Real World Collaboration, and Efficiency of Collaborative Technology Tools

Collaboration in this lesson has not been easy at all. There has been a lot of delays in people coming up to post their comments or even to edit.  Matters have been  made more difficult by the fact that I could not move on because I had to wait for other members to post their contributions either on the wiki, Google docs, or the mindmeister.  I think this business of collaboration has to be revised and people have to be brought on the same page before it can be effective and efficient. Even now, because of the delays in members contribution, a number of us had to move on and that means that  we missed whatever contribution  came after .

I  would make it clear to all the learners that their contribution is imperative and would earn them marks but it has to be done at the right time, not lagging behind and then coming up when everybody has moved to the next step. In that case they would lose marks for inefficient collaboration. I would set a time limit and close the site the moment the time is up. This is to instill discipline and try to have control on the movement of the lesson.

I also think, it would be more effective if done in smaller groups like say Four to six learners in a group. That would ensure effectiveness and efficiency as far as posting contributions is concerned. A big group brings/ causes laxity.

Knowledge Building and Power of Collaborative Knowledge

Knowledge building is a process whereby learners go beyond just reproducing what they have learnt. It entails building knowledge and this happens when the learners use the new information or knowledge achieved and combine it with the information that they have been having, to create more Ideas and new understanding of things.

Knowledge building entails interpretation beyond the literal meaning, analysis of data and establishing relationship of the parts, synthesis relationship between ideas and evaluation of information in terms of meaning, or credibility. Knowledge building according to my understanding is as summarized in the diagram below

 

Engaged Learning, Technology, and Limitations of Technology in Engaging Learners.

Engaged learning means learner must be interested, involved, committed, absorbed  and loving what they are learning. They must have a passion for it, ask for it, want it, help invent it. They must be involved in everything because they love to be engaged.

Technology is a critical role-player in engaging learners. It is not a secret how much time learners spend on social media. They love to feel it and be a  part of it all the time and that is why we always find them busy face booking, tweeting, watching movies, sending messages etc all their free time. Technology gives them a chance to interact with others, a chance for a hands-on experience and learners love to experience what they are learning.

Technology has its limitations too.

·         It may be a distraction from school work and class activities. Students watch videos, listen to music, send messages and fail to concentrate on class activities. Others Face Book even during a lesson.

·         Others also listen to music as they attend to their class work or school work and this is multitasking which is disadvantageous as it reduces productivity, increases stress and lowers IQ.

Innovative Learning Activities and How I would Adapt more Elements of Innovative Learning in My Teaching

Innovative learning activities are the tasks that a teacher can come up with to make the lesson interesting to the learners. These activities should be in position to capture the interest of the learners and inspire them to search, sort,  rearrange data and create knowledge that will lead to effective learning and problem -solving.  These innovative activities must involve;

·         Collaboration and teamwork; this is because by nature people are social beings and they learn by interacting with one another and in the process focusing on the 21st-century skills of collaboration, teamwork, problem-formulation, creativity and the ability to "learn how to learn"

·         Have relevance and be applicable to the real world. In other words.

·          Promote authentic learning.

·         Be inspiring in order to help develop students' ability to go beyond, to question and apply learning in new situations.

·  Include the use of technology to allow the learners to have a hands-on experience where they can experiment, discuss, reflect on what has been learnt and even redo activity if necessary.

·         Engage learners attention and get them to be creative in trying to solve the problems.

·         Most importantly, learner- centered. 

From what I have seen from the learning games I have viewed, most of the activities are;

·         Carried out online and the students are eager to find the solution.

·         Creativity has been tremendously inspired from these learners that they are ready to stretch their minds in search of solutions.

·         The teacher is just there to guide when consulted.

·         Learners use technology and it is a hands-on experience for all.

In order to adapt my teaching to include more elements of innovative learning, I intend to;

·         Embrace creativity as part of learning.

·         Use creative arts and media oriented programs

·         Participate in or create a program to develop creative skills.

·         Use emotional connections.

·         Create a socially supportive atmosphere.

·         Establish a degree of expressive freedom.

·         Gather outside resources.

·         Allow room for mistakes.

·         Encourage curiosity.

·         Design lessons that allow for wondering and exploration.

·         Tap into multiple intelligences

·         Allow for collaborative problem solving.

