Hi Everybody..
The course of Pedagogies for Flexible Learning Supported by Technology has come to an end. In the 3 post below, I will reflect on three topics:
- Design Process
- Working with TPACK
- Ideas to stimulate teachers to integrate Technology
I also gave a overall reflection about the course. Thanks for reading all the post and maybe I will post some messages in the future.
zondag 21 november 2010
zaterdag 20 november 2010
Overall conclusion about the course Pedagogies for Flexible Learning with Technology
Before the course I was not so interested in technology and the use of it on schools. But during the course it gets my attention and I started to think about it.
My opinion about technology is changed. I always thought it was difficult to use technology in my lessons, because it wasn’t indicated in the curriculum. It takes preparation and time to integrate it. After the course I understand it is important to use technology. Children are born with technology and don’t live without it. Technology becomes more and more important. So why aren’t teachers using it? After the course, I forgot all the disadvantages about the use of technology and I see the benefits.
So this course was a technological development for me!
My opinion about technology is changed. I always thought it was difficult to use technology in my lessons, because it wasn’t indicated in the curriculum. It takes preparation and time to integrate it. After the course I understand it is important to use technology. Children are born with technology and don’t live without it. Technology becomes more and more important. So why aren’t teachers using it? After the course, I forgot all the disadvantages about the use of technology and I see the benefits.
So this course was a technological development for me!
Ideas to stimulate teachers to integrate technology in education
As a teacher I know it is hard to stimulate teachers to try new things. Because they stick to the things they are familiar with. So integrating new things is even a bigger challenge.
Some teachers are sceptic about implementing technology and other teachers are just afraid to use it. Teachers need self confidence to use it.
How are they getting self confidence?
Of course they need a course to know about technology. Professional development is important to get confident. But they don’t want a course or a lecture about how easy and fun it is to integrate technology, but they want to see it in practice.
Of course the need instruction about how to integrate technology but if they are motivated they will learn very quick and will try it in their classrooms.
Own experience
I think that when teachers see what there is possible with technology they will be enthusiastic. Also if they know it is easy to integrate in the lessons.
There was a presentation that caught my attention about motivation. They want to give instruction to teachers who are intrinsically motivated to learn about integrating technology. I thought that was a good idea. If only one teacher will participate in that course, but he is so enthusiastic, I think he can motivate his colleagues. Teachers will see that it works in the classroom and I think that is want they want to see.
Support
How can you be sure that teachers will integrate it in their lessons and not only use it once?
I think a school leader and maybe an ICT coordinator are important. They must stimulate teachers to use it. The school leader must look at financial things, like buying a whiteboard. The school leader can also look for courses after they did a course to integrate technology. Maybe there are nice courses about how to make a PowerPoint presentation.
An ICT coordinator must be available to help teachers with the technology and he can even look for nice courses.
Conclusion
My conclusion about how to stimulate teachers to integrate technology in education is that the teachers must see the benefits of using technology. They must be intrinsically motivated and stimulated by others to use and integrate it.
Some teachers are sceptic about implementing technology and other teachers are just afraid to use it. Teachers need self confidence to use it.
How are they getting self confidence?
Of course they need a course to know about technology. Professional development is important to get confident. But they don’t want a course or a lecture about how easy and fun it is to integrate technology, but they want to see it in practice.
Of course the need instruction about how to integrate technology but if they are motivated they will learn very quick and will try it in their classrooms.
Own experience
I think that when teachers see what there is possible with technology they will be enthusiastic. Also if they know it is easy to integrate in the lessons.
There was a presentation that caught my attention about motivation. They want to give instruction to teachers who are intrinsically motivated to learn about integrating technology. I thought that was a good idea. If only one teacher will participate in that course, but he is so enthusiastic, I think he can motivate his colleagues. Teachers will see that it works in the classroom and I think that is want they want to see.
Support
How can you be sure that teachers will integrate it in their lessons and not only use it once?
I think a school leader and maybe an ICT coordinator are important. They must stimulate teachers to use it. The school leader must look at financial things, like buying a whiteboard. The school leader can also look for courses after they did a course to integrate technology. Maybe there are nice courses about how to make a PowerPoint presentation.
An ICT coordinator must be available to help teachers with the technology and he can even look for nice courses.
Conclusion
My conclusion about how to stimulate teachers to integrate technology in education is that the teachers must see the benefits of using technology. They must be intrinsically motivated and stimulated by others to use and integrate it.
Working with TPACK
In the course Petra gave us a questionnaire about how we use technology. Before, during and after the course I was thinking about the way I use technology. I was aware that I don’t use technology or ICT in my lessons. Nowadays I’m teaching on a school for children with the age of 2,5 years till 4 years. I don’t give so much instruction as a teacher on a primary school and we don’t have the facilities. When I’m looking back at my internship as a teacher on primary schools I don’t use technology either. What’s my problem? I think I just want to give the lesson as it was written in the lesson plans. Of course you’ll be creative and you’ll give the lessons on your own way, but not with technology. I think it goes wrong on the teacher education. We did not get any lessons in how to use technology or ICT. Or maybe I forgot it.. If I did forget it, the lessons were not so interesting.
I think a little bit of anxiety to try new things is also a problem.
I think a little bit of anxiety to try new things is also a problem.
Conclusion
After the courses of TPACK and the designing of a development program for teachers I think I can use ICT in my lessons. First I thought showing a video is technology, but after the course I do not agree with that anymore.
