Interactive WhiteBoards- Glorified BlackBoards or Not?

I honestly had no idea what interactive whiteboards were until they were introduced in one of my PGCE classes. And like always, I had my PGCE "aaaaah....ohhhh" moment. This is when I learn something new, which happens like everyday, every hour and every second in my classes. I loveeee PGCE! Alright, back to interactive whiteboards, what are these amazing tools? An interactive whiteboard is an instrumental tool that allows computer images to be displayed on a board using a digital projector. The instructor(teacher) can then manipulate the elements on the board by using his fingers as a mouse, directly on the screen. Items can be dragged, clicked and copied and the teacher can handwrite noes, which can be transformed into text and saved. So in simple terms, interactive whiteboards are large, computerized screens which allow internet access, video and audio presentations, digital assessments using remote clickers, and recorded lessons for replaying later. 

Amazing right?! Well I think these are amazing pedagogical tools but some people feel that these are just glorified "chalk blackboards". They are nothing more than fancy, expensive blackboards. I say, yes but only if their interactive features are being ignored by teachers who do not know how or refuse to use them. 

Interactive whiteboards allow teachers to create engaging lessons that focus on one task such as a matching activity where learners use their fingers to match items. Alternatively, another teacher might integrate multiple items into a lesson plan such as websites, images and music that students can interact with, respond to verbally or even write comments on the board itself. Research shows that learners learn best when they are fully engaged and multi-sensory, hands-on learning is the best way to engage them. Interactive whiteboards facilitate multi-sensory learning and provide an opportunity for teachers to create a class environment where learners with different learning styles can engage and learn from each other, thus developing 21st century skills in both the learners and teachers. Research also indicates that notes taken on an interactive whiteboard can play a key role in the student's review process, leading to higher levels of learner attendance. 

I would definitely use interactive whiteboards in my class, for both Life Sciences and Mathematical Literacy. I will say once again, I am excited for the future of learning!   

"Now Lets go forth and teach!"

As a PGCE student- a teacher in becoming, I'm learning new things everyday and I often find myself wondering how on earth I will be able to master all these teaching strategies and techniques, in order to be an effective teacher and teach the "whole child" (academic, personal and social). While planning my first FishBowl lesson, I realised that I need not to worry too much, I just focused on being myself and knowing my subject content. I approached the learners in the most natural manner possible and my lesson went great! Learners are human and should be treated as human beings. Looking back at my own high school teachers, the teachers that made a lasting impact to me are those teachers that treated me as an individual and showed that they really care about me and not just my academic performance. The health and wellbeing of students is increasingly being attributed to school conditions, school relationships, means of fulfilment, and health status (Konu et.al, 2002).

Foley discusses in detail that  pedagogy is only effective if it incorporates Pastoral Care and Student Wellbeing, Effective teaching practices and school environment and Creating Home and School Relationships that enhance the Classroom Climate. Pastoral care is not merely a complementary practice, it is policy and practices fully integrated throughout the teaching and learning and structural organisation of a school to effectively meet the personal , social and academic needs of the learners and staff. Pastoral care is the "oil of learning", its not the destination but the nourishment for the learning journey (Mann, 2006). Emotions can facilitate or impede children's academic engagement, work ethic, commitment and ultimately their school success. Relationships and emotional processes affect how and why we learn. Eisenberg makes a bold statement when he says "Effective mastery of social and emotional competencies is associated with greater wellbeing and better school performance." (Eisenberg, 2006) Therefore teachers should be available and accessible, create an environment of open communication, provide solid foundation skills to the learners and show empathy, understand towards the learners and promote pro-social bonding by acknowledging the learners and remembering their birthdays, family events or simply by allowing their personalities to  shine. 

Abby Wills clearly demonstrated this in the story that she shared in her blog titled "Applying Mindfulness to Mundane Classroom Tasks." Without policing her learner's behaviour, she guided them towards the right way of doing things and allowed them to come their own findings. By incorporating consistency, communication and structure, the key elements of effective teaching practice can increase academic outcomes.

