hampstead school learning together achieving together design and development of ict-based...

HAMPSTEAD SCHOOL Learning Together Achieving Together

Design and development of ICT-based educational material

Tim [email protected]

Invited lecture given at the University of the Aegean, Rhodes, May 2003


Learning objectives of the session

• To know three issues in the design of ICT-based learning material

• To understand better why these issues are important and the consequences that follow from the choices that can be made in each area

• To use this knowledge better to discuss the design and effectiveness of ICT-based learning materials


Three Issues

Involvement Assessment

Approach

Computer-based

material


APPROACH

• Three possible approaches to the ICT part of educational materials– Skill-based– Ad hoc (no emphasis on ICT)– Capability-based

• Each gives a different focus (and therefore form) to the material


Example 1: making a newspaper (1 of 2)

Activity: to make a newspaperQuestion: what do you want the children to learn?

The answer to this will provide the approach for the activity’s educational material

• Answer - ‘skills’ Focus – learning to use Word (or Publisher)

• Answer - ‘ad hoc’ Focus - writing• Answer – ‘capability’ Focus – making a

newspaper (cf newsletter)


Example 1: making a newspaper (2 of 2)

• The skills-based material pays no attention to what the finished product looks like – only to technique

• The ‘ad hoc’ approach only pays attention to content • The ‘capability’ approach starts by thinking what the

product will look like – how to achieve the desired effect on the audience

Two examples of materials (for 10-13 year olds)‘Looking like a paper’ ‘Reaching the audience’


Example 2: making a PowerPoint presentation (1 of 4)

Activity: to make a PowerPoint PresentationQuestion: what do you want the children to learn?

The answer to this will provide the approach for the activity’s educational material

• Answer - ‘skills’ Focus - learning to use PowerPoint features

• Answer - ‘ad hoc’ Focus - writing slides• Answer - ‘capability’ Focus - conveying your

message to this audience



• How not to do it (1) – fancy animation effect, letters from everywhere and distracting sounds. Takes away from the message.

Just in case you missed that – here it is again

• How not to do it (1) – letters from everywhere, distracting sounds. Takes away from the message.



• How not to do it (2) – far to much written material with little thought about emphasising and highlighting the main points or distinguishing between the PowerPoint and spoken parts of the presentations – but children will often do this to make sure they have ‘all the facts’. Worse – they will often value ‘presentations’ like this because they have ‘a lot in them’, and need educating to In order to have ‘all the facts’ you also need to make the font small – again masking the message from the audience.

• Much better – ‘clean’, simple display which uses Master Slides to ensure consistency



• Again the ‘skills-based’ approach thinks only of technique

• The ‘ad hoc’ approach only to content• The ‘capability’ approach focuses on conveying the

message to the audience

Two products (by 10 year old children):Rainforests Vertebrates


Summary of approaches: Skills-based

• This is the way ICT is taught in most schools in the UK – today we do word-processing, tomorrow spreadsheets

• It has the advantage of being easy to organise

BUT it• Is an approach divorced from use and purpose• Needs an artificial context created for it• Emphasizes the easy but trivial (skills) at the expense

of the difficult but important (capability)


Summary of approaches: Ad Hoc

• This is based on the notion that ICT is ‘just’ a tool and is the way most ‘cross-curricular’ ICT is taught in the UK

• Easy to develop individual activities and material

BUT• Fundamental misapprehension about the nature and

importance of tools• No sense of planning • No notion of progression


Summary of approaches: Capability

• This is the basis of the UK National Curriculum for ICT and of Hampstead’s cross-curricular approach to its teaching

• It is difficult to organise and plan

BUT it• Focuses on what is important• Has clear notions of progression and development• Grows from authentic contexts and purpose –

strengthens involvement


INVOLVEMENT

• Children need to be involved with what they are doing• (At least) three aspects:

– Purpose– Context– Interaction


Purpose: but whose?

Two types of purpose – the pupil’s and the teacher’s

• Teacher’s purposes:– What do I want them to learn?– What role do I want the ICT materials to play?

• Pupil’s purpose – Why should I learn this?


Teacher’s purposes (1 of 2)

• What do I want them to learn?– About the subject?– About themselves?

• What role do I want the ICT materials to play?– To lead them to the right answer or to allow them

to explore/express their ideas? – To ‘motivate’ or to do new things

Example: ModellingSpace Coastal erosion


Teacher’s purposes (1 of 2)

• Is the material there to replace me or to augment my lesson?

What roles could the teacher have when pupils are using this example? Microscopes

How would the effectiveness of the material change as the teacher’s role changed?


Pupil’s purpose

• Why should I be doing this?– Because I am told to do so– Because in 10 years time it will help me– Because I see it as interesting– Because I see it as useful– Because I see it as important

• ‘Useful’ and ‘important’ for what? And to whom?• Context provides the answers to these


Context: the conveyor of purpose

• Because I see it as interesting– Example: Musical pictures

• Because I see it as useful– Example: Teaching how to text

• Because I see it as important:– Example: Crime survey, Messengers.org

• Or (ideally) more than one of these!


Interaction: but of/with what?

• All educational materials claim to be ‘interactive’• What is the nature of the interaction in these

examples?Snowman Minibeasts Free Cell

• Key issue: “’Minds on’ rather than ‘hands on’” (Ros Driver)

• Or if you prefer it in Greek …


ASSESSMENT

• Starts from what you want the pupils to learn– Need learning objectives not (just) activities– To know/understand cf ‘to make a slide’

• The materials must allow you to assess that learning• The pupils need to be involved in their own

assessment


Materials that allow assessment

• Material needs to be structured to provide evidence of learning

• What do these examples let you know about the pupils’ learning? Mr. Zippy Word tutorial Your ‘texting’ material

Two questions:• What evidence will I have of the extent to which the

Learning objectives for this session have been met?• What could I do to get more evidence?


Involving the pupils

• The pupils need to be involved in their own assessment – and that of others– To help them learn– To help you learn what they know

Example 1: A pupil’s evaluation of a house he build in Logo

Example 2: Evaluating presentations


Three Issues

Involvement Assessment

Approach

Computer-based

material


Three key foci for successful material

Psyches cf Somata

Self- evaluation

Capability

Computer-based

material


A reference

• Brosnan, T. (2002) ‘Teaching with ICT’ in Pachler, N. (Ed.) ‘Lehren undLernen mit IKT’. Innsbruck: Studienverlag.

hampstead school learning together achieving together design and development of ict-based...

Documents

hampstead school learning

based learning materials

skillsbased material

powerpoint features

written material

capability approach

answer capabilityfocus

publisher answer