 

Innovative Approaches to Learning with Technology

The kind of learners I teach;
Most of them are average in intelligence, do not like to do individual work and  most of them do not  want to contribute to group work either. There are some who are almost always absent from school. Even for those who are at school, a number of them prefer dodging lessons and have to be chased about in order to get them to attend. Some do not pay attention even when they are in class and it takes an effort to get them to participate. Some cannot even read fluently let alone comprehend what they have read.

How effectively me and my school prepare learners/students for the digital society;

For the lower classes S.1 and 2 Computer lessons have been compulsory and they have been equipped with the basics. The school has a computer lab which boasts of about at least 50 PCs and almost all students get a chance to try out their learnt skills on them. For the rest of the students body ie S.3,4,5, and 6, the subject is optional but even those who do not offer the subject get the chance when the laboratory is free to learn something about computers on their own and even to surf the net.
The teachers have also been offered opportunity to acquire individual laptops at a hire purchase level. They have also been encouraged to learn the basics and this includes being able to receive and send emails. The school administration has a plan to resort to communicating to individual teachers through their emails and this is to encourage them to stay in touch with technology advancement.

What achievable changes I would like to make in order to be more innovative in this regard.

There is need to change the sitting arrangement such that the focus is not at the front. It should be a circular formation that allows for easy sharing of ideas.
Introduction of online games that are interesting and challenging. For example scrabble and jigsaw puzzles.
However, the learners still need a lot of exposure to technology and more guidance on how they can explore and use it profitably. They also still need to be monitored and helped to focus on things that are of academic importance to them.

 

Digital Citizenship

In this lesson I have discovered that it is easy to collaborate and share information within a wiki with your peers, and that a number of topics could be addressed within the same wiki. Apart from sharing the information, a discussion can be easily held and people are free to post their views and opinions about the topics.

Unique challenges to collaborating online?
Collaborating online has its own challenges.
·       First and foremost, the time allocated for the discussion is always not convenient for all the members. Sometimes some members may take time to join the discussion because they are probably still addressing other issues.
·       Secondly, there is the challenge of electricity. In some areas members experience continuous black outs and if there is not enough energy stored on the laptop it becomes difficult to participate or make contribution on time.
·       Internet Access is another challenge. Staying online for a long time is very expensive here in Uganda.
·       Other commitments such as family, work related issues etc.
Resources I intend  to use in my classroom and how I will adapt them to my needs?
Amongst the resources that I discovered, I intend to use the following in my classroom
1. http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr280.shtml
2. http://www.teachingcopyright.org/
3. https://zsr.wfu.edu/services/research/copyright-information-resources/
4. http://www.copyrightkids.org/cbasicsframes.htm
5. https://www.oercommons.org/
6.  http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/02/10-must-have-resources-to-teach-about.html
Educational Technology and Mobile Learning.
 7. http://ed.ted.com/on/K7c4MMyM#review
These sites are very good and informative and I could use them to teach the learners about the copyright law and intellectual property.  
·       get the students to visit the sites and learn how to acknowledge the sources they have consulted for information
·       I would use the resources to educate them on their own rights about their own original and creative work.
·       guiding them on the copyright issues and how they can maintain good digital citizenship without violating the law.

 

Integrating the Teaching of Search Literacy and Information Literacy Skills in My Teaching

Having learnt a lot this far and continuously getting information that is making me a better teacher and helping me to grow professionally, I would also like my students to benefit from my learning and become digital citizens.
In this case I would go about integrating my teaching of search literacy and information literacy skills in my teaching through the following ways;
·        I would come up with Tutorial sites that I would ask my students to browse that would teach them how to search for information.
·        I would guide them into picking the right starting place ie there is need to define their topic of research before they engaging in the searching.
·        I would guide them into creating a concept map which of course includes them deciding on the central topic or problem etc. that they are going to search for.
·        I would get them to work together in groups and learn how to select key words that are related to the type of information they would wish to look for and also teach them to test run these words in Google.
·        I would also get them to work in groups as I guide them to learn to search in cycles. In this case I would be getting them to realize that they need to view their search from different angles and have different approaches.
·        Teach them about the Boolean logic, get them to work together. With the Boolean logic they would acquire the skill to narrow down the aspect of their search.
·        Introduce the students to online collaborative tasks/ projects in which case I would try to include things such as course integration instructions, tutorials etc.
I cannot assume to be an expert in the field but what I have learnt has taught me that the best ways for one to learn is through Hands-on and collaboration, and I think that is how I would integrate the search literacy and information literacy skills in my teaching.