New Technologies, new pedagogies

I found the readings and information interesting and relevant. In many ways I wished I had read these prior to deciding on the topic for my research as it would have enabled me to consider how I could have set it up with my students to be as effective as possible.

One issue I need to think about is that my understanding of the way my students operate is that it is very different to the types of students that were the subjects of the research papers. What I mean by that is that I am fairly sure that my students will use technology in different ways to students in other parts of the world because their lives are different. For example, my students are not commuters and do not tend to spend time waiting at the bus stop. Additionally, as second language learners with limited English skills, they have not previously shown much interest in listening to podcasts about microeconomics ( I have tried!). That may sound a bit facetious but what I mean by that is that it is incumbent on me as a teacher to try to figure out how my students both can and will use this technology to create meaningful learning opportunities.

I think the main benefit of using mobile learning for my students in the current project in which they are involved is probably going to lie in their ability to use their own devices to record authentic experiences relevant to the project they are undertaking. They are studying Micreconomics and this part of the project is to discuss with a local businessman his costs, which they will then need to analyse and discuss. A potential problem with this is that the businessman may not be willing to have the interview recorded. This could be minimised both by my issuing of a letter on college headed paper and also by a promise to destroy the recording after the project has been finished. By using their mobile devices (with the interviewees consent!) they will then create a permanent record which both they and I can review as they continue with the project. As they look for meaning from the conversations recorded they will be able to reflect on the actual recording, rather than their memory of it. This will enable us to discuss the content of the interview in a way which would not be possible if they simply made notes of the conversation.

At the end of the project I will then be able to specifically ask them whether they felt this was helpful in enabling them to reflect in a deeper way on their learning

Reflection on Relevant Literature

What experiences have others had with similar technology?

As I read the literature it struck me that the research seemed to fall into 2 categories. Those that were looking for whether technology improved student collaboration (e.g. Blau & Caspi) and those that felt it was a great way to evidence whether or not the students had collaborated (e.g. Chu & Kennedy). Blau and Caspi found that students believed that their contributions to others work improved it but that others contributions to them made it worse! I thought that was brilliant! They also made interesting points about psychological ownership. Kessler Bikowski & Boggs found that in all groups there was an uneven split between the participants about how much work they contributed. It was always about 55%, 30%, 15%. If this is a general truth about group work, it seems insidious of educators to then mark individuals for their individual contribution. We should either be interested in the output of the group or the work of the individual. Not both.

What about the pedagogical approach?

In general I think I agree with Brodahl, Hadjerrouit, & Hansen who identified two pedagogical approaches being used, the social-constructivist learning theory and the community of practice, and their relationships to collaborative tools.

Did you get new ideas from the discussion in Moodle?

To be honest I have been disappointed with the level of discussion in Moodle. Instead of a discussion developing, people have just placed links to articles about the topic. Whilst this is useful and helps to broaden the information available to me, it is not actually a discussion. It is the equivalent of someone saying “here, read this as well”. Having said that I am equally guilty of doing this with other people's blogs. I think this is a fault caused by the structure of the discussion and blog posting requirements of the module.

What questions remain open?

I realized that the bigger question – to what extent does group work support individual student learning?, is an assumption that is implicit in the approach being used in the first place. As we are in an environment that requires all of our students to pass system wide assessments at the end of each semester, group work must be viewed through the prism of individual student learning which is going to be assessed in an individual assessment, very possible a timed exam. In that case I need to consider to what extent it is justified or valid for me to use it group work as a summative assessment? Would it be better if it was formative?

What new questions arise?

I think what I need to think about is how to use Google Docs effectively in an educational setting. I recently realized that I myself do not use google docs at all for collaborative projects in my every day work. I am at the moment involved in developing new course outlines for the college. This is ideal for Google docs but all of us in the team are used to emailing drafts to each other so that is what we are doing. Also, because our students are actually together most of the time, am I just trying to create a false reality by getting them to use Google Docs in a situation in which it wouldn't be used?

What am I planning to do next?

I am planning to take a much more “hands on” approach with the students in terms of monitoring their progress through the project. I think my focus will be on the extent to which it is a good tool for timely feedback from me, rather than monitoring contributions from the students

What kind of support do I need to proceed?

I’m not sure. I suppose the most useful would be to here form the experiences of others. I also need to think of a way to identify the best way to seek feedback from students. I am thinking of a survey