An investigation into the role ICT tools might play in the motivation of reluctant writers'

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An investigation into the role ICT tools might
play in the motivation of reluctant writers.

• Researcher Richard Dobson,
• July-October 2006

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Research question

• I investigated the question Can the targeted,
  integrated use of Information and Communication
  Technology (ICT) tools, used in a variety of
  combinations to create a mindtool, be used as
  learning tool to enhance the motivation of
  students who are engaged in the writing process?

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What was the problem?

• I identified a small number of children in my
  class who appear disengaged in the
  post-scaffolded stage of the writing process. I
  noticed that once teacher scaffolding of a
  particular writing genre had ended, these
  students appeared to begin losing interest to
  engage in further quality writing, and frequently
  required teacher intervention and re-motivation
  (such as re-establishing the success criteria).

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What does the literature tell us about the use
ICT tools in a writing programme?

• The debate surrounding the use of ICT as learning
  tools could be best summarised as a clash of
  ideas between those who believe ICT tools have
  been over-hyped and underused (Baines, 1997
  Cuban, 2001 Monke, 2004) and those who believe
  that ICT use is effective when used in an
  authentic learning situation, as part of a
  mindtool (Jonassen, 1996, 1998 Atkin, 1997).
• Studies and meta-analyses conducted over the last
  ten years (Ham, et al., 2002 Atkin, 1997
  Jonassen, Carr and Yueh, 1998 Falloon, 1999)
  have shown that ICT use is most effective at
  enhancing learning outcomes when packaged with
  expert teacher knowledge of subject matter and
  pedagogical understanding of the (potential) uses
  of ICT, and that there is no right way to be
  using ICT tools to enhance learning outcomes
  (Falloon, 1999). McKenzie (1999) adds to these
  key themes by noting that the use of ICT tools
  needs to be active rather than passive.

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Research Methodology

• I used an action research methodology to conduct
  the research. OBrien (2001) makes the point that
  within the action research methodology, theory
  informs practice, practice refines theory, in a
  continuous transformation This appealed to me
  because I wanted any findings from the research
  to guide my teaching of writing.
• The cyclic nature of the action research
  methodology allows for exploration of
  professional practice in a reflective manner, and
  rejects ideas of absolute answers to problems.
  It instead encourages researchers to draw their
  own meaning from their observations. As McNiff
  (1988) examines, people who undertake action
  research find it a way of helping them understand
  how they can influence change (pp.44-53). This is
  because, as outlined by OBrien (2001), through
  reflection upon practice can come change of
  practice.

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Hypothesis and key questions

• I proposed to investigate the following
  hypothesis
• Students who use a mindtool as a learning tool
  at the beginning of independent writing are more
  likely to behave in a motivated and task
  orientated way and less likely to be de-motivated
  and off-task as their writing proceeds.
• Questions I investigated during the course of the
  action research investigation that relate to the
  key question Can the targeted, integrated use of
  ICTs as learning tools help enhance the
  motivation of students who are engaged in the
  writing process? were
• Will the children who use a combination of pencil
  and paper and a specific mindtool (such as
  combining a digital camera with word processing
  software) sustain their writing independently
  over a greater period of time than when they use
  just pencil and paper?
• Will the children who use a combination of pencil
  and paper and a specific mindtool increase the
  volume of writing independently over a period of
  time than when they use just pencil and paper?

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The research sequence
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What did I find out?

• The data collected from the study, and subsequent
  analysis of that data, shows that in the context
  of this small scale investigation, there was a
  measurable increase in participants motivational
  levels when the participants wrote using a
  mindtool approach, compared to when the
  participants wrote using pencil and paper.
  Participants indicated that the variety of
  thinking tasks involved in the mindtool approach
  provided a motivational element lacking in the
  pencil and paper approach.

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Attitudes towards content and structure

• The impact of the use of mindtools on the
  attitudes towards content and structure was
  evidenced by a change in participants relying
  solely on the teacher modelled exemplar writing
  as a writing framework, to more risk taking and
  independent use of writing skills outside the
  immediate framework of the teacher model.
• Observations over the intervention period showed
  that during each day of a mindtool intervention,
  there were numerous instances of participants
  sharing their writing with each other. This
  contrasts with observations of participants when
  they used pencil and paper to write, where
  instances of sharing were noticeably lower.
• The collective sharing of writing between
  participants, and subsequent discussions
  involved, can lead to new ideas opening up new
  possibilities with the structure and content of
  the writing.

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Attitudes towards surface and deeper features

• Before the interventions began, when asked
  questions to gauge participants attitudes towards
  surface and deeper features, there was a wide
  spread of responces, from careful attention to
  deeper and surface features through to not
  concerned about deeper and surface features. By
  the end of the interventions these differing
  attitudes had all consolidated into the trend of
  all three participants paying careful attention
  to both deeper and surface features while
  writing.
• It became clear that the ease of correcting
  surface features (spell check) was a reason for
  the attitudinal change towards awareness of
  surface features while using an ICT mindtool.
• However, questions can be raised from this result
  which have important implications for the class
  teacher. Would a reliance on spell-check hinder
  the development of a childs ability to spell
  accurately? McKenzie refers to this lack of
  intellectual rigour as MentalSoftness
  (McKenzie, 2001), while Jonassen (1998) states
  that the use of a mindtool should be making the
  thinking process more challenging for students,
  not easier. This inadvertent outcome from the
  use of an ICT mindtool illustrates how important
  it is for teachers to carefully consider what
  outcomes they wish to enhance with the use of ICT
  mindtools and reflects the studies analysed by
  Ham, Gilmore, Kachelhoffer, Morrow, Moeau and
  Wenmouth (2002), which led them to conclude that
  one of the dilemmas teachers face is that, since
  there are so many technologies to choose from, it
  can become difficult to choose appropriately for
  a particular learning outcome.

