Teaching Methods With Ict

Broad Aim:

To improve the quality of teaching and learning methods when children are learning and practicing new computer programmes/ skills.

Research Question: What method(s) of delivery best assist children in learning new ICT skills? Baseline Data We surveyed the children about their perceived learning preferences in ICT; what programmes they were familiar with and ones they would like to know more about. We also measured their level of ability to work reasonably independently (reasonably independent means they would only need to refer to teacher for support on minor issues in completing achievement on a task.) with computers, digital cameras and digital movie cameras. This level of ability was recorded as anecdotal notes as we observed children moving through set tasks.

Results from Survey Questions Question 1 When learning a new skill on the computer what do you prefer? 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 To learn as a class

•

•

• •

With a buddy

In a group

Teacher, Observer, Worker

‘To learn as a class’ - the teacher would model the desired outcome via the activboard with students interacting with questions and answers. Students would then have time to develop their skills in performing the task independently. ‘With a buddy’ - required students to learn firstly though modelling on the activboard and then to work with a buddy to support each other through the new task. Both students were expected to complete the task. ‘In a group’ - meant that children worked 3-4 around a computer whilst teacher was giving direct instructions. ‘Teacher, Observer, Worker’ - children were assigned one of these titles. Each title had a job description which children had to adhere to. The computer tasks were completed throughout the day with children moving through each role and swapping once the task was completed. (Refer to attached template.) Children had limited experience with this method prior to starting.

Ques tio n 2 When learning a s kill fo r the f irs t tim e do yo u learn bes t by...

25 20 15 10 5 0 watching a demonstration?

reading/ listening to instructions?

finding out through experimentation?

Question 3 When would you like to learn computer skills? 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Once a week

• • •

Over a whole day

Computer Tag

‘Once a week’ - two hour session once a week. ‘Over a whole day’ - an ITC project to start and complete in a day. Held two-three times a term. ‘Computer tag’ - method of Teacher, Worker, Observer. Where class has set task and children continually work through the tasks set throughout the day/ week as their turn arises.

Results from Anecdotal Observations We discovered that there was a large discrepancy between the children's interpretation of ‘reasonable independence’ and our own. To achieve ‘reasonable independence’ it was our expectation that children would be able to open, save, and make progress towards completion of a task requiring minimal support from their classroom teacher e.g. two-three questions per task. Most children could locate and open a programme but most would use their twothree questions just in the saving process. Based on this task we quickly realised there were some essential basic skills we needed to develop to enable children work independently. We will incorporate these ICT skills into our Teacher, Observer, Worker tasks.

Academic Background Information “Tell me, I forget, show, me I remember, involve me, I understand.” This Chinese proverb appealed to us as a starting point for our research. In aiming to provide ICT opportunities that are interactive and are the preferential learning styles of the children. The proverb also supports our decision to base our survey questions around the concepts of; to, with and by. When planning to teach skills in ICT you need to start by ensuring your class has regular access to computers. In the acquisition of any new skill, regular practice is essential. Having one computer per student or having computers arranged specifically in a room is not paramount, according to Key Skills - Information and Communication Technology. It also suggested that discussion and sharing are two of the best ways in which children learn. In getting started you need to gauge what your students existing ICT skills are. We also found it useful to survey the students and gain information about what programmes/ skills they were interested in learning over the year. In our experience students had been exposed to a wide range of ICT skills thus far and were very enthusiastic about the opportunity to learn about specific ones. When gauging your students ICT capabilities conducting a self-assessment is not sufficient. What students think they can do often differs greatly from what they can actually do. Selfassessment accompanied by some form of anecdotal observation would help to ensure you have an accurate picture of our students capabilities. In the article entitled Kids do more, when it dome to ICT it stresses the importance of recognising that children are fast becoming the experts when it come to ICT skills. In our research it will be important that the teacher/ learner role is shared between teacher/ student. It also states that “Every subject can use ICT to develop the knowledge and skills students need for living in the digital age.” In establishing our instructional ICT tasks we will aim to look at the knowledge and skills required in curriculum and link this to the best suited ICT programme to develop that task. We want to achieve authentic uses of ICT to teach across curriculum rather than teach programmes in isolation. Tim Van Heule wrote an article about his experiences of what worked well in his classroom in teaching with an activboard. He stressed the importance of lessons involving an activboard as being ‘interactive.’ “I took a varied approach, beginning with brief displays of information, guided practice and independent activities, and finished with some form of assessment. Students should be up at the board, working independently, in groups, as a class, etc. The teacher should never be in full control of the board throughout the lesson. It’s important to ask yourself, "how have I engaged my student’s today?” (Van Heule, 2008)

