Creating the first blog entry

My reflections and insights on the progress of my class blogging activity are recorded below.

Instructional Challenge: One of the reasons for undertaking the blogging activity is to have students practice writing for a particular audience. They need to keep in mind the perspective of the reader and what kind of information they would find interesting.

Observations: The junior students have completed the paper blogging activity and providing each other with comments on the content and design of their blogs. This was a great way for students to focus on the quality of their writing and the kind of information they could include to capture the attention of their audience. We discussed how to create a great post and how to create quality comments. While students did a good job of providing feedback on the design and content of the blog it became obvious that they will need more instruction on the art of commenting, specifically how to use a blog as a means of facilitating a dialogue between the writer and the reader. Subsequently, we looked at some examples of student blogs and what the author did to encourage conversations with their readers. Below are some examples of the paper blogs;

One Direction Blog

Selena Gomez Blog

Lessons learned: Interestingly enough I ran into some administrative challenges that I had not anticipated. I provided the students with a class code so that they could create their individual accounts according to the convention I had outlined. I did not anticipate that the students would memorize the class code and continue to use it to create additional accounts when they re-visited the site (in some cases 3 or 4 times!!). I now create the accounts myself and provide the students with the information to log in.

Student responses to Blogging activity

The student responses to our introduction to blogging activity are listed below. I used the framework outlined in my previous post.

Why would someone want to blog?

gr 6
-share their life & experiences with other people
- find out information about people and their interests
- share stories about games or sports they play
-share good & bad life experiences
-write a review on a product or a movie
-offer an opinion or point of view
-meet people or make friends online that have similar interests

gr 4

-to communicate with people when we are not with them
-to find someone with similar interests (i.e. music groups)
-if you have questions
-to learn new things
-communicate what you do or your experiences
-express your feelings
-document experiences, places
-recommendation for a book

What would I be interested in blogging about?

gr 6
-celebrities  e.g. one direction
-blog about sports teams i.e. synchro swimming
-video games - reviews, prices
-favorite activities
-music albums - new music videos & songs
-fashion
-pets
-current events

gr 4

-class projects
-recommendations - music
-comics
-trying new things - sports, travel, meet some new people
-communicate with your friends
-exploring the world Hollywood - stars
-class activities

Who would want to read my blog?

gr 6
-teenagers that play video games
-people interested in getting pets
-people interested in doing synchro swimming
-people who listen to specific music groups, go to concerts
-promote celebrities

gr 4
-teachers - get to know their students, experiences, read class assignments
-best friends (any part of the world)
-sponsor a foster child - updates on their life
-family in a different part of the world - videos
-experts who have answers to your questions - author, scientists

Internet safety - internet is like a mall
What would we do to stay safe?

-do not give personal information to strangers
-do not speak to people who approach you
-do not let people influence you to do bad things i.e. stealing
-protect personal belongings
-stay where you are supposed to stay
-don't take objects from someone you do not know
-don't go off by yourself -stay where you are safe and secure

Subsequently, we reviewed the class blogging rules. Student will be working on the paper blogging activity in preparation for our next session together.

Promoting connective reading & writing through blogging

This week I begin teaching junior students about Blogging. For most of them it will be their first time using Web 2.0 tools. We will be using the Kidblog platform because it is easy to administer and use and I like the variety of privacy settings they have in place.

Our classroom discussion will focus on any experiences they have with blogging (posting or reading) and why someone might want to blog. Students will discuss their ideas in small groups or partners and I will record their ideas on my Blog so they get a sense of how it works. The discussion will evolve into topics for blog posts based on their personal interests. Naturally, this will lead them to consider their audience and who might be interested in reading about topics they post and issues around protecting one's privacy (i.e. personal information). We might also consider some of the ideas for integrating blogging into the curriculum.

This is the point where I will provide a couple of examples so students can see the 'big picture' and what we will be striving for in our class. This will give the students some ideas of the different kinds of information, layout and multi-media elements that can be included in a blog post. I will refer to the examples from the Edublogs Teacher Challenge.

