Author Archives: Lisa

INF530 Concepts & Practices for a Digital Age – Assessment 1

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At a time when the learning context is changing in response COVID-19 related school closures, ‘connectivism’ as a learning theory for the Web 2.0 enhanced digital age (Siemens, 2005) is all the more important. Learners need access knowledge through a range of media  through networks, connections and collaboration (Starkey, 2011). As of Monday, my school, the Munich International School, will be in “distance learning” mode. The International Baccalaureate Organization has outlined a number of strategies schools can apply to providing online and blended learning, both synchronous and asynchronous (IBO, 2020). Activities range from blogging and vlogging, discussion forums or text-based chats, to live video chats and wiki building.

On the plus side, Web 2.0 tools and sites „possess attributes supporting a change in the way students learn by providing opportunities for students to be involved in active social learning, or various forms of scaffolded learning and venues to publish and to receive rapid, effective feedback “(Crompton, 2012). There is considerable data showing that wikis and blogs, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter and image and video hosting/sharing sites (Flicker and YouTube), and online software programs which create Web content for education are a major factor for both leisure and education the of students of all ages.

Equally, there are issues related to the use of Web 2.0 in education, not least the technology readiness of both teachers and students. Lynette Hay, (Hay, 2017) explores the use of Web 2.0 technologies and identifies both advantages and issues for teachers, TLs and students.

The “digital divide“, which describes those who have sufficient knowledge of and access to technology and those who do not, makes it clear that, „ICT literacy was strongly associated with socioeconomic background. “(Erstad, 2015). Family income, parents education level, race/ethnicity, gender and internet quality all play a role in exploiting digital resources and tools. (Moore et al. 2018)

In education, this digital divide is often referred to as the “homework gap”. A symptom of digital divide can be seen when students in „technology-deficient circumstances“ try to do their homework in an environment in which technology-based learning is required (Moore et al. 2018). Irrespective of access, vital is “the development of digital literacy skills with students, teachers, and families “(Holland, 2019).

Although learners today are considered to be ‘digital natives’ Prensky (2001), “this is a misnomer — although many are adept at navigating the technology, they need to develop their skills, through the use of computational thinking, to use the technology meaningfully” (McKenzie, 2019).

Playing devil’s advocate, Monash University’s Neil Selwyn wrote a paper back in 2009 on how young people use digital technology and challenged the idea that they are digitally literate (Selwyn, 2009). Selwyn has since published many papers on the subject and his book, “Is Technology Good for Education? (Selwyn, 2016) discusses the implications, both positive and negative, for education. 

 

Listen also to Selwyn’s conversation with ACER CEO Professor Geoff Masters at ACER’s Research Conference in 2019 with the theme – ‘Preparing students for life in the 21st century: Identifying, developing and assessing what matters’.

How can we as educators and TLs encourage their natural tendency to share in the classroom and out of it?  The current generation of learners routinely update their Instagram and Snapchat feeds and constantly share their opinions, their likes and dislikes, upload and watch videos on YouTube, and arrange their social life on WhatsApp. Concluding in 2008, projects such as ‘Digital Youth’ by Mizuko Ito and colleagues in the US (Ito et al. 2010) demonstrated that there are different levels of participation and commitment in what they describe as ‘friendship driven’ and ‘interest driven’ activities in contrast to learning activities.   Twelve years on, Ms Ito is very active on Twitter as an advocate for  #connectedlearning – inspiring reading for those interested in the very latest in this area.

References:

Crompton, H. (2012). How Web 2.0 is Changing the Way Students Learn: The Darwikinism and Folksonomy Revolution. eleed, Iss. 8. (urn:nbn:de:0009-5-32405)

Erstad, Ola. (2015). Educating the Digital Generation – Exploring Media Literacy for the 21st Century. Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy. 2015. 85-102.

Hay, Lynette. (2017). “‘Do We Have to Use a Wiki, Miss?’ How Web 2.0 Technologies Can Support Students as Inquiry Learners in a Secondary School.” Charles Sturt University.

Holland, B. (2019) Strategies for Tackling Digital Equity. https://www.gettingsmart.com/2019/04/strategies-for-tackling-digital-equity/

IBO (International Baccalaureate Organization). (2019). Online learning, teaching and education continuity planning for schools. https://www.ibo.org/globalassets/news-assets/coronavirus/online-learning-continuity-planning-en.pdf

Ito, M., Horst, H.A., Bittanti, M., Herr-Stephenson, B., Lange, P.G., Robinson, L., Baumer, S., Cody, R.G., Mahendran, D., Martínez, K.Z., Perkel, D., Sims, C., & Tripp, L. (2009). Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

McKenzie, P. (2019). School libraries supporting Digital Technologies. Retrieved March 10th, 2020 from:  https://natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/school-libraries-supporting-digital-technologies-and-hangarau-matihiko-learning

Moore, R., Vitale, D & Stawinoga, N., (2018). The Digital Divide and Educational Equity A Look at Students with Very Limited Access to Electronic Devices at Home. ACT Research & Center for Equity in Learning.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. MCB University Press, 9(5).

Selwyn, N. (2009), “The digital native – myth and reality”, Aslib Proceedings, Vol. 61, No. 4, 364-379. https://doi.org/10.1108/00012530910973776

Selwyn, N. (2016). Is Technology Good for Education? Oxford: Polity Press.

Siemens, G. (2005). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 2(1). Retrieved from http://www.itdl.org/

Starkey, L. (2011). Evaluating learning in the 21st century: a digital age learning matrix.Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 20(1), 19-39. DOI:10.1080/1475939X.2011.554021

 

 

 

ETL402 Assessment 2: Reflective blog post

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I recently read the acceptance speech given by Holly Godfree from ACT, when she accepted the Australian Teacher Librarian Award – 2019.  Many things Holly said rang a bell with me but one thing in particular stuck with me,” Doing our jobs well is advocacy. You create a positive ripple effect through every student, teacher, parent and principal that you help” (ASLA, 2019).

