The once and future classroom: Using technology in the service of learning

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The once and future classroom Using technology
in the service of learning

• Beverly R. King, PhD
• University of North
• Carolina at Pembroke

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What will a classroom look like in 2020?

• Stanley Primary School
• Australia
• http//www.tased.edu.au/schools/
  stanleyp/coolkids/Future.htm

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Caitlins classroom

• The teacher is a robot and everybody has a laptop
  to take home to do their homework on.
• Everybody also has a computer.

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Melissas classroom

• toys and games
• timeout table,10 desks with laptops
• 3 mats, 2 charts, a blackboard, a white board
• an art area a canteen

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Discussion

• What are some advantages and some disadvantages
  of lecturing?

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Lecture

• ADVANTAGES
• Deliver large amounts information
• Present complex material
• Present information not readily available
• Enthuse students

• DISADVANTAGES
• Works best only for students who learn well by
  listening
• Not well suited to development of critical
  thinking
• Students relegated to passive roles

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Lecture

• ADVANTAGES
• Deliver large amounts information
• Present complex material
• Present information not readily available
• Enthuse students

• DISADVANTAGES
• Works best only for students who learn well by
  listening
• Not well suited to development of critical
  thinking
• Students relegated to passive roles

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Lecture

• ADVANTAGES
• Deliver large amounts information
• Present complex material
• Present information not readily available
• Enthuse students

• DISADVANTAGES
• Works best only for students who learn well by
  listening
• Not well suited to development of critical
  thinking
• Students relegated to passive roles

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Trends behind the call for revolution

• Identification of learning principles
• Learner-centered education
• Ubiquity of technology

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Trends behind the call for revolution

• Identification of learning principles
• Learner-centered education
• Ubiquity of technology

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Trends behind the call for revolution

• Identification of learning principles
• Learner-centered education
• Ubiquity of technology

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Has Technology Revolutionized the Academy?
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Has Technology Revolutionized the Academy?
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Ways that IT can be used to transform teaching,
learning, and the curriculum

• Kozma Johnston (1991)
• Moving students from
• from reception to engagement, from the classroom
  to the real world, from text to multiple
  representations, from coverage to mastery, from
  isolation to interconnection, and from products
  to process.

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Obstacles

• Facultys fear of replacement
• Student resistance
• Focus on accumulation of technology rather than
  identifying ways in which technology can enhance
  learning
• Prior poor use of technology

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Obstacles

• Facultys fear of replacement
• Student resistance
• Focus on accumulation of technology rather than
  identifying ways in which technology can enhance
  learning
• Prior poor use of technology

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Technologies such as computers (or paper) dont
have predetermined outcomes. Its the uses of
such technologies that influence outcomes.many
institutions act as though they believed that the
mere existence of technology would improve
learning. They use computers to teach the same
things in the same ways as before, yet they
expect learning outcomes to improve.
--Erhmann, 1999
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Obstacles

• Facultys fear of replacement
• Student resistance
• Focus on accumulation of technology rather than
  identifying ways in which technology can enhance
  learning
• Prior poor use of technology

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Reflection

• Take a moment to reflect on your experience with
  PowerPoint.
• Come up with a positive and a negative example.

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How Can I Further My Teaching Goals Using
Technology?

• What are the learning outcomes I want for my
  students in addition to content?
• Computer skills
• Critical thinking skills
• Communication skills
• Social skills

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Brainstorm

• What do you know about the ways that people learn
  best (factors that enhance learning)?

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What do we know about how students learn best?

• Least effective type of presentation is the
  one-way lecture
• Collaborative learning fosters critical thinking
  skills
• Active learning enhances creativity, academic
  performance, self-esteem

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What do we know about how students learn best?

• Psychological principles specify that learning
  occurs best when
• instruction is doled out in chunks.
• there is time to process and practice.
• numerous examples are given.
• linkages are made between new ideas and previous
  experience.

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How can we combine technology learning
principles to make productive changes in our
traditional teaching methods?

• Think small!

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Think small!

• Small steps
• Small(er) more refined searches
• Small chunks of information
• Small groups
• Small links

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Think small!

• Small steps
• Small(er) more refined searches
• Small chunks of information
• Small groups
• Small links

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Small steps

• Use what you know
• Dont try to do everything at once
• Focus on one or a few learning objectives in a
  single class
• Assess and assess again

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Small steps

• Use what you know
• Dont try to do everything at once
• Focus on one or a few learning objectives in a
  single class
• Assess and assess again

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Think small!

• Small steps
• Small(er) more refined searches
• Small chunks of information
• Small groups
• Small links

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Small(er) searches

• REPOSITORY
• system for the storage, location and retrieval
  of electronic content (Holden, 2003)

• REFERRATORY
• refers the user to other sources of information
  (Brogan, 2003)
• e.g., MERLOT (www.merlot.org)

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Think small!

• Small steps
• Small(er) more refined searches
• Small chunks of information
• Small groups
• Small links

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Think small!

• Small steps
• Small(er) more refined searches
• Small chunks of information
• Small groups
• Small links

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Small chunks of information

• 15 to 20 minutes
• learning objects (chunks of content)
• perhaps incorporated into lecture

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Small chunks of information

• 15 to 20 minutes
• learning objects (chunks of content)
• perhaps incorporated into lecture

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Think small!

• Small steps
• Small(er) more refined searches
• Small chunks of information
• Small groups
• Small links

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Small groups

• Collaborative learning strategies
• Promote critical thinking, self-esteem, academic
  achievement, intrinsic motivation, ability to
  take others perspectives, positive attitudes
  toward content (Felder Brent, 1994)
• http//www.umuc.edu/virtualteaching/module1/collab
  orative.html

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Small, collaborative groups

• problem-based learning
• instructional strategy in which students
  confront contextualized, ill- structured problems
  and strive to find meaningful solutions (Rhem,
  1998)
• promotes self-direction, comprehension,
  interpersonal skills, teamwork

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Small, collaborative groups

• Web-enabled problem solving exercises
• http//www.umuc.edu/virtualteaching/module1/proble
  ms.html
• More info
• http//www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/pbl/problem.html
  

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Think small!

• Small steps
• Small(er) more refined searches
• Small chunks of information
• Small groups
• Small links

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Small links

• Helping students make connections between
  classroom material their own lives
• Case based instruction
• a teaching strategy that utilizes stories to
  encourage students to actively solve complex
  problems that mimic real world experiences
  (Hagerman, 2004)
• Also encourages students to be active,
  interactive, and critical thinkers

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Case-based teaching examples

• USF College of Education, Online clearinghouse
  for special education teaching cases
• http//cases.coedu.usf.edu/default.htm
• National Center for Case Teaching in Science
• http//ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/cases/
  

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Electronic resource cases

• ASTER http//cti-psy.york.ac.uk/aster/resources/
  case_studies/case_studies.html
• Virtual Health Care http//www.vhct.org/index.sh
  tml
• The Times 100 http//www.thetimes100.co.uk/

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Electronic resource cases

• THRO http//homepages.uc.edu/thro/index.html
• Browser wars http//pages.stern.nyu.edu/rgarud/
  browser.html

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Ready-made audience The Net Generation

• Digitally literate take technology for granted
• Hypertext minds capable of parallel processing
  multitasking
• Thrive on immediate gratification have short
  attention spans
• Comfortable in a image-rich environment
• Do best when construct own knowledge through
  interaction

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Learners of the 21st Century