Having looked at a variety of class blogs we will discuss internet safety using Mrs. Ripp's analogy of why the internet is like a mall. Subsequently, we will also review the Blogging rules we will observe throughout the year (adapted from Discovery Blogging rules) and hand out the parent consent letter.

In order to prepare for our next session I will have the students learn to blog using paper. The rational and logistics of this lesson has been provided by Sue Rockwood. This activity helps students to understand the art of commenting which is important for creating a collaborative, respectful community.

Some excellent ideas on 14 Steps to Meaningful Student Blogging.

Stay tuned for our progress on this project.

The video below is a group of 10 and 11 year old students at Heathfield school talking about why schools should blog.

My subsequent posts on the blogging activity;

Student responses to Blogging activity

Creating the first blog entry

eLearning resources to support 21st century teachers and learners

My list of #eLearning #edtech resources to support 21st century teachers and learners is outlined below.

This past week I met with each of the divisions at my elementary school to identify the kinds of learning outcomes they wanted to see in their classrooms. I also provided some examples of how technology could be used to facilitate the kinds of outcomes they had identified.

Intermediate Division
With the teachers in the intermediate division I discussed the strands of mathematics they were currently working on and how they could use the resources at the Homework Help website created by the Ministry of Education to review specific concepts and to facilitate real-time online tutoring for students having difficulty with homework questions or test preparation. In addition to providing an overview of the features of the site, I will be registering students so they can begin accessing the resources and the one-to-one tutor chat.

I also demonstrated how the teachers could use the curriculum guide units with links to the Homework Help resources to support their classroom instruction. In addition, I showed them how they could 'Flip their classroom' by assigning students math questions they could pose to tutors at the Homework Help website.  Subsequently, small groups of students could present a lesson on a topic using the Brightink projector and the resources from Homework Help chats and tutorials.

The teachers have also requested that I provide a demonstration of the math and science teaching resources available from Explore Learning. The interactive learning resources are correlated to curriculum standards and include student activity sheets & teacher answer guides for using the learning objects.

I will also be supporting teachers and students in their use of the Ontario Educational Resource Bank by using the resources lists I created for each grade. For example, in the media idols learning object students respond to and learn how to evaluate different types of media texts. The documents are on the school network so that grade partners can continue to add resources for a variety of different subjects.

The is also some interest in accessing the curriculum units available in the Learning Management System available through eLearning Ontario. For example, I can work on the career exploration unit with the grade 8s while the grade 7s are working on a History or Geography unit with their classroom teacher. The added advantage is that the students can continue to learn at home and at their own pace. Because the content is already created teachers can focus on differentiating instruction and provide remediation for students that need extra help while other students can progress through the learning and move on to enrichment activities.

More resources for junior and primary divisions to follow.

Supporting 21st century teachers and learners

My plan for supporting 21st century teachers and learners in my school board is outlined below.

My principal has graciously provided for time in my schedule to support staff and students in their use of instructional technology. This will allow me to build on the experience I gained in my role as the Ministry of Education's eLearning support teacher for WCDSB last year.

When I spoke to staff this week, I asked them to think in terms of the kinds of learning outcomes they would like to see in the classroom or computer lab or if there were particular concepts that their students had difficulty understanding. I like the idea of using an 'instructional challenge' as an opportunity to re-examine our teaching practice in order to discover new ways of engaging learners or achieving specific learning objectives. The article The High-Tech Class in Professionally Speaking has excellent examples of this methodology.

From what I have observed, I would say that our students have a general level of proficiency with using technology for basic word processing and searching and for playing games. My challenge is to increase their proficiency with web 2.0 tools and to use technology to communicate, connect and collaborate in order to enhance their learning. In addition, my role will be to find the the tools and strategies to facilitate the desired learning outcomes as identified by the teachers and to support their professional development in a way that is self-directed and relevant to their classroom and their learners.

I had an opportunity to begin this process last year with some primary teachers. I used the Ministry of Education's Collaborative Inquiry framework to guide them through the process of reflecting on their instructional practice. The basic steps, which I will be using again this year are outlined below.

