Engage them or enrage them?

Week One

Reflection of Prensky's ideas



What a dilemma. Are the children that are currently making their way through the education system physiologically different than their educators? Has the fact that they're 'native' to modern technologies inherently changed the way that they can learn?

Want to know what I'm on about? Here are the links to Prensky's articles about the role of modern technology on the way that children and adolescents learn; Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants and Engage Me or Enrage Me.



He raises some interesting points. Do children today demand an entirely new structure to their learning? I really hope it's not that extreme. While I absolutely agree that technologies should be used in schools, and we should be constantly reviewing the best and most effective ways to use them in terms of academic achievement, perhaps the notion of scrapping all traditional methods of teaching would be ultimately detrimental. Because when it comes to real life, you can't always expect to enjoy every task that needs to be done. Sometimes you have to push through the dull and just get on with it and I believe that that's a valuable lesson for our kids.
There is certainly a place for things such as academic gaming as outlined by Pretsky. What a wonderful tool to get learners engaged with the content, to have them enthused about their learning. But should every lesson involve a first-person shooter style scenario? No. Nor should we use the old 'I write on the board, you copy it into your book' technique. I understand why kids would rather beat their heads on the desk than learn that way, I felt the same throughout my schooling. We need to find a balance. Yes, get the learners engaged and enthusiastic and make use of technology- we have so much valuable information at the tips of our fingers and it would be absolutely crazy not to capitalise on that. But perhaps there is virtue in the lesson that sometimes you just have to do things that you don't really want to do. Tough cookies, kids. Harden up.
To make my point incredibly simplistic, I have two kids, aged 2 and 5. They have enough toys to fill a skip bin (which I'm not going to lie, I have considered after stepping on one too many Lego blocks), and these toys seem to have invisible legs. I can get them all put away in their lovely toy boxes, then walk by 5 minutes later and step on yet another Lego block and the other 1400 toys that have found their way back on the floor. Now I've read plenty of parenting advice on online forums and so many say 'make tidying up a game! Kids love it!". That's fine, and we've done that a few times, with a dodgy made-up song thrown in for good measure. But sometimes, I simply don't have time for that. They just. need. to. tidy. up. their. toys. Whether they like it or not.
Today's learners may demand technology in the classroom. But I think we have a responsibility to mediate the ways it is implemented. Make learning fun, make sure there are plenty of games, but we shouldn't lose sight of the importance of hard work, perseverance and being responsible for their own engagement in their learning.

Learning Styles

Week One



After reading a vast amount on learning styles (for both this, and other courses) it's clear that one of the biggest challenges for teachers is ensuring that their lesson structure caters for learners on all ends of the spectrum. One point that I found very clarifying was in a reading by Roy Killen called 'Effective Teaching Strategies: Lessons from Research and Practice', which states that each learner will have a collection of learning styles and will like to learn some content in one way, and some content in another. He also stresses the importance of not confusing learning styles with ability. He states that "an ability refers to how well someone can do something. A style refers to how someone likes to do something" (2003). I think that this is a vital concept to take into consideration in the classroom, particularly as the reading cited that research studies have shown that differences in ability are only accountable for about 20% of the variation of academic success.



Taking this into account, teachers must employ strategies that cater for different learning styles and use a wide collection of techniques (such as visual resources, oral interaction, and written instructions to name a few). They must also be sure to monitor each students progress to ascertain which learning style they tend to lean towards in which situations in order to best facilitate their learning experiences.



I took the Index of Learning Styles questionnaire by Felder and Solomon which works to identify a persons preferred learning style within four sub-styles:

Active vs Reflective Learners
Sensing and Intuitive Learners
Visuall vs Verbal Learners
Sequential vs Global Learners


I found that I scored highly towards being a Reflective learner, was balanced between Sensing and Intuitive, scored much higher on Verbal than Visual, and lent slightly toward the Global end of the scale. (If you wish to take the questionnaire, click here).



My results weren't particularly surprising to me; I've always been a massive reader and writer, am an avid note-taker and love learning concepts and ideas (hence my previous Psych degree; while there are concrete facts, much of Psychology and Sociology focuses on abstract concepts).

A little about me. And my technological abilities.

 Week 1

Blog Reflection for ICT's for Learning Design

I have never fancied myself a very techno-savvy person.  In fact, I suffered quite the embarrassment last year when after years of University study via Distance Education I was forced to take a subject on campus, as it was becoming clear I was getting nowhere trying it at home (the evil, decrepit, soul-sucking Advanced Statistical Analysis and Design).   I settled into my work station and set about opening the necessary online files for our lesson.  No juice.  Ok, breathe, try again.  Again, files refuse to open.  Swear quietly under breath.  Try again.  Still no action.  Beckon lecturer over with pleading eyes.  He takes one look and tells me that they only work with Firefox, then quickly moves on to another student.  I have only one problem.  I have no idea what a Firefox is.  I'm envisioning a sleek and regal creature, with deep russet fur and a tail alight with flames.  However I'm fairly certain that's not what he meant, so I turn my pleading eyes toward the student next to me.  "It's the other Internet browser we use..." she says very slowly, then leans over and clicks the icon.  Viola!  Things run smoothly from there.  What I didn't particularly want to share was the fact that I thought Internet Explorer was quite simply the Internet... 

Picture Source: Obscure Internet

I thought I'd share my moment of complete and utter DUH with you, to illustrate the fact that although I can Facebook like a boss, email, find recipes, use my Internet Banking, and find my way around Moodle, I've had very little experience with contributing to content on the web.  I also might add that I'm not exactly a dinosaur.  I'm 25.  I have no experience with blogs, except for the many hours I've spent reading other people's and procrastinating on Mamamia (http://www.mamamia.com.au/).  Nor have I wiki'd before, or created an online quiz.  So I'm guessing this is going to be a steep learning curve for me, but after having the initial gasp! at the course content, I'm feeling like I'm going to learn some pretty exciting new concepts.  And with the continually changing needs of the classroom, hopefully I'll be able to use many of my new skills, and won't have to turn to my little Year 4's with pleading eyes.  So with unbridled enthusiasm, it's on to course content!