Just as we are not perfect, our learners are also not perfect and if we acknowledge this and work together, we will reach our goals. Even if we don't, at least we will not be where we started. "Now lets go forth and teach!"



Can we trust learners to learn on their own?

Critical pedagogy is a teaching approach inspired by Marxist critical theory and other radical philosophies, which attempts to help students question and challenge posited "domination," and to undermine the beliefs and practices that are alleged to dominate. In other words, it is a theory and practice of helping students achieve "critical consciousness."

The goal of critical pedagogy is to challenge conservative, right-wing and traditionalist philosophies and politics. Critical pedagogy developed in the 1960s and '70s as a reaction amongst academics of an activist, radical left-wing inclination to the repeated failure of socialist governments around the world to deliver on their promises of economic equality. Critical pedagogic educator Ira Shor defines critical pedagogy as:

“Habits of thought, reading, writing, and speaking which go beneath surface meaning, first impressions, dominant myths, official pronouncements, traditional cliches, received wisdom, and mere opinions, to understand the deep meaning, root causes, social context, ideology, and personal consequences of any action, event, object, process, organization, experience, text, subject matter, policy, mass media, or discourse. (Empowering Education, 129)”

In this tradition the teacher works to lead students to question ideologies and practices considered oppressive (including those at school), and encourage "liberatory" collective and individual responses to the actual conditions of their own lives.

In his article titled; The Standards of Critical Digital Pedagogy, Sam Hamilton makes a statement that “Educational standards limit the consciousness towards which critical pedagogy aims.” He continues to say that critical digital pedagogues at all levels of education must familiarize themselves with standards regarding Information and Communications Technology (ICT) literacy. Standards for ICT literacy represent a key component of cultural and political oppression with which all of our students must become critically conscious. I share the view of Paulo Freire which he published in his article Pedagogy of the Oppressed, where he says that “Education must begin with the solution of the teacher-student contradiction.” This is amazing because it forces both teachers and students to redefine their roles so that they are not limited to be either bankers making knowledge deposits or empty bank vaults passively receiving those deposits.

This is clearly seen in The Independent Project, where eight students started a school-within-a-school that they ran themselves. This proved to their teachers and the whole world that kids can be trusted to learn on their own. The learners who started this project mention that the main reason they started this project was because school was simply not a happy place for them. Teachers were not inspiring them and were not pushing them to take initiative of their own education. They were tired of being boxed and categorised. The learners realised that if learning was to take place, they needed to make decisions about how they wanted to learn. Ted Sizer says that “Inspiration, hunger: these are the forces that drive good schools. The best we educational planners can do is create the most likely conditions for them to flourish and get them out of their way.” This is exactly what the teachers did when they allowed these learners to start this project. Educators need to make kids feel incharge of their education. Children want to learn, they have that desire and hunger to acquire information and our job as educators is to facilitate the process of learning. Hence, Technology-mediated self- directed distance learning should be implemented more. \instead of fearing the unknown, why not try something new seeing that the current system is failing us. 

Why Embrace Social Media in the Class Room?

Is social media in the class room relevant? I say yes, of cause it is relevant! Through the use of social media teachers can encourage learners to share work socially. Students can share their work on a variety of platforms and can evaluate each other's work. Both learners and teachers can use Twitter to tweet or post status updates, write blogs posts and reflect about their learning experiences, Facebook can be used to get feedback from learners and YouTube can be used by learners to host a show or podcast. These are only a few of many ways in which social media can be used in the class room. Social media can be used as an alternative way to communicate and it allows teachers to pass along information in ways that were not possible before. Social media knocks down the class room walls and lets learning happen anywhere and at any time. Often the quietest students in class speak the loudest on social media, social media is after all the youth's language.

If social media is so great and has all these advantages to it, why are so many teachers resistant to using social media in the class room? Well, many educators fear the unknown or fear that they need to be experts before they can implement something new. Or maybe they still feel that the traditional methods are still the best solutions to learning. Some feel so overwhelmed already with their workload; there just simply is not enough time to implement new techniques. It is very important for educators to trust that their learners are making the right choices and treat them as professionals.