Plan

- Determine an area of need related to student achievement and/or engagement.
- Select a learning focus (e.g., for a 2-4 week module/unit) that addresses the area of student need;
- Review current instructional practice and determine educator learning
- Develop evaluation task and scoring tool, tracking tool (e.g., mark book, data wall).
- Design instruction using research based instructional strategies* and a differentiated approach (DI)
- Select instructional technology to facilitate identified learning outcomes

Act   

- Implement instruction adjusting as needed based on ongoing assessment and feedback from students
- Engage in professional learning (e.g., co-teaching, peer observation, lesson study, coaching/mentoring) to build a collective understanding of the instructional approach
- Access professional learning resources (e.g., release time, class coverage, learning materials, subject-specific support and a DI knowledgeable team leader)

Observe

- Share and analyze evidence of student learning – including student feedback, record on tracking chart/data wall, devise next steps
- Share instructional practice, discuss instructional issues, find solutions for challenges, determine next steps for educator learning

Reflect

- Co-assess/evaluate student work, share student feedback, display results;
- Decide, based on evidence, the extent to which the area of student need has been addressed
- Reflect on educator learning, decide next steps

Collaborative Inquiry at Avon Maitland DSB

I also also asked the teachers to give some thought to what type of support they would prefer (i.e. - instructional modelling, team teaching, resource, strategy and technical support). My goal over the course of the year is to structure the support so there will be a gradual release of responsibility. In order to 'build capacity' I need to guide them along the path of becoming more self-proficient in terms of their technical competence and comprehension. I reminded them that I am not there to evaluate their teaching or technical ability. I have worked with educators at a variety of levels (post-secondary, secondary, elementary) and they each had different levels of technical skills and understanding.

My key piece of advice to staff considering adopting technology in their classroom was, 'just do it'. By experimenting with the technology they will gain experiences that will help inform their practice. I used my own example of Twitter. Initially, I had reservations because I was not sure about the value of a tool that only allowed you to type 140 characters. However, I have found it to be a very valuable tool for connecting with other educators to exchange ideas and resources. My comfort level has increased and I can now more clearly determine how I can integrate it into my classroom instruction.

By the end of the year, I hope to establish a method by which we can regularly share our best practices, insights, challenges and successes with each other in order to continue to build the capacity of my school to embrace 21st century teaching and learning.

Coming soon: specific models & resources I will be demonstrating to my staff at the upcoming division meetings next week.

Transforming Learning Through Mobile Devices

The motivating factor behind the decision by the Katy ISD to transform learning through mobile devices was the recognition that they, "had to fundamentally change the way we teach; the old methods were no longer working. We made the decision to launch a three-year program that would transform instruction, improve engagement, and breathe new life into the curriculum through technology.” They decided to focus on 3 main areas; incorporating web 2.0 tools in classroom instruction, digital citizenship and the feasibility of BYOD for classroom use.

When you look at the case study it is obvious that it required some forward thinking, but also some regard for practical considerations (i.e. long-term viability, community outreach and communication, infrastructure). I like how they referred to the phones as mobile learning devices (MLDs), disabling the calling and texting features so students could concentrate on the tasks at hand. The decreased discipline issues can probably be attributed to this decision along with the increased level of student engagement.

A critical step in building success was the decision to bring early adopters on board first so they could help with instructional technology design and to provide models for other teachers to incorporate in their classrooms. What is interesting for me is that Katy ISD is at the same stage as my school board (i.e. introduction of SMART boards) when they decided to embark on this initiative. The fact that the MLDs helped to differentiate learning comes as no surprise and neither should the improved academic results. For me, it just provides further evidence of what students are capable of achieving when they are actively engaged and empowered in the learning process.

What is also clear about the case study is that the MLDs were merely the tools by which Katy ISD were able to achieve their objectives of changing the way students were learning and the ways in which teachers provided learning opportunities.

In the case study, I would have liked to have seen some examples of the instructional strategies and technologies they employed in their classrooms to engage the students. The Digital Citizen (@RChids) and iPads in Primary Education (@dmandrews15) do a really good job of documenting the pedagogical considerations that are required in order to integrate technology to enhance learning.

