image credit: JMC photosOur group thoughts in comments section;
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Innovation, or just shiny gadgets?
I want to comment on this example of work from the UK, which I came across last week:
Youtube link as the embed code is a bit unreliable; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W9z-nrTQD4
Store Van Music is a small business in the UK which is attempting to alter the music curriculum in schools.
Store Van Music is a small business in the UK which is attempting to alter the music curriculum in schools.
What's the innovation?
Firstly, students love music. Speak to any teenager or even pre-teen and they will have something to say about which music they like. Their tastes are hugely influenced by media, or TV in general, but they are able to talk about their likes with passion.
But ask them about Music in schools and the passion disappears. Fed with a diet of wishy-washy singalongs and a formal grade driven instruction system, students quickly dis-associate 'home' music and 'school' music. Sir Ken Robinson's story about the school that taught music in such a way that two of The Beatles were switched off should serve as a warning to us all.
Indeed, a six year old of my acquaintance, when asked about music lessons in school stated:
"You know, I REALLY thought music would be about creating my own songs."
So what do we know about this lesson from the polished video presented on Youtube? Not much really, there's no context for the work and nor do we know abilities of students etc. But they do look like nice kids!
Maybe they rehearsed this for a long time, who knows.
Innovation?
Well, certainly if you look at innovative approaches to the music curriculum, the introduction of mobile devices to tackle contemporary music appears to fit the criteria of innovation, both in terms of the curriculum itself as well as the technology used.
In the traditional sense (Sites M2) the teacher is the one who motivates learning. In fact, from what we can gather from the video, this classroom is very much centred on the teacher.
The technology, whilst undoubtedly empowering, within this context is not allowing for enquiry as students are required to follow set paths, although it is certainly collaborative.
Student experience is personalised, although to what extent this is satisfactory is open to debate, as the student who plays a one note percussion instrument may feel less fulfilled than those who play guitar, or sing.
In brief conclusion, this is an attempt at an innovative project, turning the classroom into a studio, that is taught in a non-innovative way. At least from the evidence of the video.
What's the innovation?
Firstly, students love music. Speak to any teenager or even pre-teen and they will have something to say about which music they like. Their tastes are hugely influenced by media, or TV in general, but they are able to talk about their likes with passion.
But ask them about Music in schools and the passion disappears. Fed with a diet of wishy-washy singalongs and a formal grade driven instruction system, students quickly dis-associate 'home' music and 'school' music. Sir Ken Robinson's story about the school that taught music in such a way that two of The Beatles were switched off should serve as a warning to us all.
Indeed, a six year old of my acquaintance, when asked about music lessons in school stated:
"You know, I REALLY thought music would be about creating my own songs."
So what do we know about this lesson from the polished video presented on Youtube? Not much really, there's no context for the work and nor do we know abilities of students etc. But they do look like nice kids!
Maybe they rehearsed this for a long time, who knows.
Innovation?
Well, certainly if you look at innovative approaches to the music curriculum, the introduction of mobile devices to tackle contemporary music appears to fit the criteria of innovation, both in terms of the curriculum itself as well as the technology used.
In the traditional sense (Sites M2) the teacher is the one who motivates learning. In fact, from what we can gather from the video, this classroom is very much centred on the teacher.
The technology, whilst undoubtedly empowering, within this context is not allowing for enquiry as students are required to follow set paths, although it is certainly collaborative.
Student experience is personalised, although to what extent this is satisfactory is open to debate, as the student who plays a one note percussion instrument may feel less fulfilled than those who play guitar, or sing.
In brief conclusion, this is an attempt at an innovative project, turning the classroom into a studio, that is taught in a non-innovative way. At least from the evidence of the video.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
An example of ICT-innovation in education
Example:Last semester, an online course is introduced to one of my module. On that evening, students do not need to attend the assigned classroom as before, instead, they can stay at any place they like. The only thing in need is laptop connected to the Internet. The course began and students were required to sign in the moodle. Then discussion on a certain topic was held in goolge docs and a group presentation was also held online with Voice Thread.In general, ICT used in this course was not complex and the instructions were clear to us. The only problem was that there were a clash in google docs since 30 students and a teacher were typing and posting their opinions at the same time, which negatively influenced the effects of the course.
Impact on practice:Although the results of the online course is not that satisfactory because of technical problems of google docs, I still consider it as a great attempt for studnets' location are no longer a problem. For example, one of my classmates is a mother and she is always busy taking care of her little baby. In this case, she can stay at home and study online. If there are improvements of the design of the course, such as leading students to discuss in small groups with 4 or 5 rather than talking on the same page together, the effects will be better.
Impact on practice:Although the results of the online course is not that satisfactory because of technical problems of google docs, I still consider it as a great attempt for studnets' location are no longer a problem. For example, one of my classmates is a mother and she is always busy taking care of her little baby. In this case, she can stay at home and study online. If there are improvements of the design of the course, such as leading students to discuss in small groups with 4 or 5 rather than talking on the same page together, the effects will be better.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Educational ICT innovation & its impact
Q: Identify one example of an educational ICT-innovation and it's impact on practice. (200 words)
Shall we have some discussion on the above here?
Educational ICT-innovation could be from "Playing video from Internet", "Online discussion" to "use of iPad during lesson", "use of intelligent white board in class"...
Which one should we pick? What is your opinion?
Shall we have some discussion on the above here?
Educational ICT-innovation could be from "Playing video from Internet", "Online discussion" to "use of iPad during lesson", "use of intelligent white board in class"...
Which one should we pick? What is your opinion?
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