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.
zaterdag 16 oktober 2010
Combining TPACK with what we've learned
Well, to begin with the first course. It was about Flexibility. In the other posts you can read the different kinds of flexibility. The second course was about Pedagogical Approaches. Also we post some information about that, 5 different approaches. The course after that we discuss Technology. We played with a camera and post a little reflection about it on the blog.
The previous course was about TPACK. The first thing I thought about was: What does flexibility has to do with this? TPACK is about Technology, Pedagogy and Content. Where’s the flexibility?
But after thinking about that, it became clear.
TPACK has to do with Pedagogy and Technology, that’s clear. But the flexibility is a must have to work with TPACK.
Imagine that you as a teacher would use the blog (like Petra) as a delivery method for assignments. Making a blog is technology, the assignment is the content. The flexibility in it is the manner that students can make the assignments. They can post a little story or they can put some pictures on it. It’s the choice of the student. Also he or she can choose where and when he or she will make the assignment.
So, that’s clear to me!
The main question
Coming back to the main question. How do we combine TPACK with what we have learned?
As I said before in a previous post, when we did the assignment of playing with the camera, we as a group started to think about TPACK. We didn’t think of it literally, but we thought how to combine the camera (technology) with a pedagogical approach. Also we combined it with a content. We used biology as a subject matter. At that moment, we haven’t had the lecture about TPACK, but in our heads we where thinking about it.
After the course about TPACK, it was clear to me how it works. Still I’m sure that it’s very hard for teachers to use TPACK, when they never worked with technology.
The teachers need to develop themselves and then they can work with it. It’s a challenge I think.
But also I think it’s necessary to work with some kind of technology. Marloes said that she was giving a lesson about maps to children on a primary school. When you just teach them about maps on the blackboard or paper, it won’t be authentic for them. When you use some kind of technology, like a GPS or Google Maps, it will be authentic. Children recognize a GPS or Google Maps. It’s something they work with in daily life.
'A lecture is still a lecture when you play it on a laptop'
In the last course we say a video about TPACK. It was a funny video with a reporter, P. Mishra and M. Koehler. A nice common they made was: A lecture is still a lecture when you play it on a laptop.
Some teachers would think: Well, I use technology by putting the lecture on Internet so students can see it. But do you use TPACK than? I don’t think so. You just combine the content with the technology, but don’t change the pedagogical approach. It’s not TPACK.
Conclusion
So, we learned a lot about TPACK. How does it work and what are the implications. How to implement it and how can you make sure teachers will use it, is still a little bit unclear for me. But, I think that we will learn about that in the next courses.
First I wasn’t so enthusiastic about TPACK, but I think that’s just the ignorance…
The previous course was about TPACK. The first thing I thought about was: What does flexibility has to do with this? TPACK is about Technology, Pedagogy and Content. Where’s the flexibility?
But after thinking about that, it became clear.
TPACK has to do with Pedagogy and Technology, that’s clear. But the flexibility is a must have to work with TPACK.
Imagine that you as a teacher would use the blog (like Petra) as a delivery method for assignments. Making a blog is technology, the assignment is the content. The flexibility in it is the manner that students can make the assignments. They can post a little story or they can put some pictures on it. It’s the choice of the student. Also he or she can choose where and when he or she will make the assignment.
So, that’s clear to me!
The main question
Coming back to the main question. How do we combine TPACK with what we have learned?
As I said before in a previous post, when we did the assignment of playing with the camera, we as a group started to think about TPACK. We didn’t think of it literally, but we thought how to combine the camera (technology) with a pedagogical approach. Also we combined it with a content. We used biology as a subject matter. At that moment, we haven’t had the lecture about TPACK, but in our heads we where thinking about it.
After the course about TPACK, it was clear to me how it works. Still I’m sure that it’s very hard for teachers to use TPACK, when they never worked with technology.
The teachers need to develop themselves and then they can work with it. It’s a challenge I think.
But also I think it’s necessary to work with some kind of technology. Marloes said that she was giving a lesson about maps to children on a primary school. When you just teach them about maps on the blackboard or paper, it won’t be authentic for them. When you use some kind of technology, like a GPS or Google Maps, it will be authentic. Children recognize a GPS or Google Maps. It’s something they work with in daily life.
'A lecture is still a lecture when you play it on a laptop'
In the last course we say a video about TPACK. It was a funny video with a reporter, P. Mishra and M. Koehler. A nice common they made was: A lecture is still a lecture when you play it on a laptop.
Some teachers would think: Well, I use technology by putting the lecture on Internet so students can see it. But do you use TPACK than? I don’t think so. You just combine the content with the technology, but don’t change the pedagogical approach. It’s not TPACK.
Conclusion
So, we learned a lot about TPACK. How does it work and what are the implications. How to implement it and how can you make sure teachers will use it, is still a little bit unclear for me. But, I think that we will learn about that in the next courses.
First I wasn’t so enthusiastic about TPACK, but I think that’s just the ignorance…
vrijdag 15 oktober 2010
TPACK in own words
‘TPACK in own words and a little bit help of Mishra and Koehler’
In the last course we talked about TPACK. I heard the term before and also in the course ‘Themes and Approaches’ I learned something about TPACK.
