Reflection on ActionReflection on ActionOnline Learning Online Learning

EpisodeEpisode

Reflection on ActionReflection on ActionOnline Learning Online Learning

EpisodeEpisode

By Jo McLeodBy Jo McLeod

Overview of the project• My aims in this project was for

the students to use a combination of online learning technologies and to interact asynchronously with students from Rotokawa School.

• Initially I set up a blog for a group of year 3/4 students from Te Ranga School.

• The blog was called The Global Classroom and can be viewed at

http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=198519&mode=login

• I took on the role of a C Teacher.

Constructivist theory behind this project. (Dewey, Piaget, Bruner,

Vgotsky)

• Learning is the process where individuals construct new ideas or concepts based on prior knowledge and/or experience.

• Individuals construct knowledge by working to solve realistic problems, usually in collaboration with others.

• Teachers need to pose ”good” problems, realistically complex and personally meaningful.

What happened?

• The students created their own blog page using Blogmeister and introduced themselves online to the students at Rotokawa School.

• The students interacted asynchronously with 1-2 students.

• All of the students learnt how to send positive, constructive comments.

• Hi Emma you have a cool blog!!!!!!!!! bye Comment Posted on September 18, 2008 at 06:38 PM by Kirsten

• I encouraged them to ask the students questions as well as writing comments.

• The students also learnt how to podcast and we shared photos using slide share.

Evidence of students learning-blogging

• This is the link to Chelsea’s blog-

http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?user_id=198519&blogger_id=204552

• Hello everyone! Hi my name is Chelsea.

At school we had a Olympic day. I was in the Sri Lanka group.

We made heaps of cool things.

Now I will tell you about myself.I live in Papamoa -that is near the beach.

I like Rotorua but not the smell! Article posted # September 18, 2008

at 10:38 PM • comment (1) • Reads 82 •

Slideshare

• This was the link to the slide show that we shared on the blog.

http://www.slide.com/r/IFNc_YT5vz8OeuGMnuXaCU4FgIV2QjkO?previous_view=

mscd_embedded_url&view=original

Podcasting

• Here is the link to Olivia’s podcast:

http:// teranga.podomatic.com/player/web/2008-09-22T21_45_43-07_00

What else happened?

• I had a specific focus for each face-face session which worked well but all of the tasks took much longer than I anticipated.

• Some of the students really “got into” sending comments and exchanging information about their school.

• Other students preferred to write about themselves and write comments to their friends rather than establish relationships with the students at Rotokawa School.

Summary of Key Learnings that emerged from my Refection on

Action• My focus for my Reflection on Action was to look at

student participation and the role of the teacher.• I found I had to support the students through the

process and give them time to build onto their technical skills. It was like “one step at a time” and I could not hurry them onto the next stage until they were ready.

• Overall the students formed fairly superficial relationships with the students from Rotokawa School.

Why did this occur?

• A lot of the students were new to blogging.• Availability of computers was a real issue. We had

problems with access onto the internet as the laptops we needed were not always available.

• The students also encountered lots of technical problems at this stage.

e.g.it took the students time to get onto the internet because of classroom passwords (set up by the seniors) that the students were not familiar with.

In Refection• I found research by Gilly

Salmons ( Professor of E-Learning and Learning Technologies at the University of Leicester,UK) to be very helpful in understanding what happened in my learning episode.

• Gilly Salmons has found from experience that for online learning to be happy and successful, participants need to be supported through a structured developmental process.

Gilly Salmon’s 5 stage-model

• Gilly says there are 5 stages in Online learning.

• The first stage of her model she calls the Access and Motivation stage.

• At this stage students need considerable time to master the online learning platform they are using.

Access and Motivation (Stage 1)

• I came across a great series of pictures showing the stages.

• In this one the new online learner is experiencing considerable frustration in logging on!

• Teachers need to be welcoming and encouraging at stage 1.

• They need to ensure access.• Even the most confident

participants need support and motivation at the beginning.

• Initially, the participants interact with one-two others.

Online Socialisation (Stage 2)

• At Stage 2 teachers are creating their own special online micro-community.

• Teachers need to familarise and provide bridges between cultural, social and learning environments.

• This is where I probably needed to do a lot more bridging between the two schools involved.

Information Exchange(Stage 3)

• At Stage 3,information can be exchanged and co-operative tasks can be achieved.

• Participants are starting to get used to working online and working with colleagues.

• Participants can explore information at their own pace.

• Teachers need to show participants how to provide feedback to each other.

• I believe all my students got to Stage 3 and I felt like we had come a long way at this point!

Knowledge Construction(Stage 4)

• At Stage 4 students should be adept at working online, managing their own time and working with each other.

• Participants are able to collaborate in groups and set their own goals.

• Teachers need to facilitate the process.

• Some of my students got to this stage and continued to blog at home.

Development(Stage 5)

• At stage 5 participants become responsible for their own learning and that of their group.

• At stage 5 participants are self-reflective, critical and creative.

• I think if the learning episode had gone on for a few more weeks the students would have reached this stage.

Student Feedback

• I liked writing about things that have happened and knowing that people would read it. It was frustrating waiting for a turn on the computers. I learnt that you can make slideshows. (Bailey)• The best part about blogging is connecting with other kids. I learnt some really interesting things. (Georgia)

• It was cool sharing things with another class –it felt like you were writing for a newspaper.(Monique)

• I liked when we recorded our voices. (Amber)

Conclusions

• Overall I was very happy with the student participation in this project. They were actively engaged from the beginning.

• I would have liked more interaction from the students from Rotokawa school.

• I believe my students learnt so much (formal and informal) from this online experience.

• We did have many technical challenges (mostly access) along the way but at the end of the project I was thrilled with how far I had progressed in using online technologies.

What would I do next time?

• Extend the time frame of the learning episode.

• Establish more contact with the other teacher.

• Set up an audio conference early in the project with the other school.

• Give the students some background knowledge of the other school.

Links and References:

•Briner, M.(1999) Constructivism Retrieved October 20, 2008 from•Bruner, J. n.d. Constructivist theory Retrieved October 21, 2008 fromhttp://www.gwu.edu/~tip/bruner.html

•All Things in Moderation-E-tivities n.d. Retrieved October 19, 2008 fromhttp://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.atimod.com/

images/5sta•Salmon, G. (2005) A pedagogical model of elearning at KVL: “The five- stage model of online learning” Retrieved October 12, 2008 fromhttp://images.google.co.nz/imgres?imgurl=http://www.itlc.life.ku.dk/it_paedago

•Salmon,G.(2001) E-moderating: The key to teaching and learning online. London: Kogan Page

•Sunny, L. n.d. Student Interaction Experiences In Distance Learning Courses. A Phenomenological Study. University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Retrieved October 7, 2008 from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring111/Liu111.html