Innovative teaching with iPads

I had a chance to observe a colleague that used innovative teaching methods and the toontastic iPad app to engage grade 2 students in the task of creating a story retell about the challenges they faced in preparation for their first communion. Students were divided into groups of 4 or 5 and worked together on the iPad to represent a challenge they encountered. These ideas had previously been brainstormed with the class so that each group could spend their time creating animations for a particular situation, as opposed to identifying a challenge. When the project started the teacher gave the students an overview of the features of the toontastic app and the class co-created the success criteria for the animations.

As I walked around to the different groups, I asked the students what steps they took when they did not know how to do something. Their approach to figuring out how to do something was very playful in nature. They just started trying different things to see what effects were created.

The teacher's approach was similar to the flipped classroom model example. The students were empowered to direct their own learning by finding creative and different ways to express what they knew about a topic or situation. This is why I refer to it as innovative teaching because typically the teacher would be the one directing the process as opposed to facilitating it. 

When you look at the teacher's blog you can see the iterative process documented by the educator (@RChids). He recognizes that he needs to reflect on how to best facilitate the process given the specific needs and abilities of the learners with respect to the desired outcomes. 

The teacher referred to success criteria when reviewing the group animations. It gave him an opportunity to provide formative feedback so students know what and how they can improve by referring back to specific items in the success criteria that the class created. This also improves the meta cognition of students as they are becoming more aware of what constitutes a good story re-tell and what they need to do in their animations to meet that criteria.

Community Cloud Learning Platform and BYOD

An exciting development at last week's Digital Learning Forum was the announcement of the OSAPAC cloud pilot. This could potentially affect 2 million students in Ontario. Currently, software delivery is IT intensive, and complex (testing and verification of computer images which need to be updated maybe twice a year).

The cloud would include full virtualization of the software environment using Microsoft (AZURE) - connects to windows back-end server to deliver applications. It could potentially be less expensive because one pays for the time when the server is being utilized and which software is being used.

Students and educators can access the cloud from home or school when they log in to the Forefront unified access gateway to enter their board credentials. Group policy processing is applied and distributes all of the applications which run off the cloud server.

Links to websites can also be included and because this model is platform independent (applications run on a remote server) this enables users on iPad and iPhone devices to access digital resources based in Flash (the large majority of activities in the Ontario Educational Resource Bank.

There are several advantages to this model;

• single sign-on (no need to remember multiple logins for different websites)
• IT personnel can spend more time on training as opposed to maintenance
• IT departments get valuable hard-drive space back that would have been needed for software images
• upgrades to software is immediate - no software shipping costs 
• reduced network bandwidth requirements
• a great enabler to Bring Your Own Device (less powerful devices can be used to access software and websites)

I am looking forward to seeing the proof of concept for this model because there are so many exciting possibilities.

eLearning and Collaborative Inquiry

Yesterday's session on eLearning and Collaborative Inquiry by Rachel Sillen and Dan Bodkin HPCSB did a very effective job of modelling the process for professional development favoured by the Ministry of Education. We responded to the questions used to facilitate CI by posting and responding to the discussion in our LMS. This achieves two important things - educators see first hand what kind of forethought is required to effectively use instructional technology in their teaching and secondly they see how asynchronous discussion can be used to encourage reflection and scaffold learning using the ideas of peers.

During the first session, educators are asked to articulate their 'ideal classroom'. Here's what Mike Redfearn and I came up with; We would have one device per student connected to WiFi (combination of tablets, smartphones, laptops, desktops) to collaborate on documents/ presentations (Google Docs, Prezi) and use Apple TV to present to class. Educators and students would access content from the OERB and LMS as a source of information, but activities would be student-directed (Flipped Classroom) i.e. teacher would facilitate the presentation of lessons by students.

Teachers could use the money available through our association PD fund to apply for release time to undertake the Collaborative Inquiry process. Ideally it would be spread out over a period of 4 half days to allow enough time to reflect on each stage.

