ICT week 2, Learning Design Fundamentals

Learning activity 1- My own experiences during school

Student centred

• I thought my drama class was very student centred. It involved a lot of individual and group work that required you to make your own discoveries and figure out tasks on your own (with the teacher being a guide) The teacher explored our interests and we discussed as a group what we thought we had to learn to finish certain projects.
• Woodwork class. We decided what we wanted to make. People who gained a higher skill level with the tools were able to choose more complex assignments. As opposed to other students who were less confident with the tools were allowed to choose a more basic assignment.
• In English we had a decision on a select group of novels to choose. Although we didn’t have complete choice over the novel, we were still given selected option.

Teacher centred

• PE teachers never asked what sport we wanted to learn, it was always pre organized. We weren’t given the options to discuss what sports and physical activities we wanted to learn as class, it was always pre arranged.
• During biology, our classes abided by the learning curriculum and student interest was never considered.
• In general there was never a time given where we could have an open forum between student and teacher.

Learning activity 2- 8QLMs

I feel that I didn’t experience these 8 learning design processes to the full extent at my school. I didn’t think our interests or the way in which we learnt best was taken into consideration. It seemed more teacher-centric to the extent where it seemed the teachers only motivation was to get through curriculum because it was “their job”. That question on of where do my students want to be wasn’t really considered. There were a few teachers who, looking back now I can tell, who took the 8 key learning area approach. Classes were interesting, we were engaged, our ways of learning were considered, we wanted to learn and we remembered what we learnt. We had choices.

My school was behind with “the times” I suppose you could say. We always seemed to be behind with times. I think they had to do with budget. It wasn’t until high school (year 8, 1998) when we got our first computer lab and had access to resources (such as internet).

Support staff at my school were scarcely available. I did organise a teacher aid that help me tremendously with my math work. This was organised privately and not through the school.

The only type of informant of our progress was at the end of term when we got our reports, or at a parent teacher evening. Half the things I learnt (tried to) I didn’t seem the point and it was brought across very “boring”

I consider the 8 key learning design processes to have many advantages within the education system. Being aware of who each individual student is, how they learn, what their interest are I think, really engages them in their learning and appropriate student teacher relationships are formed. Getting help where needed, inviting speakers to give a fresh approach to the topic, exploring students interest, creating a sense of togetherness amongst groups in the classroom, using the right resources, giving authentic reasoning all contributes to effective learning.

The only pitfall I think that might occur is if students get too much choice in what they learn; they might think they can have choice over everything (realistically that just doesn’t happen!).

Learning activity 3- Kinds of learning activities

After completeing the Indicators of Engaged Learning quesitonare, I have created 2 learning activities that relate with my results. My higher results in Indicators of Engaged Leanring were Vision of Learning, Assesment, Leanring Context, Grouping, Teacher Roles, Students Roles. Results for Indicators of High-Performance Technology were Acess, Ease of Use and Funtioality.

Grouping: Creating group activities to plan worthwhile and meaningful tasks that involve communication, planning, management and social skill. Some authentic tasks may be:

· Firstly, create a group environment where students can interact with one another and are able to brainstorm ideas.

• Outline a layout to build a children’s play set. Students will need to figure out measurements, materials needed costs/budgets, safety requirements.

• Creating a new design for the high school courtyard. Students would need to think of practical things that they would want in the courtyard. The type of plants safe for the environment and easy to maintain. They would need to figure out what materials they need, measurements, and costs/budget.
• Designing year 12 graduation shirt. Students will need to come up with shirt designs, costs on shirts for the whole year 12 class, learn how to use screen printing, or even learn how to sew.

Technology based learning; using technology as a means of engaged learning:

• Instead of asking the students to open a book and write a paragraph on what they think it means, they will use the computer or personal mobile phones to research the information. Once they have found the correct information they will present it to the class either in the matter of a PowerPoint presentation, using print outs from the computer, using the interactive white board (if one available), showing pictures they took with their mobile; maybe they could Bluetooth to other phones.

If computers are limited, I would pair students up into groups. One scenario might be students looking for information about (topic). Each group can choose to find information about one particular thing about (topic) and prepare a brief report about (topic) for the rest of the class. Another way to make efficient use of limited computer resources could be to encourage students to print the resources they find. While students are going though material they printed, sorting and examining the information they found, other students can be using the computer to find and print pages with the information they need.

Learning activity 4 – Dale’s Cone

Formal learning experiences:	Category
Acing for Film and Television degree	10/10
Masters of Arts in Worship Studies, with and emphasis on Ethnomusicology	6/10
Bachelor of Performing Arts degree	10/10

Results:

10 + 6 + 10 = 26 divided by 3 = 8.6

By categorising my formal learning experiences using dales cone, my results have shown that my learning is where it should be.

