30/06:I haven't done a learning profile on myself as yet but already know that I am very much and reading and writing person in the way I learn. It is a little to easy for me to tune out to aural presentations and start thinking my own train of thought. I also find it valuable to discuss concepts with someone else-generally not too large a group. I need to try the learning style questionnaire tomorrow to see if I am correct.
01/07: I have now done the VARK questionnaire and found that I have a visual score of 1, aural 3, read/write 7, kinaesthetic 5 and I have a mild read/write bias. I am not sure I agree totally with this but it did pick up that I am a read/write person in my learning style and don't benefit much from hearing things.
How can I use this in my teaching? Just really by recognising that students learn in different ways and perhaps trying to use different ways of teaching if possible to account for those students who have different learning styles to mine.
Much of the discussion has centered around collaboration but I think we need to also accept that some people do learn best if they do tasks alone. I am not really sure this will change in an ICT learning environment as we are still trying to achieve the outcomes of enabling learning amongst all out students. I just have to be careful that I don't try to use technology for the sake of it and try to incorporate it in a meaningful way.
I keep on coming back to the fact that my teaching is very face-to-face and using technology may not be the most appropriate method of teaching my students. They come to the classes I teach for practical demonstrations and also for the opportunity to practise clinical skills. Web 2.0 technology may not meet their learning needs -I need to gisve this more thought.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Digital native debate
I have a problem with the terms "digital natives" and "digital immigrants". In this world of political correctness, I feel these terms are a little distasteful and should not really be in common use.
It is well known that immigrants work very hard to adapt themselves to their new country and if we apply this to the Web 2.0 world, this may well be what occurs. The generation born before 1980 who are,( according to Prensky 2001) the "digital immigrants" were actually around at the start of the computer age and were probably even involved in the development of the technology. If it is applicable to their lives and work, many appear to embrace Web 2.0 technology and work hard to use it in appropriate ways. The Net-gen use Web 2.0 technology in a more intuitive way as it has always been around for them but are they necessarily better at it? They are possibly more confident about their use of the technology but may have issues with how they deal with the knowledge that is available to them. There is such a rich knowledge base-how do they sift through it to find what they need?
My students are all post-graduates but still fall into the Net Gen. This means that they are very familiar with Web based technology but may not necessarily want this incorporated in their course. I think they will access the technology they require when they need it in the Clinical Skills I teach to 1st year medical students at NDU. They already access web sites, vodcasts, lectures that have been uploaded onto Blackboard. Theyattend the clinical skills session for the face-to-face interaction as well as to practice skills under the tutors' guidance. If I was teaching "digital immigrants", I don't think I would be changing how I teach as they would access the technologies as they needed them.
The debate today seemed to have arguments both for and against the the concept of digital "natives" and " immigrants" My thinking is that to have this separation is probably artificial and I don't know if it helps us to teach our young students any better.
There is also no consideration of socio-economic circumstances in this debate. It applies to those who can both afford and access the technology. Our previous PM promised a computer on the desk of every school child but that does not seem to have been achieved especially in remote and rural communities. How do we classify this group of the so-called Net Gen who don't have free and easy access to any part of Web technology?
Ref: Prensky, M(2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants
http://www.marcprensky.com
It is well known that immigrants work very hard to adapt themselves to their new country and if we apply this to the Web 2.0 world, this may well be what occurs. The generation born before 1980 who are,( according to Prensky 2001) the "digital immigrants" were actually around at the start of the computer age and were probably even involved in the development of the technology. If it is applicable to their lives and work, many appear to embrace Web 2.0 technology and work hard to use it in appropriate ways. The Net-gen use Web 2.0 technology in a more intuitive way as it has always been around for them but are they necessarily better at it? They are possibly more confident about their use of the technology but may have issues with how they deal with the knowledge that is available to them. There is such a rich knowledge base-how do they sift through it to find what they need?
My students are all post-graduates but still fall into the Net Gen. This means that they are very familiar with Web based technology but may not necessarily want this incorporated in their course. I think they will access the technology they require when they need it in the Clinical Skills I teach to 1st year medical students at NDU. They already access web sites, vodcasts, lectures that have been uploaded onto Blackboard. Theyattend the clinical skills session for the face-to-face interaction as well as to practice skills under the tutors' guidance. If I was teaching "digital immigrants", I don't think I would be changing how I teach as they would access the technologies as they needed them.
The debate today seemed to have arguments both for and against the the concept of digital "natives" and " immigrants" My thinking is that to have this separation is probably artificial and I don't know if it helps us to teach our young students any better.
There is also no consideration of socio-economic circumstances in this debate. It applies to those who can both afford and access the technology. Our previous PM promised a computer on the desk of every school child but that does not seem to have been achieved especially in remote and rural communities. How do we classify this group of the so-called Net Gen who don't have free and easy access to any part of Web technology?
Ref: Prensky, M(2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants
http://www.marcprensky.com
Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World
The changing environment of higher education in a Web 2.0 world means that I have an increased need to be aware of these modalities as well as to increase my knowledge of them all. This does present quite a few challenges as I studied initially in an environment where computers were huge and opportunities to use them, few!
The increase in the use of networking sites, blogs, podcasts, webinars, ipods, ipads etc has been quite mind boggling in the years since my undergraduate degree. However, if we are to stay in touch with our students, we need knowledge of how to use them. Whatever we use in our teaching needs to be applicable to their learning and provide clear links to previous teaching as well as hopefully facilitating future learning. Using different elearning methods may suit different students and thus extend learning to students who may not have been previously included. It also provides some flexibility as to when students can learn; this may therefore improve access to learning.
The free access to such a huge information landscape can be both a positive and negative. There is no longer any need to chase information-it is all available with a few clicks of the mouse! However, we may need to expand our role as teachers to help our students sift through what is available to find what will help them in their learning.
One concern with integration of elearning to conventional teaching is the time it consumes in preparation especially as I am technologically fairly illiterate! I already spend quite a lot of extra unscheduled time in my teaching and preparation of blogs, wikis etc would add even more to this
I also have issues with the privacy and legal aspects of this technology especially the networking sites. I am very concerned about doing something, albeit unwittingly, which may be unethical or illegal.
The increase in the use of networking sites, blogs, podcasts, webinars, ipods, ipads etc has been quite mind boggling in the years since my undergraduate degree. However, if we are to stay in touch with our students, we need knowledge of how to use them. Whatever we use in our teaching needs to be applicable to their learning and provide clear links to previous teaching as well as hopefully facilitating future learning. Using different elearning methods may suit different students and thus extend learning to students who may not have been previously included. It also provides some flexibility as to when students can learn; this may therefore improve access to learning.
The free access to such a huge information landscape can be both a positive and negative. There is no longer any need to chase information-it is all available with a few clicks of the mouse! However, we may need to expand our role as teachers to help our students sift through what is available to find what will help them in their learning.
One concern with integration of elearning to conventional teaching is the time it consumes in preparation especially as I am technologically fairly illiterate! I already spend quite a lot of extra unscheduled time in my teaching and preparation of blogs, wikis etc would add even more to this
I also have issues with the privacy and legal aspects of this technology especially the networking sites. I am very concerned about doing something, albeit unwittingly, which may be unethical or illegal.
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