I have already started this with a couple of teachers, but it needs to be more formalized and include a larger group. I would love to use the same approach of modelling the process within the LMS so that teachers could become familiar with the tools as well.

Elementary interface provincial eLearning strategy

The idea is to have a carousel of learning resources that elementary students would access when they login to their network at school. The carousel uses login-logic which relies on integration on the back-end between the LMS and the SIS to seamlessly present the learning objects for the specific courses the student is taking designed to meet the strand and expectation they are working on. There are six subject packages for Junior and Intermediate students but the traditional interface is difficult for Primary students. Hence the idea of a carousel that presents objects from the Ontario Educational Resource Bank in a user-friendly interface that involves less clicks (lots of audio & visual elements using play and inquiry based learning models). This project is pioneering the area of blended learning for elementary students because there is not a lot of experience and research in this area. Another potential application is the ePortfolio feature in the LMS to illustrate their progress through their elementary academic years.

Math Homework Help website video

One of my roles is to introduce teachers and students to the Math Homework Help website the Independent Learning Centre and the Ministry of Education has created to tutor students in real-time using a chat room and an interactive whiteboard. My colleague Darrin Hughson and his team at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board have created a video that provides a great overview of the features of the website. In addition to being tutored my a real math teacher, students and parents can access a variety of interactive tutorials and lessons to help them with homework assignments and test preparation.

Mobile Learning and Professional Development for Teachers

UNESCO's report on Mobile Learning For Teachers In North America > Exploring the Potential of Mobile Technologies to Support Teachers and Improve Practice identifies that;

Mobile devices can enable teachers to participate in PD more frequently and with more

flexibility than traditional training sessions that are constrained to a particular time and place.

They can also strengthen collaborative PD by facilitating communication among peers and

mentors. Many education leaders anticipate that teachers will soon be using mobile

technologies to access widespread professional communities and engage in collaborative

learning online (Bjerede et al., 2010).

This is consistent with the Ministry of Education's desire to provide more professional development opportunities for teachers within their working environment to take advantage of the contextual elements that would make it more meaningful. It is a shift from the one size fits all model of professional learning.

What I really like about the case studies highlighted in the report is the following;

Teachers were not just taught how to use a specific mobile device but were encouraged to think critically about how mobile technologies can provide new and better opportunities for learning. Rather than adopting mobile technologies wholesale, teachers exploring mobile learning need to consider whether using mobile devices adds value or efficiency to particular lessons or activities, or whether it could be distracting.

When I consult with educators this is a critical step - this kind of forethought is required in order to determine how the teaching needs to change in order to maximize the integration of the technology so that it enhances learning and effectively differentiates the instruction. 

Bjerede, M., Atkins, K. and Dede, C. 2010. Ubiquitous mobile technologies and the transformation of schooling. http://www.qualcomm.com/documents/ubiquitousmobile-technologies-and-transformation-schooling

Flipped classroom using Homework Help

The flipped classroom model is a student-centred approach to learning. Students can be introduced to learning content at home with the use of products like screencast-o-matic or camtasia. Students can come to class and apply the lessons they reviewed at home and work through problems. The teacher provides assistance as needed.

Last week my colleague Mike Mastragostino and his team created a video showcasing Math Homework Help and how it can be used in a Flipped Classroom Model, 3 Part Lesson and Reciprocal Learning (windows media format, 5 min).

"Grade 7 & 8 students were asked to work in groups of 4 and each group received a math question on a topic not yet covered by a teacher. Each student in the group had to go into Math Homework Help and ask a tutor “each had to use a different tutor” for help on a specified math problem. The next day they met within their groups and reviewed and assimilated the different sessions, which are now stored in their lockers, into one best practise. Next they were asked to work together to create and design a 3 Part Lesson which they would present to their peers."

click on image to start video

TED-Ed Customized Learning Web Initiative

I had a chance to examine the Customized Learning Web Initiative by TED-Ed. So far, the content seems to be targeted at post-secondary students but the one video I looked at on How Folding Paper Can Get You to the Moon could easily be shown to elementary or secondary students studying exponents. By watching the video students would get a very good idea as to how exponential growth occurs. I also like the ability to do a comprehension check in the form of the 'quick quiz' and to promote higher level critical thinking skills through the questions posed in 'dig deeper'. The ability to flip the video and customize the content to create your own lesson is a very valuable feature. Therefore, teachers could customize the video, the quizzes and the dig deeper questions to include examples and content relevant to their particular students. I will be interested to see if and how this gets adopted by teachers in our board due to the increased popularity of You Tube videos to support classroom instruction.

