Transcript Knowing me, knowing you. Using the mentor, trainee and learner 'voice' to inform reflective practice for UEL PCET provision. Towards the adoption of emergent technologies.

Knowing me, knowing you. Using the
mentor, trainee and learner 'voice' to
inform reflective practice for UEL PCET
provision.
Towards the adoption of emergent
technologies for E(nhanced)-reflection
Warren Kidd
Cass School of Education
University of East London
Aims
An attempt to synthesize various strands from current
research and pedagogy within the UEL PCET team.
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The team is currently exploring and experimenting with:
Journals for reflective practice and evaluation;
podcasting both as a teaching tool and
podcasting as a means to capture young peoples’ voices
on teaching and learning;
building a video and social networking resource for
asynchronous mentor training and capacity building.
Through all this work, we have captured in various forms
different 'voices' - different perspectives on, and interests
in, classroom practice.
Support for e-learning
development
• Each school is
supported by a
named Learning and
Technology Advisor
from Uelconnet
(School of Distance
and e-Learning);
• Regular seminars
(podcasting,
accessibility, second
life);
• Regular e-learning
group meetings;
• Staff support and
virtual ‘masterclasses’
through the
Uelconnect elgg
community;
• School Research
Conferences.
How does e-learning fit into our
pedadogy as teacher educators?
• Modelling;
• Professional learning
– tools and
equipment;
• Aid reflective practice;
• Support – build
communities;
• External facing
partnerships;
• Three core
statements:
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Pedagogy before
technology;
E-learning requires
massive orchestration
VLEs – not
necessarily learning
(OFSTED, January
2009)
How does e-learning fit into
PCET provision?
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Pre-programme ‘wetpaint’ wiki;
VLE – for on-programme support;
Trainee ‘private’ blogger;
Irregular PCET podcasts recorded weekly;
Learner voice podcasts – used as both a
research and teaching tool;
• Mentoring video blog – to aid professional
learning and for capacity building;
• Cohort of ex-trainees have joined a secure
wiki for post-programme evaluation.
Pre-programme wiki
Pre-programme wiki
Topics discussed included:
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What will the programme be like?
How ‘intense’ will the challenge be?
What should teachers wear?
What does it mean to be a profession-intraining?
5. What are trainees most excited about?
"I do feel a little lost now that it
is over. .. "
Reflections on the PGCE PCET
programme by trainee teachers
2008-9
• Rule 1: Don’t underestimate the importance of the
local area on teaching and learning.
• Rule 2: Don’t expect too much from your mentor
– they are human too!
• Rule 3: Accept that training to be a teacher will
change you
• Rule 4: You will (probably) be nervous and unsure
at points in the programme: use these as
opportunities for reflective practice and accept
that everyone has these moments!
• Rule 5: There will be moments of
disappointment – especially if you have
high expectations (which we hope that
you do?)
• Rule 6: Be prepared to leave your
assumptions behind, but allow them to
inform your reflective practice as you
question them…
• Rule 7: The programme will fly by! Enjoy it
while you can…
“When I arrived at a local 6th form to have a look
around I felt a little intimidated, as my
experiences of Sixth Form were very different
studying in Middle Class York. However, during
our tour I saw nothing but eager, hardworking
students who were all focussed and seemingly
interested in what they were learning. I had half
expected to walk past classrooms and see
students running around, shouting, fighting and
generally getting out of hand…”
Trainee teacher reflection
“As my choice to come to UEL was mainly based on the fact
that I would be studying and working in East London, the
introduction to the socio-economic "peculiars" of the local
area was of no surprise or shock. As I looked around the
room I wondered how many in the group had a similar point
of view (I'm guessing and hoping the majority) and how
many might end up struggling to deal with East End's
"deprived youth". One of course does not negate the other,
and I suspect I too will find it rather challenging at times –
despite all my good intentions and genuine interest in giving
my students the best possible opportunities”
Trainee teacher reflection
“...The walk from Canary Wharf along the river to just east of
Tower Bridge was a good addition, as it said plenty about
what the area used to be like (warehouses etc) and what it is
like now (posh flats, gated communities). It is in stark
contrast to most of the rest of East London – as a walk to
Shadwell station reminded us later – but the gated
communities and riverside apartments could have as much
an effect on the lives of East London's young people as the
council estates and tower blocks of Bow and Poplar. I can
only try and guess what that effect might be at this point
(anger? resentment? feeling of worthlessness? Who
knows…) but I suspect I might find out once I start my
placement!”
