Web Enhanced Teaching

Web Enhanced Learning / Teaching Ania Lian (PhD)

Examples of educational web-resources 1. Hot potatoes games 2. Web-based activities (literacy, maths, seminars …) 3. Gmail, google reader google sites. 4. Document sharing, conferencing (zoho.com, google docs) 5. Windows Movie Maker – free on your PC 6. Street View (Google Maps) 7. About our world (youtube, google video) 8. Free Applications (What is Alice?, Photoshop) 9. zamzar.com (for downloading yuotube movies) 10.smartboard application download 11.iTunes for Windows 12.Harvard online Education blog Australia (for teachers) http://blogs.educationau.edu.au/

More examples of educational web-resources 1. Interactive crosswords 2. Map puzzles 3. Literacy primary 4. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ 5. Get smart science 6. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/games/ 7. http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/index.shtml 8. Best French course ever 9. Free TV (some links work better at different times) 10.Complicated video clips 11.http://www.librivox.org - free audio books (see also books in print) 12.Check local weather 13.http://kids.yahoo.com/jokes 14.http://www.azkidsnet.com/JSknockjoke.htm

What are we to do with these resources?

Computers are of value when our lives resonate with the potential that they offer.

CONTENT 1. 2. 3. 4.

What do we know? - Values What are we told? - Practice What do we need to do? - Truth What can we do? - Logistics

CONTENT 1. What we know? – Values Please suggest: …………..

A Web-enhanced instruction provides instant and varied collaboration forums, which may promote […] cognitive flexibility by criss-crossing domains (Spiro, Vispoel, Samarapunguan, & Boerger, 1987). Another possible advantage is readily accessible shared learning contexts (Bransford & Johnson, 1972). In addition, captured communications in cases allow for reflection and elaborated planning (Andrews, 1997). Collaboration, cognitive flexibility, shared learning, and reflection are known factors that, over time, can contribute to progression along the continuum from novice to expert (Berliner, 1986 )

From: Preparing General Education Pre-Service Teachers for Inclusion: Web-Enhanced Case-Based Instruction Lanna Andrews University of San Francisco

CONTENT 2. What are we told? – Practice Please suggest: …………..

Collaboration, cognitive flexibility, shared learning, and reflection and WebCT–like spaces • • • • •

Go to your subject area ! Click on the relevant week ! Do activities of the week ! Answer the questions of the week ! Talk to peers !!

Collaboration, cognitive flexibility, shared learning, and reflection and WebCT–like spaces • • • • •

Go to your subject area ! Click on the relevant week ! Do activities of the week ! Answer the questions of the week ! Talk to your peers !!

All these commands are driven externally to the students – Teacher / syllabus / BSSS - centred model. Playing the school game

CONTROL “Due to the structure of WebCT, the researcher / instructor was able to note the amount of time each student was working online and follow the chat group discussion threads”

From: Preparing General Education Pre-Service Teachers for Inclusion: Web-Enhanced Case-Based Instruction Lanna Andrews University of San Francisco

CONTENT 3. What do we need to do? - Truth Please suggest: …………..

We are organic, social beings. We connect to realise our nature, not to be regulated and thus reduced to the image of existence produced by the regulators.

Web-Enhanced Learning Environment Strategies, or WELES, are models illustrating how Web-based resources can be used to enhance instruction. Pedagogic Task: What would these models be? For example, are webquests such models?

Web-Enhanced Learning Environment Strategies, or WELES, are opportunities made available to students to enhance their participation in the real world with Web-based tools. (Ania Lian) Pedagogy: Focus on strategies enabling students to engage, relate to, impact upon the real world, i.e. the world larger than classroom.

Pedagogy: Focus on strategies enabling students to engage, relate to, impact upon the real world, i.e. the world larger than classroom. These are largely apprenticeship-style models of learning, with a critical component. They involve students in doing, planning, working out things for the community. 1. Create our own school / class website reporting on anything (with news, views, blogs, videos, albums, chats). Link with other schools, other countries, and have information in more than one language. • Creating a “green-living” online TV series where students develop and show practical and theoretical ways for living green. • Assist a local green engineer (someone’s dad) in drawing plans and building a fence, green toilette, etc. • Produce a series (own soap opera) on resolving life / relationship problems by students and for students. Get it translated by LOTE students. • Live in a French Village for one semester - a macrosimulation. • Creating a Sale of Century game for different grades (prepare students to win; do it in LOTE)

Pedagogy: Focus on strategies enabling students to engage, relate to, impact upon the real world, i.e. the world larger than classroom. Learning is a function of negotiation between students and ???

Pedagogy: Focus on strategies enabling students to engage, relate to, impact upon the real world, i.e. the world larger than classroom. Nobody is in control. Learning is a function of negotiation between students and life (contexts of their engagement).

PSU Model WEB-ENHANCED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT STRATEGIES

The design of your Home Page of resources does matter. The design is to help students to find quickly relevant assistance and exercises. The example below does not show a clear and easy structure.

Objectives • • • •

Ease of access to resources Improving the ability of people to make sense of the world and therefore build up their own internal understanding systems - this is how knowledge is constructed: people interact with complex tasks and invent their own personal knowledge Long-lasting: once you have done the work to set up the environment and resources, you can use them again and again. It is an effective/efficient use of time. The creation of these systems gives stability in the quality of the environments they are teacher-proof in some way. teachers come and go but the structures remain.

On learning and teaching relationship Learning is not about acquisition of new knowledge. It is about reorganizing what is known by the student and, as a result, creating new knowledge, new perceptions. The need for this re-organisation of perception arises due to students experiencing tension in the understandings which inform their actions. Thus, for the pedagogue, the issue is not to give knowledge to students but to challenge students for new forms of knowledge to have the opportunity to emerge.

The learning process

1. Connectedness of knowledge – Exploring issues in different contexts 2. Making learning relevant – Identifying how what you have explored is helping you answer the research question 3. Supportive environment – Well designed computer environments help students follow up their own questions and be better engaged in the learning. 4. Generating deep knowledge – It is a function of explorative learning, good balance between group and individual work, and well designed web-based environment.