Facilitating eLearning with "bring your own device"

Our board has recently opened up WiFi access to our students and teachers so they are able to use their personal devices to facilitate eLearning. It has also been interesting to hear about what other educators are experiencing with this initiative, BYOD in primary. This opens up some very exciting possibilities for engaging students. Of course there are some challenges for schools wishing to implement these kinds of initiatives. Below are but a few;

1) Equity - what does one do about students that do not have/ can't afford mobile devices? Perhaps it would be possible for school council to purchase some inexpensive tablets so these students could participate in the collaborative activities. Schools with more fund raising capability could donate some devices to other schools. Combined with computers that already exist in the class/ computer lab it may be possible to have at least one device for every two students.

2) Inappropriate use - yes, with mobile devices in classes there is potential for abuse, but where better to learn about how to use the technology appropriately and effectively than in school. Students need to be given specific instruction about how to use social media to communicate in constructive and cooperative ways to achieve educational outcomes. Students who are distracted by the technology (i.e. surfing websites, playing games) can be told to put the device away and to do the low tech version of the task.

3) Theft - teachers can lock away devices in cabinets when they are not being used in class, but students may still become targets to/ from school. I'm not sure there is an easy solution to that issue.

We will see what other challenges present themselves when I actually engage in a BYOD eLearning activity with a group of students. Below are some technical and pedagogical issues I am working through. I would like to base the activity on one of the resources in the Ontario Educational Resource Bank.

As an example, there is a learning object called the Confederation Challenge in which students review politics, personalities and events that led to the creation of the Dominion of Canada in 1867. It's in the format of a game show hosted by Sir John A Macdonald.

        Students could use the computers in the library to access the learning object (this is not possible on the mobile devices because of the complications with Flash and iPad/ iPhone (extremely popular with younger students). In a subsequent class they could bring their mobile devices and work in small groups to co-edit a document that would provide additional questions and answers for the game show, or do a mini-presentation on a significant event or key personality they learned about in the Confederation Challenge. I am thinking about using google docs for the co-editing/ presenting which means the student would need to install an app on their device to access google docs (variety of different apps depending on their device). More to come as I work through the details and their implications.

Any thoughts or ideas are welcome....

Improving Student Success Online

The recent announcement that Desire2Learn will partner with IBM and use 'predictive analytics' to improve educational outcomes in e-learning is interesting on a few fronts. Tony Bates would like to know, "who is designing the algorithims and the questions they are intended to answer, what assumptions are driving the design, who has access to the data, what rights students and instructors will have, and how institutions plan to use analytics from online teaching".

I am interested in the announcement for the following reasons. Currently Desire2Learn is the platform that we use for our online and blended learning course delivery as part of eLearning Ontario. They also provide the platform which houses the Ontario Educational Resource Bank. Therefore, we stand to benefit directly from this relationship and the tools that will be developed to improve student success. The Smarter Education Solution, will, "offer early-warning systems for at-risk students, instructional intervention plans, insights on teaching effectiveness and other features."

Currently, when we discuss work with students we identify 'success criteria' - what strategies need to be employed, what tasks need to be completed, what resources need to be utilized, in order to achieve high levels of success in a specific task. It is intended to be explicit so that students become better at understanding the process of learning and improving their ability to learn. At staff meetings we also discuss specific instructional interventions in order to help students move from lower levels of achievement to higher levels of success on a more consistent basis. We also attempt to measure the effectiveness of our interventions with the hope of identifying which ones are more likely to produce the desired results.