Trainee teacher reflection
“My opinion varies - They are sweet and lovely, smart and
enthusiastic, frustrating and hard work, stubborn and
disrespectful. They can reduce you to tears in one lesson,
but amaze you with their creativity and enthusiasm 2 days
later. They are given a hard time by the media and the police
- twice in the last 4 days I witnessed the police stop and
search my students, once at the tube station and once
outside the theatre. Their lives are not easy, or fair, and yet
they sometimes seem resigned to their fate. I think they are
scared of what they don't know, so choose to dismiss it and
stick to their small (and safe) known worlds. I find teaching
them hard work, but also extremely rewarding when they 'get
it'. I feel it's a greater duty to do the absolute best I can and
give it my all.”
Trainee teacher reflection
Podcasting the learner voice
• Each interview lasted between 25 – 40 minutes
long.
• Only two formal questions were structured.
• 19 interviews were recorded in total, generating
over nine hours of audio.
• In all, we generated 247 individual ‘podcasts’.
• Files were broken down and coded with a
relevant file name linked to the content.
Towards a 'pod-agogy‘*
1. Recording short files worked best (between 3 – 8
minutes), retaining learners/listeners attention easier;
2. It was vital to announce the programme/context at the
very start of each podcast;
3. I used three or four key words at the start of each
podcast which were then picked up and used/developed
through the recording in order to ‘locate’ the content for
the listener;
4. Frequently, I used the technique of counting and
summarising points as a means to locate the audience
within the audio;
5. There was an emphasis given at all times to use of
specialist language, and also to the definition of this
language and its deconstruction all through the
recordings;
6. Each podcast recording re-capped at the end using the
same key words that it started with.
*The term ‘pod-agogy’ adapted from Rosell-Aguilar, F. (2007) 'Top of the Pods – In Search of a Podcasting 'Podagogy' for Language Learning' in Computer Assisted Language
Learning, 5(20) pp.471-492
“Before I started at my placement college and was
assigned a mentor, I had many preconceptions,
stereotypes, and expectations about what a mentor
will be like for me during my teacher training. “
Trainee teacher reflection
“My first thoughts about the roles of mentors were
something of a guardian angel/cognitive
behavioural therapist approach to the mentoring
role!”
Trainee teacher reflection
“Someone primarily who you could trust. What is
trust? Well what I mean by this, in terms of
mentoring and my ideals of what mentors should be
like, is that they are people who you can safely
open up to in times of stress and disappointment
during the course of the year.”
Trainee teacher reflection
“All in all though, he has still been an inspiration in
some ways and at first I thought he was cracking!
However, as the year drew on, he drew more and
more away from me, I in turn had to ‘manage’ my
own mentor and tell him what to do.”
Trainee teacher reflection
“I think as a naïve teacher trainee I went in with
these expectations and did not get them matched. “
Trainee teacher reflection
“I think I have learnt my lesson that not all teachers
have the time to take on a trainee, and not all
teachers like their jobs! If I could play this year out
again, I would not have such high expectations
(note to self: maybe find a proper therapist!) but I
would still expect honesty, commitment and trust to
envelope the mentoring role.”
Trainee teacher reflection
““I’ve enjoyed my placement and found the college
and staff to be friendly and welcoming. However,
there have been discrepancies between the
pedagogy I’ve learnt at UEL and my mentor’s own
pedagogy and I found dialogue between myself and
my mentor to be limited in this respect.”
Trainee teacher reflection
““The college itself was very supportive and well
resourced but my mentor did not have sufficient
time for a mentee.”
Trainee teacher reflection
Who will mentor the mentors project?
• Users not part of
institution
• View videos (download
option)
• Secure login
• Post to discussion
threads
• Contact admin (to request
threads etc)
• Social
interaction/community
building
Future developments
• Use of a PCET Twitter
feed?
• iPod Touch distance
learning and M
Learning for part time
cohort?
1. technology is not always the answer;
2. the pedagogic reason for the resource and
learning tool always comes first;
3. e-learning takes tremendous set-up and
management by the teacher (at least initially),
despite what assumptions one might hold about
“young people and technology‟;
4. when thinking about e-learning, do not allow the
learning to take a second place to the medium of
transition of the learning object.