The GANG of FOUR

This is the name I give to the four benchmarks that I’m going to discuss.
Let’s see, what to write about?

Provide a canvas and they'll create a masterpiece.
Last year I used the internet to try to interest my class of very weak students(Form 4 but level of English is K2- Form 2) to write. Normally, on paper, my success rate is about 4/18. However, when I took them to the computer lab to “write’, I could see that they were very excited. I asked them to identify a place/country that they would like to visit. Using power point, they are to google for pictures and write short descriptions of the place and why they want to visit the place/country. Prior to this, I had them read a description of places of interest in Hong Kong. When they actually settled down to the task, I could see that they were very excited. Normally the students who would talk or sleep when asked to do any free or guided writing are now participating! They actually tried to write something and when they do not know the English words, they asked either me or one of the more able students to help them translate. Every group produced a piece of work. Even the weakest student produced a few lines!

Recognize and understand the demographics of your students.
Before we ask our students to do a certain task, we have to study their background and understand the limitations and constraints that would affect their performance in the task assigned. When I set my students the task of preparing a power point presentation, I was very confident that it would be a breeze since every student in the 21st century knows how to do it, right? Wrong! Even though every student was supposed to have gone through ICTL classes in Forms 1 & 2, all of them did not know how to prepare a power point presentation. They did not even know the basic rudiments of preparing a power point presentation. 4/18 did not have any computers at home. Not knowing this set the class back a few periods while I try to teach them how to use MS Power Point.

Provide access on multiple platforms
Oh, no! After googling up the phrase ‘multiple platforms’ I realised that I can’t really relate it to my experience. Multiple platforms, was defined as :
If a software program is developed for mulitple operating systems, it is considered to be "multiplatform." Since Microsoft Word runs on both the Windows and Macintosh platform, it is a mutliplatform application.
In the consumer gaming market, mutliplatform games run on more than one gaming machine. For example, a sports game developed for Xbox, Playstation, GameCube, and PC would be a multiplatform game.
With my limited knowledge of the computer and its hardware, I am not able to give any feedback on this benchmark. Then I found this: (some sites say that multiple platforms has the same meaning as cross platform)
Refers to developing software for, or running software on, more than one type of hardware platform. The most universal cross platform application is the Web browser. Written for every desktop computer platform, Web browsers render Web pages "almost" the same no matter which computer they run on.
I asked my students to use google to find images and information and then write an email to their pen-pal regarding the place they visited and send a copy of the same email to me.

In regards to technology, be comfortable failing in front of your students.
In a world where teachers will always be Digital Immigrants to our students’ Digital Natives, we have to learn to accept the fact that we will never be sages. We have to learn to take a back seat and let our students take over when the technological tools we plan to use do not behave as they should in class. Always identify a student who is more technology savvy and have him/her on hand when you need help. Never be afraid to ask for help when you need it. Of course it also helps to set up the things you want to use like the computer, internet access, LCD projector ahead of class time and to test out everything before the class arrives at the computer lab or AVA room.

Lecture 2

Ooops. Today I arrived a little late for class. When I entered everyone was already seated with their desk/lap tops all ready for the lecture. Panicked a little since I've not finished my Learning Contract nor linked it. Luckily Huey Zher was kind enough to let us work on it in class. Lucky too that she showed me a way to transfer my incomplete LC (which was in MS Word) to Google Docs. Haha. The way to do it is to email the MS Word doc to your googlemail then view the doc there. To link, open Spectrum in Mozilla Firefox. I was really surprised that it was so easy, after having agonised over it for many an hour.
         
           After doing all these we proceded to discuss our reading for the week, which I had read and highlighted but when it comes to giving opinions during discussion, I found it hard to locate what I wanted to bring up. Anyhow, after Ng and Yin volunteered their opinions, I found myself more focused and was able to add my own opinions. Bravo to both of them!
          
           From my reading of the text “Do generational differences matter in instructional design” by Reeves, Thomas C, an important issue that arose was when he ask these questions:

- Will members of the Net Generation arrive in the workplace with advanced technology skills and strong information literacy as some have predicted?

- Or are their technology skills shallow and superficial?