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Attitudes towards individual and co-operative
writing

• Before the interventions began, when asked
  questions to gauge attitudes towards individual
  and co-operative work when writing, all
  participants indicated that they worked by
  themselves. This may reflect the culture of
  writing in the class generally, where individual
  activities leading to writing are emphasised and
  reinforced by the teacher. By the end of the
  interventions this attitude had shifted, as all
  participants responded that they now wrote in a
  way that combined individual and co-operative
  writing strategies.
• An unexpected byproduct of the ICT tasks was the
  high level of oral discourse between the
  participants and the high degree of constructive,
  critical feedback they were giving each other, as
  they sought to integrate the different, separate
  outcomes together. Rather than just offering
  suggestions, (I think you should) the
  researcher witnessed a higher degree of
  substantiated opinion (I think you should do xxx
  because xxx) than unsubstantiated opinion. This
  could be a future inquiry cycle worth
  investigating because of its potential to clarify
  the question to what extent do co-operative
  strategies influence metacognition?

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Attitudes towards staying on-task while writing

• Before the intervention cycles began, when asked
  questions to gauge attitudes towards staying
  on-task while writing, the participants
  indicated a wide spread of on task writing
  behaviour. By the end of the interventions this
  attitude had for participants shifted to mostly
  on-task behaviours.
• A time-motion study showed obvious increases in
  task oriented behaviours when participants used
  ICT mindtools, compared to when they did not. An
  explanation for this could be found in the
  collaboration needed to use the ICT tools
  (digital camera, laptop, word processing
  software) and the complexity of the task the
  participants were engaged in.
• All three participants, when questioned, replied
  that they preferred using ICT tools over pencil
  and paper because the use of mindtools allowed
  them to experiment with graphic design effects,
  and the cost of removing or changing a design was
  minimal. This outcome may have been reflected in
  the increased on-task behaviours witnessed as
  participants were able to, with ease, manipulate
  text and graphics and experiment with different
  combinations and designs over a short period of
  time.

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Conclusions

• The participants attitudes towards specific
  writing tasks, roles and behaviours have shown
  change as a result of the interventions using ICT
  mindtools. This was shown in the analysis of the
  questionnaire data, and analysis of video
  observations.
• The classroom teacher/researcher developed a
  better understanding of how to use the motivation
  that ICT mindtools can provide, in the writing
  programme.
• The ICT mindtool principle that the task should
  be more challenging than if the mindtool had not
  been used (Jonassen, 1998) appears to be a key
  motivating factor in the tasks observed.
• All participants increased the word count on the
  final writing product when using ICT mindtools,
  compared to the end product when they used
  pencil and paper.

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Issues raised by the research

• An unexpected byproduct of the ICT mindtool rich
  tasks was the high level of oral discourse
  between the participants and the high degree of
  constructive, critical feedback they were giving
  each other, as they sought to integrate the
  different, separate outcomes together. Further
  analysis of this oral interaction could seek to
  identify what elements of the mindtool promoted
  this discourse. Can these elements be replicated
  in activities that dont involve the use of ICT
  mindtools? To what extent do co-operative
  strategies influence metacognition?
• Jonassen advocates that an important component of
  any use of ICT mindtools needs to be the Speed
  and Automatic functions of the mindtool, which
  enables large amounts of information to be
  handled and routine tasks to be automated.
  Participant comments about the spell check would
  seem to support the notion that the automation of
  mundane tasks like rubbing out and changing
  spelling errors presents an attractive
  alternative to children. However, if one of the
  curriculum goals in writing is to raise
  childrens metacognition of their spelling, does
  automation of spelling correction work against
  this? This question raises questions about
  trade-off of learning outcomes, and illustrates
  the fact that, although in this instance ICT
  mindtools have been shown to have increased
  student motivation when writing, there may be
  some down side to their use as well. As Ham,
  Gilmore, Kachelhoffer, Morrow, Moeau and Wenmouth
  (2002) conclude, ICTs should be used by each
  individual teacher in specific ways with specific
  children to enhance specific learning outcomes.
  There is no one way to use ICT to cover all
  possible learning outcomes. The use of ICT
  mindtools needs to be targeted.

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Research Summary

• The results of this study would seem to support
  the research previously carried out into the
  motivational potential ICT tools can play in the
  teaching and learning of various curriculum. In
  this case, the study has shown that Students who
  use a mindtool as a learning tool at the
  beginning of independent writing are more likely
  to behave in a motivated and task orientated way
  and less likely to be de-motivated and off-task
  as their writing proceeds.
• Writing is a process which requires the use of
  many different, inter-related skills. The use of
  ICT mindtools allowed children to think about
  their writing in a more interactive,
  metacognitive way, and also promoted
  collaborative and co-operative strategies to be
  employed. This study would suggest that this
  complexity has raised the motivation of children
  when engaging in writing tasks.

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