These readings have given us a good insight into what is required before we begin our research and some useful ideas to guide our practice. How have I engaged my students today? References •

Key Skills - Information and Communication Technology., (2008). www.keyskillssupport.net/teacandlearkeya/infoandcommtech/teach.aspx

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Kids do more, when it comes to ICT., (2007). Schools+Parents magazine>Issue1. http://education.qld.gov.au/publication/schoolsand parents/2007/issue1-3kids.html

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Van Heule, Tim., (2008). Interactive Whiteboards. http://tcubed.wordpress.com/2008/08/10/interactive-whiteboard-lessons-best-practices/

Practical Tasks Term Two •

Digital Photography Unit - Eight two hour sessions taught weekly.

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Kidpix—Iain modelled an hour and a half session where students worked in groups around macs. The pod of computers were all made available online and could connect to the mac attached to the interactive whiteboard (IWB) . Through this method we could also padlock students screens which allowed for tighter control during instructional times. Students were taught how to use Kidpix on the IWB via a flipchart. The online connection of the computers allowed all students to view the work of others on the IWB screen.

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Teacher, Observer, Worker tasks— importing a photo from photobooth to iphoto, saving a file and retrieving it, how to use itunes, using sound on Kidpix;

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Claymation— Taught over one week, two hour sessions each day.

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Kidpix—Iain modelled an hour session. Students learnt how to take a photo of themselves in photobooth and then import it into Kidpix. Once in kidpix they were shown how to cut around their heads and insert it onto a background. Iain modelled the process first to the whole class in the Kiva then they were given practice time in small groups.

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Artist study. Children created a painted and a kidpix image of a famous artwork.

Term Three •

IMovie interviews—Five one hour sessions taught over one week. Sessions involved teacher demonstrations and experimental time in groups (three children). All students were able to complete an independent interview.

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Teacher, Observer, Worker tasks— Word processing tasks eg wordart, font, size and positioning skills for layout and presentation, powerpoint or keynote (creating slides), creating flipcharts on promethean programme, research /gathering information on an athlete from Official Olympic website.

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Publishing narratives

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Calendar art

Baseline Survey Revisited Qu est ion On e Wh en lea rn in g a n ew skill on t h e comp u t er wh a t d o y ou p refer? refer 30

25

20

15

10

5

0

To learn as a class

With a buddy

In a group

Teacher, Observer, Worker

Qu est ion 2 When lea rn in g a skill for t he first t ime d o y ou lea rn best b y ... 25

20

15

10

5

0 wat ching a demonst r at ion?

r eading/ list ening t o inst r uct ions?

f inding out t hr ough exper iment at ion?

Qu est ion 3 Wh en wou ld y ou like t o lea rn comp u t er skills?