The lessons of TPACK made me more conscious how to integrate technology and made me more secure that I can do that even if it is not written in the original lesson plan.
After the courses of TPACK and the designing of a development program for teachers I think I can use ICT in my lessons. First I thought showing a video is technology, but after the course I do not agree with that anymore.
The lessons of TPACK made me more conscious how to integrate technology and made me more secure that I can do that even if it is not written in the original lesson plan.
The process of designing a professional development as an educational designer.
The assignment
When we get the assignment to develop a course for children or a professional development for teachers, first I was positive about the course.
I’m a teacher, so developing a course is something I did before. I thought it was easier.
But when we were discussing the two assignments with our group we decided to design a professional development. We thought it was a challenge!
The start
I’m glad we made that decision that time, because challenging it was! The first step of the developing was brainstorming. I think brainstorming is a very good way to start a design process. But even before the brainstorming, I had some ideas about the design and the way we want teachers to integrate ICT.
Because 3 out of 4 in our group are teachers, we had a different perspective than some other groups with no teachers. I immediately thought about the motivation of teachers to go to a course with the content ‘integrating ICT’.
As a teacher you do not want a course where an instructor tells you something about ICT and you are just listening. But even before the course will begin, the teachers may feel unmotivated about the whole idea of integrating technology.
We decided to develop a course for one school. We want all the teachers to participate, because we want the development to be school wide. So the course was kind of an obligation in the school. We thought we can make them enthusiastic during the course.
First I was a little bit against obligated courses, but I think when you want a school development, the whole school must participate. That’s why we also made the choice to let the school leader, the ICT coordinator and the pupil monitor coordinator participate. We called them ‘the experts’.
After seeing all the presentations of the other groups, I think we made a good decision to let the experts join the course.
The design
After the brainstorming and the nice ideas about, for example the experts, we need to find out what we want to teach them. What is the problem with the integration of ICT?
I think we did a good job to find some relevant information in the literature. Of course we knew what the main problem was, but the literature helped us to clarify that.
The problem is that teachers can’t combine the technology and the curriculum with each other. There is a gap between them.
Now that we know the problem we need to think about the design. I thought it was difficult to make choices, because we had so many ideas. We wrote down all the ideas and made a blueprint. After the blueprint we elaborate all the ideas. We divide the material so everyone could work individually.
For next time I think we need to deliberate more about the design. It was difficult to write your part because you don’t know what the others will write. Of course we have read each other work, but that was not enough to make the design comprehensive. So next time when we work in groups, we need to meet each other more and deliberate more.
Conclusion about the process
The nicest thing about this process is the perspective of a designer. I’m always the teacher who design lesson plans. Now I was the designer developing a course for teachers. I found it very interesting. We were a group with 3 teachers and one bachelor student. We had different ideas, but we could combine them very good. The collaboration was good, but it was a pity that we could not meet on school as often as we want because of work.
When we get the assignment to develop a course for children or a professional development for teachers, first I was positive about the course.
I’m a teacher, so developing a course is something I did before. I thought it was easier.
But when we were discussing the two assignments with our group we decided to design a professional development. We thought it was a challenge!
The start
I’m glad we made that decision that time, because challenging it was! The first step of the developing was brainstorming. I think brainstorming is a very good way to start a design process. But even before the brainstorming, I had some ideas about the design and the way we want teachers to integrate ICT.
Because 3 out of 4 in our group are teachers, we had a different perspective than some other groups with no teachers. I immediately thought about the motivation of teachers to go to a course with the content ‘integrating ICT’.
As a teacher you do not want a course where an instructor tells you something about ICT and you are just listening. But even before the course will begin, the teachers may feel unmotivated about the whole idea of integrating technology.
We decided to develop a course for one school. We want all the teachers to participate, because we want the development to be school wide. So the course was kind of an obligation in the school. We thought we can make them enthusiastic during the course.
First I was a little bit against obligated courses, but I think when you want a school development, the whole school must participate. That’s why we also made the choice to let the school leader, the ICT coordinator and the pupil monitor coordinator participate. We called them ‘the experts’.
After seeing all the presentations of the other groups, I think we made a good decision to let the experts join the course.
The design
After the brainstorming and the nice ideas about, for example the experts, we need to find out what we want to teach them. What is the problem with the integration of ICT?
I think we did a good job to find some relevant information in the literature. Of course we knew what the main problem was, but the literature helped us to clarify that.
The problem is that teachers can’t combine the technology and the curriculum with each other. There is a gap between them.
Now that we know the problem we need to think about the design. I thought it was difficult to make choices, because we had so many ideas. We wrote down all the ideas and made a blueprint. After the blueprint we elaborate all the ideas. We divide the material so everyone could work individually.
For next time I think we need to deliberate more about the design. It was difficult to write your part because you don’t know what the others will write. Of course we have read each other work, but that was not enough to make the design comprehensive. So next time when we work in groups, we need to meet each other more and deliberate more.
Conclusion about the process
The nicest thing about this process is the perspective of a designer. I’m always the teacher who design lesson plans. Now I was the designer developing a course for teachers. I found it very interesting. We were a group with 3 teachers and one bachelor student. We had different ideas, but we could combine them very good. The collaboration was good, but it was a pity that we could not meet on school as often as we want because of work.
Abonneren op:
Posts (Atom)