Coming into this course, my first in the Master of Education program, I first had to find my direction. I had worked as an EFL teacher in adult education for many years and had once upon a time been a librarian, but I was not a teacher librarian and I actually had very little idea of what that entailed. Both the concepts and pedagogical terminology were unfamiliar to me. Had you asked me, I would have confused literary learning with literacy learning (I now know better).  ETL402 has been a steep learning curve in fitting my prior knowledge into the framework of the modern library professional.  As time went on however, I discovered that my years of practical experience had in fact given me some skills in evaluating literature in terms of its literary role in teaching literacy skills. Having taught for many years, I could envisage practical ways in which literature could be incorporated into the curriculum, and had in fact been doing so, without labeling it a literary response strategy.  The scaffolding I have acquired will improve my ability to “select and use resources,” (ASLA, 2014) and increase my “knowledge of current pedagogy” (ASLA, 2004), significantly informing my future practice.

Investigating the incorporation of literature across the curriculum and literary learning has shown me that a diverse range of media, from graphic picture books to interactive enhanced ebooks, contributes significantly to literacy skills which are needed in all subjects, not just the language arts (Norris, 2003) and that librarians/TLs play a vital role in broadening the horizons of educators who do not typically regard literature as a teaching resource (Lance & Schwarz, 2010). In recent discussions with teachers and librarians, barriers to collaboration due to time pressure, scheduling issues and taxing workloads were cited as reasons why teachers, particularly in the curriculum areas covered by my two assessments, history and science, do not typically utilize literature in the curriculum or adopt literary response strategies to enhance learning and my subsequent readings have confirmed this (Hanrahan, (2009). However, teachers need to better prepare themselves to support students learning (Siegel, 2010). There has been a pedagogical shift towards multi-modality and many children are already “digital natives” (Prensky, 2001), possessing a multi-modal literacy toolkit their teachers just don’t have (Ito et al., 2008).

I have been introduced to the myriad of types and genres of literature available to the 21st century reader and educator, from the traditional children’s books, to ever evolving multi-modal digital resources and seen how to apply a range of literary strategies which will significantly impact learning across the curriculum (Lance & Kachel, 2018).This course has redefined my understanding of the role of the teacher librarian (TL) which has become collaborative, interactive, and proactive; they have become curriculum leaders, information specialists and information services managers (ASLA, 2004).  More than anything, they are advocates for literacy learning (Merga, 2019). If we are to help students understand society, we have to challenge them to question what is presented as knowledge and examine ways of knowing.

 

References

Australian School Library Association (ASLA) and Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). (2004). Library standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians. Retrieved from: http://www.asla.org.au/policy/standards.aspx

Australian School Library Association 2014, Evidence guide for teacher librarians in the proficient career stage, Australian School Library Association, Canberra, ACT

Retrieved from:

https://asla.org.au/resources/Documents/Website%20Documents/evidence_guide_prof.pdf

Godfree, Holly. (2019). ASLA XXVII Conference, National Library of Australian, Canberra, ACT on April 15, 2019. Retrieved from https://asla.org.au/tl_award_2019

Hanrahan, M. (2009). Bridging the Literacy Gap: Teaching the Skills of Reading and Writing as They Apply in School Science. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education, 5(3), 289-304.

Ito, M., Horst, H., Bittanti, M., Boyd, D., Herr‐Stephenson, B., & Lange, P.G., et al. (2008). Living and learning with new media: Summary of findings from the Digital Youth Project. Chicago: The MacArthur Foundation.

Lance, K.C., Kachel, D.E. (2018) Why school librarians matter: What years of research tell us. Phi Delta Kappan, 99(7), pp. 15-20 DOI: 10.1177/0031721718767854

Lance, K. C., Rodney, M. J., & Schwarz, B. (2010). Collaboration works-when it happens! The Idaho school library impact study. Teacher Librarian, 37(5), 30–36.

Merga M.K. (2019) School Librarians Are Educators Too. In: Librarians in Schools as Literacy Educators. London: Palgrave Macmillan.  https://doi-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.1007/978-3-030-21025-0_1

Norris, S. P., & Phillips, L. M. (2003). How literacy in its fundamental sense is central to scientific literacy. Science Education, 87(2), 224-240. DOI: 10.1002/sce.10066

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. Horizon, 9(5), 1–6. doi:10.1108/10748120110424816.

Siegel, M. (2012). New Times for Multimodality? Confronting the accountability culture. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literature, 55(8), 671-680.

doi-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.1002/JAAL.00082

 

 

Books to Inspire Creating with Technology

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Just read the blog entry

Books to Inspire Creating with Technology

on Jackie Child’s blog http://tinkeringchild.com/

As someone who spends a lot of time in the maker’s space at school helping students with their design and e-portfolio projects, it was a real inspiration.  Many of the projects relate to sustainability and reuse of materials and link to other curriculum areas. As I am currently working on an assignment about the use of trade books, specifically picture books, in the science curriculum, I could see that using stories as a way of creating interest and connecting science to real-life situations and experiences is a great way of putting science into context.

For ways of introducing the new literacies of the Internet through children’s literature, take a look at:

Integrating literature in the content areas; enhancing adolescent learning & literacy. (2008). Reference and Research Book News, 23(1) Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/docview/199681758?accountid=10344

Castek, J., Bevans-Mangelson, J., & Goldstone, B. (2006). Reading adventures online: Five ways to introduce the new literacies of the internet through children’s literature. The Reading Teacher, 59(7), 714-728. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/docview/203275829?accountid=10344