The Integrated Approach-response to Activity 5

Huh,

Was reading over the responses to this issue in the group blog.  The  last comment struck me because the person wondered whether there had been some straying from the topic about the understanding of the integrated approach, to the challenges of same in the schools.

Really?   I find that you cannot talk about the one without the other, if we are looking at making learning meaningful.  Looking over my own comment, I think I do discuss the integrated approach, but also the challenges embedded in its use.

I know we were reading recently about how it seems to be the older teachers who are more involved in the use of ICTs and all that it means for education as we  know it. However,  I find it hard to understand the reluctance to integrate the classroom.  We have three year groups with computers-none of which I teach.  I cannot help feeling that by now, integration should have moved beyond the internet-sourced assignment to the production of original material.  I have only seen 3 teachers do that to date: an English teacher, an Accounts teacher and a Fabric and Design teacher.

Is there a need for teachers?

Yes,

This is later than I would like. But it seems to me that I have only now begun to think in a more comprehensive way about this course in general, and the assignments in particular.  Anyway, this is to record my thoughts and feelings about the material.

I begin by saying that when I first encountered Dr.Mitra, it was courtesy of the friend I alluded to in my group e-mail.  My friend is the kind of person I consider unique in his own way.  He worked in the airline industry for over 20 years, then one day, just quit, got  his A'Levels and by his forties had done his first degree and was teaching at his alma mater-an all boys secondary school.  In the intervening years, he has done his Master's degree in English, and continues to undergo teacher training.  Last year, he-with his wife and son-went to China for dragon boat racing.

I mention him because he is very much like his own version of Dr. Mitra's students.  His medium of instruction was not the computer screen so much, but the world of books and the worlds he encountered through his travels.  In his own way, he believes that teachers stifle the growth of their students because they do not want them to reach beyond their own versions of life.  He firmly believes that schools as we know them indoctrinate, instead of educating for the future or leading to enlightenment for the present.  Yes, he finds that schools are useless.

Me?  When he sends me stuff like this, it is easy for me to agree.  Then I realise that a great part of teaching these days is that many teachers stop learning after their degrees!  I once met one who didn't want to do a Shakespeare text because she hadn't done it at school or university-so she 'had no notes' to teach with!!! You cannot teach what you do not know.  Many teachers distrust such 'intangibles' like student-centered learning or collaboration, simply because it means that students will have to take their learning into their own hands. Let me say though, that there are means and ways and subjects in which teacher-guidance is definitely required.  I refer here to subjects like the sciences and technical-vocational subjects.

The advent of ICTs means that we have to be humble and serve the learning process. We can no longer control it.  The research alluded to in the articles indicates that students learn and function in ways far more differently. How does one say that the changes are more than intergenerational?  Change seems to take place every decade instead of every 30 year generational span.  I feel better now about the idea about just leaving students with material and asking for their interpretation...all I might be doing is stipulating the extent to which I would like them to use ICTs...

Activity 3 – Roles of learners learning with ICT:

The most powerful lessons that I learnt about online collaboration:

• I learned that I have to be patient with myself while I learned how to use mindmeister.
• I also learned that sometimes (often) many minds think alike.

The most important points that I take from the Learners’ Charter:

• That students should use ICT effectively in order to enhance their skills and appreciation of : 1.  Creativity  2. Collaboration        3. Communication  4. Critical Thinking.  These are skills that they will need in the years to come.  That time may be even sooner than we think.

• That students should be allowed time to explore at their own pace.  In this way, we lose the desperation whose intellectual ability has not peaked by the time of the examination.

• With the first two initiatives, the fostering of higher-order thinking skills would be a welcome consequence.
• Teachers need to find time and space to use collaborations such as these...so that the Learner's perspective is never far from our plans and provisions.

Activity 2 – Attitudes and perceptions of ICT

Well, THIS was a surprise to me! I always thought that the younger the teacher, the more eager to learn the ICT.  Instead, it seems to me that we ‘veterans’ are going after ICT full speed ahead because we do not want to be left behind in the classroom and in the society in which we find ourselves.  It was kind of humbling to see that when I thought I was being ultra innovative and pro-active (like a SUPER-heroine teacher, but without the cape and tights),  I was actually moving true to form and type. My own experiences were when I did a course and realised that I had been trained in FrontPage and it was no longer in use by anyone.  The sense of impotence was strong.  I think it was a bit of a rebellion that led me to doing my final presentation for that course using Powerpoint extensively. Once again, I felt that I had been collaborating in my students’ ignorance when I did not use ICT.  It was painful to see that students knew how to send pornographic videos over their smartphones, but not how to do a web search on an issue we were studying in English Literature.  I know I am sounding like a cliché from the article here, but when I did another course on Web 2.0 tools, I became excited again because I thought there was so much here to work over your imagination!  When I was looking for the younger members of staff for encouragement and/or inspiration, they would look at me oddly.  They basically only used it to show the –very occasional-movie.  Not even to posting questions online could I stretch them to use the technology available.  I am hoping that soon I will be able to encourage students on an even greater basis.  The digital divide hurts when you see other schools which seem to get ahead, while your school seems to go nowhere at all.