But what does it mean and why do we have a TPACK model.
Well, the TPACK model is based on an old model of Shulmans (1986/1987). He constructed a Pedagogical Content Knowledge:
But because technology gets plays a bigger role in education now, we needed to implement technology as well.
But because technology gets plays a bigger role in education now, we needed to implement technology as well.
That’s what Mishra and Koehler did (2006). The constructed a TPACK model. That consist out of 3 components. Content and Pedagogy (like Shulmans model) and Technology.
The TPACK model will help teachers to think about all the 3 components and how you can integrate them in your lessons.
That’s the question that needs to be answered. How can teachers integrate technology into their teaching?
But only think about how to integrate the 3 components with each other don’s lead to a good lesson. You need to look at the context where it all happens.
Here you see the TPACK model. And as you can see, around the 3 components the context is been shown.
è First I will explain all the 3 components and then look deeper the relation with each other.
Content Knowledge
The content knowledge has everything to do with the content of the lesson. Sometimes you here the term Subject Matter. It’s about the knowledge of teachers about the subject matter or the content of the lesson. It’s important that teachers know about the content and that would include knowledge about concepts, theories, frameworks and evidence and proofs. When a teacher doesn’t have the comprehensive base of content knowledge the students may get the wrong information.
Pedagogical Knowledge
Pedagogical knowledge is about how students learn. It’s the knowledge about the processes and practices or methods of teaching and learning. It’s also about the aims of the lesson and the values. Teachers need to know how to work with the methods and the techniques in the classroom.
A teacher with a good pedagogical knowledge understands how the students construct their knowledge and how they acquire skills. Pedagogical knowledge requires an understanding of cognitive, social, and developmental theories of learning and how they apply to students in the classroom.
Technological Knowledge
Technological knowledge is the knowledge about ICT and how to work with it. As a teacher you need to know about all kinds of ICT opportunities and how you can use that to get information. This is always in development, because technology is also in development. New in the Technology world is the IPad. As a teacher you may need some information about it and always be updated.
Overall you need a functional understanding of technologies and skills to operate particular technologies.
è Now we described the 3 components. All the 3 components have a relation with each other and integrate with each other. We also have named those relations. I will describe the 3 relations.
Pedagogical Content KnowledgeThis kind of knowledge was also being explained by Shulman’s theory. Acoording to Shulman PCK is the transformation of the subject matter for teaching. So, teachers interprets the content and find his way to teach it. He should think about the prior knowledge about students and the instructional materials. Also it’s about what students can add to the content.
Technological Content Knowledge
Technological Content Knowledge is the relation between technology and content. The choice of technologies affords of the content ideas that can be taught. But it can also be the other way around.
The teachers need to understand which specific technologies are the best for that specific subject matter. Teachers can make the lessons more interesting and funnier for the students.
Technological Pedagogical Knowledge
Technological Pedagogical Knowledge is the understanding of how teachers can change their teaching and learning when technology is been used. Teachers need to know about different pedagogical approaches and which will fits the technology that they are using. And off course the other way around.
Most technological programs like blogs or Microsoft Office aren’t made for education.
It’s for teachers a challenge to use those programs for education. Like Petra did with us. The use of blogs.
è Above we talked about the 3 different relation. But to get to TPACK we need to integrate the 3 component with each other.
TPACK: Technological, Pedagogical Content Knowledge
When we integrate the 3 components with each other we have TPACK. TPACK is the base of effective teaching with technology. As a teacher it is important to have an open attitude towards TPACK, so you can see the opportunities TPACK gives. Teachers need to develop themselves because there is no model for all lessons in a TPACK way. Teachers don’t focus on the 3 components, but just on the integration these 3. A school need to give the teachers time to develop themselves, because you can’t use TPACK right away.
They need professional development and self-efficacy. Also teachers have to be motivated to develop.
Conclusion
Now we know what TPACK is. I’m curious about how it works in practice. Maybe I will search for some examples on schools and post it on my weblog.
First I want to give my opinion about TPACK.
I think it’s a good way to think about technology and a nice way to think about it in combination with content and pedagogy. But teachers need to know a lot more than just this model to implement technology in their lessons.
When you start to think about a lesson, you will directly go on with the TPACK. You forget to think about the Pedagogical Content Knowledge. When you are designing a lesson, is it necessary to think about all that or can you just begin with the TPACK? Maybe if you are familiar with this model. I don’t know.
What I’m sure about is that teachers need to develop them professionally on a technological manner. Some teachers won’t even use the whiteboard, because it is hard or maybe they think it is not necessary. I think that the use of technology is good. In my previous study I was working on a school and there the use the whiteboard for the subject physics. The children were changing cloths in the class and after that they watched a video about what they were going to do in the gym. The teacher placed the materials at the same way the video did. The video showed the location of the material and explained everything, like the teacher would do. When they watched it, they go to the gym and can start right away. You can also show the video a day earlier or when they ready with their work. It saves time and leaves more time to gym.
I never used a whiteboard, because my class didn’t have one. But I heard about the preferences and the nice things you can do. And the whiteboard is just a little technological tool you can use. Imagine you can use all kinds of technologies.
Literature
Koehler, M. J., & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge? Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 60-70.
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