So, the Smarter Education Solution is replicating a process that is already in place, but applying it to the online environment. Hopefully, it will provide the means of improving meta-cognition among students and providing educators with more precise means of evaluating instructional methods. Here is a thought, will the new solution afford us the means of prescribing a more individualized learning experience for students based on their 'learning profile' which would enable them to be more successful?

Des succès de l’intégration de l’apprentissage électronique dans les salles de classe

Le mois passé j’ai lu an article qui a parlé des obstacles de l’intégration de l’apprentissage électronique dans les salles de classe. Je suis d’accord qu’il y a beaucoup d’obstacles – les enseignants sont très occupés avec les initiatives du ministère et du conseil, ils font plusieurs activités avec les élèves à l’extérieur de la classe (les clubs, les sports…), ils n’ont pas beaucoup de temps à évaluer les ressources électroniques et de trouver une façon de les intégrer dans leurs classes.

J’ai travaillé dans le domaine de l’apprentissage électronique depuis 16 ans et j’ai trouvé que beaucoup a changé pendant ce temps. Oui, il y a toujours les enseignants qui vont continuer à utiliser les méthodes traditionnelles et qui ne sont pas intéressés à adopter les nouvelles techniques d’apprentissage – mais je trouve parmi mes collègues plus de personnes qui voient que l’apprentissage électronique est une autre façon efficace de différencier l’instruction.

Notre conseil et ministère ont réalisé des initiatives pour améliorer l’accès aux ordinateurs et offrir la formation et l’assistance aux profs qui sont intéressés à utiliser l’apprentissage électronique.

On a installé les projeteurs avec le logiciel interactif dans chaque salle de classe et ils sont branchés aux ordinateurs avec l’accès de l’internet. Les élèves et les enseignants peuvent apporter leurs dispositifs électroniques aux écoles et les brancher aux réseaux sans fil pour faire les activités collaboratives.

Mon rôle est de visiter chaque école et de montrer aux enseignants les ressources électroniques que le ministère a développées et d’aider les enseignants à choisir les bonnes stratégies pour en faire la mise en œuvre. La Banque de Ressources Éducatives de l’Ontario (BRÉO) (en anglais) contient plusieurs exercices interactifs pour une variété de sujets et niveaux que les enseignants peuvent utiliser avec leurs élèves. Par exemple, dans la Banque il y a une unité pour le sujet de vol en sixième année. Par les interactions avec les éléments multimédias et les activités de manipulation les élèves peuvent apprendre les propriétés d'air et les forces de vol. En collaboration avec leurs pairs les élèves entreprennent des enquêtes, font des observations et créent des designs de machines volantes qui montrent les propriétés d'air et les forces de vol. Quand j’ai montré les ressources aux enseignants, ils ont commencé de les utiliser dans leurs classes le lendemain.

J’ai plusieurs autres exemples des profs qui sont intéressés à utiliser l’apprentissage électronique et les medias sociaux parce qu’ils savent que c’est une compétence critique pour les élèves (consulte l’édition de Pour parler profession).

Notre ministère de l’Éducation offre un service où les étudiants reçoivent gratuitement de l'aide aux devoirs de mathématiques en ligne (en anglais). Le site Web fournit gratuit, en direct tête-à-tête le tutorat de professeurs de l'Ontario. C’est une partie de leur stratégie pour l’apprentissage électronique.

Alors, on a encore des obstacles à l’intégration de l’apprentissage électronique mais, la situation s'est énormément améliorée.

Successful Online Learning

I came across the following survey which does a very good job of helping students to determine if they have the requisite learning preferences, attitudes and work habits to be successful online learners. Some of the important considerations were;


The flexibility afforded by online learning means students can set their own schedule, but they need to have the self-discipline to complete assigned tasks on time, participate in online discussions and monitor their progress to make sure they meet all of the academic requirements.

Students need to be independent, effective problem-solvers in the event that the teacher is not online to provide clarification or feedback to a question or an assignment. What strategies will they be able to employ in order to identify possible resources that could help them to find the answers to their questions.

