eLearning in an Irish Secondary School

Some ‘online’ ideas … Portmarnock Community School September 2009

… my research question

… some policy

… research with pupils in the school

… a response to the policymakers

… Scoilnet…Worldbook

… Digital school-book publishing

… YouTube…iTunesU

… safety

My research question

How can I improve teaching and learning through engaging with the communicative, creative and collaborative nature of social software?

Social Software

… technologies that are easy to access and relatively straightforward to use. They allow people to connect with each other using a variety of media.

The term social-software was first used in 2002

Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube, Discussion boards on Sports sites etc., Blogs, Flickr etc

Action Research

… a form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own practices, their understanding of these practices, and the situations in which the practices are carried out (Carr and Kemmis 1986).

Action Research can be messy, can call for inventiveness, is unique to the particular area that is researched

A study of singularity

Carried out over cycles of research – continues over and over…

Some policy – National Council for Curriculum and Assessment

Benefits in using ICT in teaching and learning

Student’s active involvement in learning

development of higher order thinking skills

learning in authentic environments

Benefits in using ICT in teaching and learning

interest and engagement in learning

differentiated learning

collaborative learning

assessment of and for learning

(NCCA 2007).

NCCA - ICT Framework of four headings

Learning opportunities

Creating, Communicating and Collaborating

Developing foundational knowledge, skills and concepts

Thinking critically and creatively

Understanding the social and personal impact of ICT

But who is to do this?

The ICT teacher?

Or

The subject teacher?

The subject teacher

…is doing this as they teach their own English, Maths, Gaeilge, Science etc. class…

…ICT not as an extra subject (though it still can be) but as integrated into everyday teaching and learning

…huge expectation from policymakers

…that expectation now beginning to appear at

…school-level policymaking

The e-Learning Plan

Integrating ICT into everyday teaching and learning

National Centre for Technology and Education

NCTE

good practice in using ICT for teaching and learning

Examples on their website - Integrating ICT across the post primary curriculum

Some ‘online’ ideas … Some practical research

10X…as a subject teacher

Timetabled for 3 History Classes per week

Two in BX, one in HX by arrangement

A lot of distractions:

Passwords: school and moodle

Students email addresses

Web filtering by the NCTE not allowing certain actions to be carried out in relation to Web 2.0

Safety – the need to stop and teach about issues as they arose e.g. tagging (and geo-tagging)

Specific issues

Using the HTML editor in Moodle

Uploading / copying / pasting photos

Various levels of confidence using ICT

Plagiarism

Wikipedia

Good search practices

Writing in your own words

Outcomes

All can use Moodle e.g. class glossaries, simple discussion forums

Attempted a project using Babberize to create a talking picture

Created 2 history websites each using Google sites

20X a new cycle of research

Blogging…see where it takes us!

[WordPress].

NCCA

How realistic are policymakers expectations?

BX: Laptop / data-projector / broadband / speakers

HX: Fully equipped computer room

Supportive principal, parents and colleagues

How realistic are policymakers expectations?

Teacher Training

Student training

ICT and pedagogy

Digital literacy

Wanting to do it - enthusiasm

With every class?

This is done during your three class periods per week!

Some ‘online’ ideas … Scoilnet/World book

Scoilnet

Department of Education and Science portal for primary and secondary level

Digital content

World Book

The World Book Online which is available to schools contains the entire text of the 22-volume Encyclopaedia, plus illustrations, video clips, 3D panoramic views, and sound files. Articles bring together a complete story with multimedia content, as well as research aids and links to related information.

Digital school-book publishing