Learning activity 5- Learning styles

Learning Styles Results

Results for: Jessica Havens ACT X REF 11 9 7 5 3 1 1 3 5 7 9 11 <-- --> SEN X INT 11 9 7 5 3 1 1 3 5 7 9 11 <-- --> VIS X VRB 11 9 7 5 3 1 1 3 5 7 9 11 <-- --> SEQ X GLO 11 9 7 5 3 1 1 3 5 7 9 11 <-- -->

· If your score on a scale is 1-3, you are fairly well balanced on the two dimensions of that scale. · If your score on a scale is 5-7, you have a moderate preference for one dimension of the scale and will learn more easily in a teaching environment which favours that dimension. · If your score on a scale is 9-11, you have a very strong preference for one dimension of the scale. You may have real difficulty learning in an environment which does not support that preference.

Within the classroom I would try and use all these learning styles at once. If that is difficult to do, I would alternate these learning styles with each lesson. I would try to create activities that incorporate all individual differences, for instance group activities that would assist Active and Reflective learners, Sensing and Intuitive learners, Visual and Verbal learners, and Sequential and Global learners. Mixing learning styles may contribute to a group. Individuals can take charge of their learning style and contribute to the group with their learning style, for example the sensing and visuals of the group might research required information, the doer might be “in charge” of the group and scout the school for required materials, the sequential learning might go through the steps as to the layout of the project, and so forth. Place in students in these groups or using different methods of teaching will aid them as to how to learn in different ways.

Overall I would want to make the learning experience as diverse as possible so all students get a chance at learning.

If I was to teach someone with the same results as above, there would be a lot of visual and doing activities.

Learning activity 6 – Personality

My personality type: ESFJ. Extraverted – 78%, Sensing 25%, Feeling 62% and Judging 11%

You are:

• very expressed extravert
• moderately expressed sensing personality
• distinctively expressed feeling personality
• slightly expressed judging personality

I can see that there are similarities between personality type and habits of mind. For example, active learners are most commonly out going people who love being with people. If you look at my personality type and learning style results, you see that my learning style result is more towards active learning (7) and my personality type is 78% extravert, which are both similar.

Funnily enough when I checked to see what job would suit someone of my personality, Education was on the job list!

Firstly understanding your own personality makes you familiar with how you would most likely teach. For instance, an extraverted person would be very outgoing, active and learn with more hands on activities, so you would incorporate that into the learning experience. However, what needs to be taken into consideration is that your learning style should not be the only way you teach. Students have different learning styles which will need to be accommodated for. Familiarising yourself with different learning style approaches will better help you achieve effective learning.

Overall I think it would be a challenge trying to accommodate all learning styles. That’s why its importance to familiarise yourself with different learning approaches so you can accommodate all learning styles.

Learning activity 7- Kunc’s article

After reading Kunc’s article, my opinion for ensuring that students are ready to learn would be to firstly create a welcoming and safe environment, a sense of community, and a authentic sense of belonging within the classroom. Kunc mentions how important it is for children to develop a sense of self-worth and confidence, which is the essential pillar within the education system (Kunc, 1992 p 3&4). As Maslow claims, students haven’t had their physiological and safety needs meet at home and are expected learn the curriculum without having any self-esteem built (Kunc, 1992 p4). A way of building self-esteem would be to provide students with opportunities where they can gain a great deal of success.

Marlow’s hierarchy of needs is a great example to show us how necessary it is for people to live within the framework of community. Not only that, it shows the need for self-actualization, implying that every person has abilities that necessitate specific developments within themselves (Kunc, 2008 pg 5).

Maslow’s understanding counterparts with the learning diversities as it parallels with the importance of creating appropriate teacher/students relationships, the importance of creating authentic activities, valuing diversity, the understanding that everybody has different needs and acknowledging that there is a new world that brings new challenging requirements.

Learning activity 8

Results for this test:

Again as mentioned in learning activity 6, I would begin by firstly understand my own personality and find ways of teaching effectively through that. Whilst at the same time taking into consideration that others are different and have their individual types of learning styles, so understanding and finding different approaches to accommodate everyone’s needs would need to take place.

Summary

What stood out to me the most this week was the importance of belongingness within the classroom (and the disastrous effects it has on those who feel segregated), and the importance of having a safe classroom environment.

During this topic I have also come to understand there are many different personalities, learning styles and approaches to accommodate those learning differences. The only concerns I have with the 8Qlm approach is the likelihood of "burning out" as a teacher due to trying to accommodate those needs in a classroom full of 30 kids. This to me seems very challenging and almost near impossible to accomplish this each lesson. Would alternating learning styles be an approach? Would like to be acquainted with your thoughts?

This YouTube link show’s two year 1 students using technology. I was amazed, not so much on what program they were using (although effective) but how switched on and interested they were using the technology. Sometimes using such technologies seems “crazy” to us, but useful to others.