Strong reading comprehension skills will enable students to follow written instructions for course activities, and to make sense of contributions by classmates in the discussion board. The ability to articulate oneself clearly using text is also an important skill since it is the primary form of communication for an online course.

Technology also serves as a distraction. Students need to be able to remain focused on their academic tasks while they are online as opposed to surfing the web, chatting or texting with friends, playing video games or listening to and downloading music.

Apprentissage électronique

Aujourd'hui je fais ma première entrée de mon blog en Français. J'ai enseigné le Français pendant les quatre dernières années. Dans une édition de Pour parler profession j'ai lu un article sur l'apprentissage électronique où l'enseignante Rebecca Lupton a parlé de ses expériences avec son cours et ses élèves en ligne. Selon elle, toutes les formes d'enseignement ont les mêmes objectifs, 'aider les élèves à réussir'.

Alison Slack, du ministère de l'Éducation a confirmé, 'que la relation enseignant-élève est au centre du processus d'apprentissage.' Je ne suis pas surpris que beaucoup d'enseignants en ligne disent qu'ils connaissent leurs élèves mieux que des élèves en salle de classe. On est limité au temps et l'endroit dans une salle de classe traditionnelle. C'est vrai qu'on peut utiliser les stratégies comme penser et partager de paire pour évaluer la compréhension des élèves en classe mais souvent on n'a pas assez de temps à parler avec tous les élèves et de demander les questions plus élevées.

En ligne les élèves ont plus de temps à réfléchir sur les questions et les contributions des autres élèves et de composer leurs réponses. Aussi, on peut bien voir le processus de leurs pensées et comment ils sont arrivées à leurs conclusions parce que la conversation est documentée dans le tableau de discussion. C'est un outil important parce qu'on peut explicitement montrer aux élèves comment ils peuvent améliorer d'exprimer leurs idées en faisant référence à des domaines spécifiques dans leurs commentaires. Cette stratégie aussi aide les élèves à mieux comprendre comment ils peuvent améliorer leur travail. On peut aussi garder les exemples des contributions pour chaque niveau pour clairement indiquer aux élèves ce qu'ils doivent faire pour réaliser les niveaux plus hauts de succès (quelles sont les différences entre une contribution de niveau 2, 3 et 4).

Instructional Technology in the Classroom

The March issue of professionally speaking has an article on The High-Tech Class. What I really like is the format of the profile they provide on the 4 teachers that are using technology in their classroom. Each profile begins by identifying the instructional challenge that prompted them to re-examine their teaching practice in order to select a teaching strategy and technology which would help to address the challenge.

An excellent example is that of the grade 6 teacher, Kent Manning, who used a project of stop-motion animated movies to address the difficulty of inspiring boys to want to write. An examination of existing data revealed a tremendous gender gap in writing. Previously unmotivated students became engaged in the process of writing through storyboarding. The project required students to improve their understanding of story-telling structures and to apply this knowledge to make animated movies.

Did the technology enhance the learning all on its own? Absolutely not. It was the forethought and analysis required by the teacher that made this instructional technology effective in addressing the challenge that was identified. Selecting the correct teaching strategies to employ in concert with the technology was what made this project a success with students. The re-examination and reflection of one's teaching practice is a critical piece, otherwise mapping one's existing teaching practice onto new technology is not likely to lead to improved outcomes for students. As Danika Barker in the article suggested, "don't make the mistake of implementing 21st century teaching tools while hanging on to 19th century teacher-centric pedagogy."

A comment in the editorial section referred to the previous article on Using Social Media in the Classroom and suggested that, "we need to ask ourselves whether this type of learning is really better?" I think we need to move beyond the debate about which method of learning is better. There is no doubt that reading books and interacting with other people in person is an effective way to learn. Technology is not the panacea of teaching and learning. If used correctly instructional technology can become one of the many ways in which teachers can effectively differentiate instruction for students. Tony Bates has a great quote at his website.

"Good teaching may overcome a poor choice of technology but technology will never save bad teaching".


I couldn't agree more.