25

20

15

10

5

0

Once a week

Over a whole day

Computer Tag

Evaluation/ Reflection Results from Repeated Baseline Survey combined with Teachers anecdoctal observations and recordings When learning a skill for the first time what do you prefer? To learn as a class and then work independently was scored low by the children. For some reasons this was pleasing to teaching staff. For management and hardware reasons, children working one on one with computers means that half the class can access computers at a time. This means remaining children need work set to leave the teacher available to work with those on the computers or alternately the children have no access to the teacher while he/she works with the remainder of the class. . Children working independently were much more demanding on teacher time to problem solve and complete a task in a given time. Having a buddy keeps children moving through the task. The buddy is trying to move the worker toward completion so they get their fair share of the computer time. This survey showed a marked change after two terms of focussed learning on ICT. To work with a buddy remained high in the children’s working preferences. Children like this method as they learn first, get to try with a buddy who can help them problem solve, where they get stuck or can’t remember and with only two at the computer they get a significant amount of “hands on” time to work, complete a task and experiment. Working in a group was an option chosen by only 3. Children sited reasons mainly of co -operation, ability to see the screen and to all get a turn to operate the computer as a downfall to this method. The “teacher, observer, worker method” was newly developed during term 2 as an instructional method. This scored lowly in our baseline data as only some children had successfully experienced this method of instruction and learning. Children now understand this process more thoroughly and have enjoyed working through a series of new learning tasks. If most tasks take ten minutes to complete, by the time a student has been all three roles—worker, observer and teacher, they have only lost 30 mins of class time. Management wise the whole class gets through the key task within a week and often gets a second turn to practice after the initial task has rotated through the whole class. Popularity of this option grew as children enjoyed doing ICT when others were doing work on something else. It also became more favoured when the children became more familiar with the three roles and realised that they would get a turn in each role. From a teaching point of view, it is good to see more reluctant learners taking a leadership role in having to instruct others as an observer.

When learning a skill for the first time do you learn best by …. Watching a demonstration is the preferred starting method for learning. This gave the students the base line knowledge to then go further through experimentation. Demonstrating in conjunction allows students to come up to the IWB and go through skills before returning to their independent or buddy activity. Second option was to learn through experimentation. This method was predominantly more popular with the higher ability ICT students as they have better problem solving abilities when faced with unknown concepts. Interestingly it became a more popular option on the repeat survey. This backs up our earlier statement that with increasing confidence the children’s preference for learning methods changes as they become more independent. Reading listening to instructions from teaching observations was not a the best delivery method for learning a new skill. With computers children want to be hands on . It is like putting them in a workshop and saying you can’t use the tools. Instructions were read minimally and then the children immediately want 1:1 support to access support. Lowest scoring option for children and teachers.

Evaluation/ Reflection Results from Repeated Baseline Survey combined with Teachers anecdoctal observations and recordings (continued) When would you like to learn ICT? Three choice options were given in this question. The children were asked to choose one. However the reality of the classroom practice is that ICT is modelled and taught daily through the use of the IWB and classroom computers. Computer tag occurs on a regular basis and a new task is worked through on a weekly or fortnightly basis depending on the task. Classroom computers are used daily and the pod of laptops is booked for specific teaching times. The option of Once a week was most popular. This option is experienced by the children as 2 hours once a week on the apple macs to learn a specific task, usually related to integrated topic in some way. This option encompasses demonstration, practice and completion of a set task. The children all look forward to this on a once a week basis. This dedicated time has allowed teachers to develop sequential steps in learning new programmes and developing degrees of difficulty in the features of programmes that children are now using. As an ongoing practice students independence when working in a programme has increased and between the children they are problem solving to reach their own conclusions. From a teaching perspective it is also a great way to integrate theme lessons in an interactive way and to encourage children to research further beyond the classroom. It is also resulting in an improving standard of presentation of written work.

Over a whole day This option was the lowest scoring but I stress again the children could only choose one option. From a teaching perspective, accessing the pod for a whole day is difficult if not near impossible but it has been done. During our teaching of the claymation unit and legomation topics , whole day computer use was used. Management and completion of the claymation task was only achieved through whole day access. Children working at different stages and making various modifications or improvements kept most children purposeful throughout these whole day tasks. For those that drift off task whole day computers required greater management.