After reflecting on these questions, I am of the opinion that for the general population of net-generation, even though they are familiar with technology, they may have only superficial knowledge of how it really works. To them technology is invented for their pleasure and leisure. They play games online, download music and movies, blog, use social networking sites etc. They only use what they want and ignore the rest and they don’t really use discretion or censor what they say or post online. Right now, what we need to teach them is, based on our discussion, Digital Citizenship. I feel that even though it does not seem like our duty but hey, teachers also teach students to clean the classroom, to pick up rubbish, teach them not to simply throw rubbish and other things which are not part of the curriculum. It is our duty to educate and not only to teach.

- Is their information literacy limited in fundamental ways that actually limits their powers
to reflect, reason, and make decisions?

I think this affects a large number of the net-generation based on my casual interaction and observation but I have not researched any empirical evidence that support this. So, further research and reading......

Learning in the Digital Age

John Seely Brown

In Brown's lecture, he talked about how universities have recognised the role of Instructional Technology on campus and how it is affecting campuses. He also talked about how educators need to learn how the net-generation thinks and learns. We also need to rethink what we have to relearn how we learn so that we can turn learning into a life-long habit. 

          Before the advent of the technological age, we have always thought of learning to be pouring knowledge into a kid's head. We come into being by participation and we understand what is socially constructed through study groups. With the evolution of learning, our current students learn through the clicker method, by doing work together, virtually. What educators have not realised is that studying together in this way is also fun. When work in progress is made public, others learn from it. Instructors do not know how to be mentors, not sages in a studio based learning. We don't like to reinvent teaching practices. However, we have to learn to be facilitators in peer-based learning. He also found that peer-based learning works extremely well for minorities and women.

         He also said that in this age, there are a lot of ways learning can happen. We are now beyond merely textbooks. Students no longer learn about something, they learn to be, to see solutions to a problem elegantly and take charge. In the net-generation, learning is a culture of participation, of building, tinkering, reusing, sharing and creating meaning by "what I create and others build on or comment on and share. 

         Man has evolved from being homo sapiens (man the wise) to homo faber (man the maker) to homo ludens (man the player). In the world of the homo ludens, students have the freedom to fail and try again and again fun and see learning as riddles to be solved. Tools such as Youtube, Wiki, Blogger, Facebook, Flicker, World of War Craft provide the foundations for man to constantly master a world in flux, a world which is constantly changing.

         Instructors need to acknowledge that learning happens outside the classroom as inside and that we need to facilitate both. Students need to be given the ownership of learning so that they will be motivated to do so.

Brown gave an example of Singapore which has adapted the concept of "Teach Last, Learn More". Starting from kindergarten, students are introduced to productive inquiry and experimental learning. 

         Brown believes that one of the most important issues to tackle is teachers' beliefs. Even if we are given all the facilities but do not use them in teaching then all is lost. Then again, there are teachers who have picked up the new technologies but in the real world but there is no support from the department of education concerning time and freedom. The department is also slow in acknowledging and advocating the use of new technology ideas like social networking sites in and outside the classroom.

         Based on my own experience, the issues Brown brought up were all very true. I for one is for using all these new technologies in the classroom but really found that the administration people in my school are still very skeptical about them. They would far rather rely on the concept that teachers are sages rather than mentors or facilitators.

First Impressions

17 September is the beginning of the new semester 2011/2012 for me since Friday was the Malaysia Day celebrations and classes were cnncelled. I awoke before my alarm and got ready for class which showed how  excitedly I was anticipating the courses this semester, after the long,long break of 4 months. Arrived a little before time and saw a familiar face outside the labs. Chatted for a while then went into Lab 2 to talk to Dr.Tee regarding my project paper.

At 0800 we went into Lab 1 for PXGT6110- Application of the Internet in Instruction class. Saw more familiar faces here and I was very glad because I thought I would be an outsider here, being one of the very few TESL students who would venture out of the safety of English courses and explore the unfamiliar territories of Instructional Technology. However, I prefer a lot of hands on work with computers and the internet rather than discussing theories in English all the time.

Our lecturer introduced herself as Ng Huey Zher. She discussed the course pro-forma and what was expected form us. Seemed like a lot was expected, especially 'Create a Web Based Learning Environment'. I'm quite worried about this since I have not have a lot of experience with this and have not attended the same courses as the rest of the students in the class. I'm very interested though and hope to learn a lot which would help me with my project paper. Huey Zher told us not to be too worried and also said she would walk us through it. She seems like a pretty nice lady, what's more, I was excited to know that she was from the same state, Johor.

This blog that I have set up is part of our coursework, to record our reflections of what we've learned and experienced over the semester. Hope I'll have lots to write and rave about.