Transcript No Slide Title

Unlocking Learning from Formal
Settings: Transformations and Fantasies
with Technology
2GO: Pedagogical Mobility
Conference
Oslo, October 18, 2002
Bridget Somekh
Manchester Metropolitan University
Lets go on an ‘ideas journey’: presentation outline
• Learning transformation in the home: examples from
ImpaCT2
• Pupils’ awareness of ‘Computers in their World’
• Evidence from Pupil Researchers in ImpaCT2
• Separate Cultures of home, school and peer group
• Schools going mobile - examples from ICTHOS et al.
• Fantasies and practical experiments with mobile phones
• Finding ‘fit’ between people and technologies
• Can we find ‘fit’ between technologies and pedagogy?
• What next? transformations and fantasies to come …
2GO with knowledge transformation
• ICT (IKT) is a new tool and we must expect it to
transform human activity (Wertsch, 1998). It is
doing so in many areas but not so far in schools.
• When knowledge is situated in authentic contexts it
is transformed from ‘school knowledge’ to ‘usable
knowledge’ (Brown et al 1989). ICT can provide
authentic contexts for learning - for example, when
it is self-directed or collaborative with an adult.
• The development of mind includes ‘distributed
cognition’ (Salamon, 1993) and ICT supports the
collaborative process
So - are 10-16 year old pupils having
any transforming learning experiences?
The ImpaCT2 project, 1999-2002, looked at the
impact of ICT on pupils’ learning. Strand 1
looked for evidence of improved performance in
test scores. Strand 2 looked for evidence of new
kinds of learning, including informal learning
in the home and within youth culture.
(Harrison et al. 2001; Somekh et al. 2002 forthcoming)
One method used was concept mapping. Pupils
were asked to tell the researchers their ideas about
‘Computers in My World’ through drawing a map.
Emma, aged 15: personal and social use of ICT
Learning transformation - in the home
Cole
1999
Young
either
people
have ICT skills
have high
already or acquire
awareness ImpaCT2
them quickly
of ICT
2002
Powerful
Time
Chaiklin
computers
Home
using ICT
and Lave
at home and
use of ICT is
at home is often
1996
no ‘blocks’ self-directed and
unlimited
exploratory
+ may be
‘situated’
Analysis of concept maps
• Both quantitative and qualitative
• Started with detailed scrutiny looking for
patterns (grounded theory / phenomenography)
• Five part analysis: number of ‘nodes’, number
of ‘links’, ‘connectivity’ (links divided by
nodes), number of ‘spheres of thinking’,
number of ‘zones of use’. Correlations with
kids’ responses to questionnaires on use of ICT
• Semiotic interpretation of the maps
• Follow up interviews looking for patterns of
awareness.
Young people’s ‘ways of knowing’
•
•
•
•
•
Emma, aged 15: social and personal use
Roger, aged 10: electronic games
Amanda, aged 13: information/communication
Tom, aged 14: computers in different locations
Brian, aged 11: different kinds of technologies
Phenomenography,
Marton and Booth
1997
Roger: electronic games
Roger
aged 10
June 2000:
Games
machines
Amanda, aged 10, June 2000: information and communication
Amanda: information and communication
Scott, aged 14, June 2001: ‘Zones of Use’
Tom - zones of use
Brian, aged 11, June 2001: fascination with technology
Working with pupils as researchers
• Teachers were asked to invite selected pupils to
work with the team as researchers
• They provided additional data:
- A log of one week’s computer activities
- A Special Report of an ICT activity which had
been particularly helpful for their learning
- A questionnaire on their use of, and attitudes to,
the Internet
- Pupil interviews of other pupils on their use of
mobile phones, games or the Internet.
pupils as informants: the Special Report
Name:
Age:
School:
Please choose a
time time when
using the computer
has helped you with
your school work.
This is not a test!
Please tell us
what you think.
pupils as informants: the Internet Questionnaire
N ame:
A ge :
5
P
TO
W hic h a re y ou r 5 f a vou rit e w e b sit e s?
P lea se pro vid e t h e n a m es o f t h e sit es
o r t heir f o c u s.
H ow of t e n d o y ou vi sit t he m ?
M o st d ay s
E ve ry few d ay s
1… … … … … …… … … … … … … … …… … … … … … … … ……
2 … … … … … …… … … … … … … … …… … … … … … … … ……
3 … … … … … …… … … … … … … … …… … … … … … … … ……
4 … … … … … …… … … … … … … … …… … … … … … … … ……
5 … … … … … …… … … … … … … … …… … … … … … … … ……
W H Y is y ou r n u m b e r on e w e b sit e y ou r f a vou rit e ?
A b o ut o nc e a mo n th
IMPORTANT!
• Please check that the cassette recorder is
working properly (that it records and plays back).
• Please ask If it is okay to record the interview.
• Please make sure you switch the cassette
recorder on.
• Please explain what the interview is about.
• Please explain what ImpacT2 is and what your
job is.
Please make sure you have the things you
need:
• these instructions
• your questions
• a pen or pencil (so that you can tick off
which questions you have asked)
• a cassette recorder
• a blank cassette.
This cassette and the report will be sent to a university
researcher.
That person will listen to the tape and read the report.
The information will be used to help the ImpacT2 team to find
out about how we use computers at home.
What people say is private and no names will be given in the
project reports.
Are you happy with this?
It is okay to change your questions or add more.
Informal use at home - doing what?
Simon’s
‘log’ of ICT
use for a week:
one hour at school
seven hours at home
of ‘games’
Monday:
‘I went on the
internet and got
pictures.’