Online teachers/Digital Pedagogues- same difference?

As a PGCE student -a teacher in the making, I am introduced to various  new concepts, methodologies, tools and practices which are used in education. One of these is digital pedagogy. I must admit that it is very easy to get confused with exactly what digital pedagogy is and what the difference between digital pedagogy and online teaching is. Are all online teachers digital pedagogues?

A Learning Management System (LMS), also known as E-Learning is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking and delivery of electronic educational technology courses or training programs. Many researches feel that LMSs are limiting structures and that their interface and functionalities control how teaches teach online. Morris claims that LMSs are not pushing the capabilities of the internet and is settling for the least innovative classroom practice and re-positioning that digitally.
How does this differ from what digital pedagogy does, many may ask. Sean Morris defines pedagogy as a study of learning and the many ways it is fueled at any space where learning is poised to occur. He states that pedagogy concerns itself with the instantaneous, momentary, vital exchange that takes place in order for learning to happen. Therefore, pedagogy is not limited to classroom practice, nor is it limited to institutions of learning. 

Jesse states that pedagogy is "the place where philosophy and practice meet". In the light of what pedagogy means and what digital pedagogy is, it is very important to note that not all teaching happens in the same way and not all teachers are digital pedagogues, nor need they be. There is a place for all styles of classroom practice, just as there is a place for learners of all capabilities and approaches. 

Morris ends off by making a powerful statement that "the LMS largely erased mindfully aware teaching and made excuses for unconscionable practice." He also states that digital pedagogy is different because it it willing to improvise, respond to a new environment and experiment. Therefore digital pedagogues are not the same as online teachers. Digital pedagogues allow learners to participate and share their understanding of the content through conversation, creating, networked learning. This motivates learners to think, create problems and ask questions. This way learning takes place more effectively. 

So the answer is no, not all online teachers are digital pedagogues.

NB: Sean Michael Morris- Decoding Digital Pedagogy, Pt 1: Beyond the LMS- Hybrid Pedagogy

Jesse Stommel- Decoding Digital Pedagogy, Pt 2: (Un) Mapping the Terrain

Digital Pedagogy- The Future of Education

 Digital Pedagogy

Digital Pedagogy- the Future of Education. Why does this statement make so many people uncomfortable? Why is everybody so resistant to change? I would like to quote John Dewey who says: “If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.” As true as this may be, its very difficult to let go of our set ways because we believe that we are doing what is best for our learners. But are we really? Is learning about us (teachers) or about our learners?

Learning can be improved by using technology to create a highly interactive digital learning experience, hence digital pedagogy. Majority of learning happens with color, sound, visuals, action because when learners are having fun- they tend to learn the most. In our schools, learners are given all the information in the format of fully structured problems, where they can just plug in the correct information in the formula and get the correct answer. Also learners are bombarded with a lot of information which they have to learn somehow and parrot it back to us. and if they can do that, we think that learning has taken place.

Albert Einstein states that "The formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or exponential skill." This can only happen if we as teachers create a safe environment, which encourages questioning, deconstruction of concepts and formulation of problems. Most teachers may refer to this as chaos. Indeed it is chaos! But a necessary chaos because it encourages thinking and provokes conversation. 

We need to move from content to conversation, consumption to creation, correct to correcting and from control to chaos.  This is where learning takes place, in the chat, more than in the content where its the teacher who is doing all the talking and the learners are bored to death and even falling asleep during the lesson. When learners make videos and compose songs about the content, they learn better and remember the concepts, hence creation. Learners can help each other learn by using social media, ChatRooms, Google Docs, Wikis, YouTube videos, etc. This is learning through chaos! Chaos is not necessarily the opposite of order, instead it is giving the learners an opportunity to reorganize the content by themselves. "The teacher must intentionally cause enough chaos to motivate the student to reorganize."- Doll, 1986: p15

The Future is now!