Computer tag (worker, observer, teacher) This option has grown in popularity as the children have learned the process and become more skilled in all of the three roles. The children enjoy developing their own port folio of completed tasks as evidence of their learning. They enjoy moving in and out of class activities to use the classroom computers during the day. From a teaching perspective it is good to continue ICT development through the daily classroom practice. Teachers have observed children growing in confidence in all roles of worker, observer and teacher. Management wise it takes very little time to set up the first ‘teachers’ with knowledge of the task to lead others through their tasks.

Teacher Perspective—setting the whiteboard computer as the master computer where the children’s computers can be viewed on the IWB was a feature enjoyed for control. Ensuring everyone was on task when working with others was easily achieved. Being able to pad lock the computers through this same system could direct attention immediately back to teacher to explain further. This works particularly well in the once a week , model , then explore method of instructions.

Parent Survey To take our information gathering one step further than we had planned initially in this research we decided to survey parents in regard to • Whether their child discusses their ICT usage at school • Do they use a computer at home to practice the ICT skills they have learned at school? • Have they expressed an interest or enjoyment of ICT learning? • Do thye use the home computer to gather information or research for school topics The data below clearly displays the majority of children have talked about their ICT learning at school. At least 2/3rd’s of the children practice school taught computer tasks on their home computers. 2/3rd’s of the children have expressed enjoyment in their ICT learning. Using computers at home to gather information for school is an increasing practice. From the donut diagram of activities the children have discussed with parents, there

is a large range of programmes and activities. From incidental parent comments, there is much evidence of children teaching parents and positive comments about the integration of ICT skill learning to relevant topic tasks. There was even a comment that “ Child A wants and Apple mac for Christmas!” The responses from home have consolidated our feelings that ICT integration is alive and thriving within these children’s classroom teaching and daily lives. This enjoyment and use by choice, is a signal of achievement.

ICT and Your Child - Questionaire Results a lot

occassionally

not yet

25

20

15

10

5

0 Has your child mentioned

Do they use a computer at

Have they expressed an

Have they used computers at

their ICT leanring?

home to do activities they

interest/ enjoyment in ICT

home to gather information

have done at school?

learning?

for school topics?

ICT and Your Child - Questionaire Results

What skills/ programmes has your child mentioned using/ learning at school? Interactive Whiteboard Grid Club Word Art Create a Claymation ClickView Publisher Email Using the Apple Macs KidPix Photography Music Programmes Word Short Movies PowerPoint Computer Games Search the Internet Printing Documents Keynote

Conclusions As in all teaching and learning children have different and changing learning styles depending on the existing knowledge they bring to a task and their ability to work co-operatively with others. In the same light, teachers favour different teaching methods, often based around management principles. In catering for all, variety is required. This research has lead us to find some strongly favoured methods of teaching and learning for ICT in our classrooms with our students. It is evident in the shift from our baseline data to our concluding results, that as new learning occurs and the students confidence has grown, so has their preferred method of instruction and learning altered. It has become increasingly obvious to us in the ongoing use of the IWB that all teaching creates ICT learning opportunities. All the decisions we make on the IWB in front of the class provides them with learning opportunities and modelling. It takes no longer to point this out as a teaching moment, as we create a flipchart. We invite the children to verbalise how can we achieve the outcome or better still ask them to get the IWB flipchart to that point themselves—true integration of ICT and everyday opportune teaching moments. On reflection now that we are IWB confident, we very regularly pose the learning task to the children to talk us through the task we are doing, whether it is finding and opening a file or manipulating objects on the board or searching in the IWB library for a resource. This as a repeated process has resulted in a hugely increased ability of the children to use the IWB functions but also to problem solve to complete a task. When children have to verbalise what they are doing, they demonstrate true understanding. On completion of this research, we can very clearly see teaching and learning preferences for the children. We would strongly advocate that a huge amount of learning of ICT skills is incidental and arises from increased confidence , experimentation in programmes once an initial understanding has been grasped and from teacher modelling as the IWB demonstrates daily to all the class.