Playing
‘Games’
involves
learning
Friday:
‘I played on a
game where you
could make your
own music.’
Wednesday
and Thursday:
‘I played a manager
game.’ (running
a football club)
Thursday:
‘I played the game
“sensible soccer”.’
Cultures of home, school and peer group
are very separate
• ‘Learning’ is about school in the discourse of UK
young people. It’s not ‘cool’.
• ‘Games’ and ‘playing on the computer’ is their
discourse of using ICT at home. It’s ‘cool.’
• Learning is the business of school, and home and
school should be kept apart: ‘I don’t want to be at
school learning for six hours and then go home
and my Mum’s drumming information into my
head as well.’ (14 year old boy, ICTHOS project)
Pedagogy is frozen in the school, not mobile.
ICT and Home-School Links Project (ICTHOS)
• Focus: experimental work using ICT to link home
and school in innovative schools.
• Knowledge mapping exercise, drawing on ‘gray
literature’ and published work.
• Questionnaire of 100 schools which had been
‘noticed’ for this kind of innovative work.
• Interviews with ‘key informants’ known to be
influential in UK policy development for ICT
• Stake-holders seminar after 3 months
• Case studies of seven schools selected from
questionnaire responses for interesting types of use.
(Somekh, Mavers and Lewin, 2001)
Experimenting with mobile pedagogy in
innovative schools in England
Transferring pupils
work between home
and schools using
floppy discs
Transferring
files between
home and school
by email
Laptops
with wireless
links ‘owned’ by
departments for
flexible in-school
use instead of
ICT rooms
Access
to the school’s
intranet and own
personal work space
at home and at
school via
internet
Wireless
links between
schools and between
home and school
Linking
hospital, school
and home using
Video-conferencing
Personal
laptops for
teachers and
pupils used both
at school and
at home
Access
to the school’s
intranet from home
using a ‘thin client’
located at
home.
Earlier examples of mobile pedagogy
• Video-conferencing to bring specialist teachers to
remote schools in the north-west of Scotland, for
example Art and Science
(Hall, McPake and Somekh, 1997)
• Primary children learning with Psion Peresonal
Organisers
Schools can change.
Classroom walls can be
broken down.
Because new technology
tools transform what we can
do to facilitate learning.
e.g. Project work in the
forest: noting observations
in a portable Psion.
Psion Project
led by
Diane Mavers
1993
Examining a leaf
as part of project
work in the forest.
All the children
are entering data
about their
observations in
portable Psions.
They will down-load
the data into PCs
back at school.
Fantasizing with phones
Escaping
from here ..
Phones are ‘cool’
because no one
need ever again
be alone
Phones are
cultural capital for
teenagers
Practical experiments with mobile
phones for mobile learning
• The M-Learning Project, Ultralab, LSDA and
CTAD (UK); CRMPA (Italy); Lecando (Sweden)
funded by the EU IST Programme
- 16-24 age group not in full time education
- microportal
- ‘bite-sized’ learning materials
• M-learning, a project of the Norwegian NKI
Electronic College www.nettskolen.com
Finding ‘fit’ between people’s practical
and emotional needs and technologies
• “Phones are a bit like a soap opera. You get addicted and you
can’t wait for the next soap - you can’t wait till the next call.”
Young man aged 20-24 in a shopping centre survey conducted
by Carol Savill-Smith of the UK Learning and Skill Council in
the ‘m-Learning project’ (Savill-Smith, 2002)
• Buying books from Amazon ‘fits’ the needs of university researchers.
• In England, ‘texting’ by mobile phone fits the needs of teenagers
in school - because it is silent, secret and private.
• Accessing the internet via a G2.5 mobile phone ‘fits’ the needs of
Japanese young people, because few have computers at home. Email
by mobile phone is ‘cool’ and cheap, ‘texting’ is hardly used.
(Dias, 2002)
Can we find ‘fit’ with technologies
through pedagogical mobility?
The m-Learning project’s microportal:
“Desk and field research into the needs, preferences, attitudes and
habits of young adult mobile phone users informs the iterative
design and development process.” (Popat, 2002)
Mike Sharples adopted a similar iterative process to research and
develop ‘portable learning technologies’ for young chldren
(Sharples, 1999)
GridClub is an educational ‘fun’ web-site for 7-11 year old
children developed by Channel 4 TV, Oracle and Intuitive Media
with funding from the British Government. www.gridclub.com
New forms of assessment for new
kinds of learning with ICT
• Stephen Heppell’s example from yesterday
(incorporating assessment within a meta-cognitive
cycle)
• Switch from summative to formative assessment
with an emphasis on supporting learning (Wiliam
and Black 2002)
• Computer adaptive assessment - the support model
(Ahmed and Pollitt, 2002)
Transformations … or fantasies … to come?
•Schools will have wireless
networking.
•Adults’ and kids’ roles will
both be as co-learners.
•Both will own personal, portable,
computers with wireless
connectivity, full internet
capabilities, and access at home and school.
•These might be mobile phones with
‘pop-out’ screens and plug-in keyboards.
•Learning will be ‘unlocked’ from schools.
More transformations … or fantasies …?
•The curriculum will be
negotiated.
•Assessment will incorporate
use of ICT and access to
on-line resources
•All schools will engage in
learning through exploration,
self-directed projects & play.
•Timing of the school day will be flexible
•Groupings will vary in size to fit purpose.
•Communities will share with schools the
role of caring for young people.
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