market, with new companies making them this will result in the price getting cheaper and the technology getting better and more user friendly.
This article has been useful to my research on this topic and has shown me other perspectives than just positive sales pitches, I will now endeavour to find a full version of the article by Dunley (2006).
This article by Stephen Bax in the journal of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language was a review of the literature surrounding Interactive whiteboards (IWB's). Some of this literature at the time was positive towards to new technology, (remember this was written in 2006) and some of the literature was negative towards IWB's. Bax looked at this idea that new technologies were a failure if they didn't improve exam results which the author replied "If this was the case pens should be thrown away". One of the articles that the author looked at in regard to negative feedback to IWB's was an article by Dunley, (2006) in which Dunley compared IWB's to Interactive video disks which today are just expensive museum exhibits. Dunleys main argument against this technology is that IWB's are cost prohibitive he also argued lack of programs and training would see this technology not taking off. Bax concluded by giving his own opinion and disagreed with Dunley saying that there would be a tipping point in the roll out of this technology where the more popular IWB's get will attract more competition in the market, with new companies making them this will result in the price getting cheaper and the technology getting better and more user friendly.
This article has been useful to my research on this topic and has shown me other perspectives than just positive sales pitches, I will now endeavour to find a full version of the article by Dunley (2006).
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Use of SMART Boards for Teaching Kindergarten
Title: Use of SMART Boards for Teaching, Learning and Assessment in Kindergarten Science. Preston, C; Mowbray, L. Journal of Teaching Science; v.54 n.z p. 50-53; June 2008
In this article Preston and Mowbray look at how interactive whiteboards (IWB) are used in the kindergarten class of Abbotsleigh Junior school (UK). They discuss how IWB's are used for kindergarten students specifically, and how they can enhance understanding and assessment in children who are yet to develop traditional literacy skills. The lessons the authors looked at were science lessons where pictures, visual instructions or flash animation could be given via the IWB. The children could then touch on the screen the pictured answers of questions to assess learning. Lesson conclusions could then be reinforced by a visual overview of the lesson. These lessons were all designed to be interactive so the children could show their understanding of concepts and recall experimental procedures without the need for highly developed literacy skills. This is one of few studies on the use of IWB's in a kindergarten or early childhood environment whereas previous studies have focused on children in older classes. The conclusions of the study showed that IWB's increased the level of engagement in children as well as increased the pace in which the lessons were delievered this was done by the ease in which concepts could be explained and concrete examples could be given via the IWB. A further conclusion was that assessment could be done interactively via the IWB something that cannot be done with pens and papers. This study has it's limitations as it is not wide ranging and only focuses on the teaching of one subject, this said the authors have provided me with some good examples of the effectiveness of this technology and this was a useful article.
In this article Preston and Mowbray look at how interactive whiteboards (IWB) are used in the kindergarten class of Abbotsleigh Junior school (UK). They discuss how IWB's are used for kindergarten students specifically, and how they can enhance understanding and assessment in children who are yet to develop traditional literacy skills. The lessons the authors looked at were science lessons where pictures, visual instructions or flash animation could be given via the IWB. The children could then touch on the screen the pictured answers of questions to assess learning. Lesson conclusions could then be reinforced by a visual overview of the lesson. These lessons were all designed to be interactive so the children could show their understanding of concepts and recall experimental procedures without the need for highly developed literacy skills. This is one of few studies on the use of IWB's in a kindergarten or early childhood environment whereas previous studies have focused on children in older classes. The conclusions of the study showed that IWB's increased the level of engagement in children as well as increased the pace in which the lessons were delievered this was done by the ease in which concepts could be explained and concrete examples could be given via the IWB. A further conclusion was that assessment could be done interactively via the IWB something that cannot be done with pens and papers. This study has it's limitations as it is not wide ranging and only focuses on the teaching of one subject, this said the authors have provided me with some good examples of the effectiveness of this technology and this was a useful article.
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