As demands on the needs for schools to equip students with digital literacy skills increase, it is important for schools to have well-developed IT strategy. JOREL Education Consultants can assist your school to develop ICT strategies to support educational goals and vision.
The first step to achieving this goal is to define the Technology Vision and map the Educational outcomes to be delivered through the curriculum.
- Does your school’s Vision for Learning incorporate technology?
- Do you have a Digital Strategy?
- How is technology incorporated into the teacher’s pedagogy within the school?
JOREL Information Services can help you to answer these questions and develop solutions.
Look at some of our posts for some insights into technology and education.
Schools are challenged to adopt computer technology to improve the learning environment. There is increasing demand to ‘demonstrate’ how and where the technology is being used in the school. This can lead to the technology driving the curriculum. When considering how and where to use technology in the classroom consideration must be given to the purpose and process of notetaking and the mechanism by which this occurs.
A study by Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014) found there was direct electrophysiological evidence that larger networks in the brain are activated when drawing by hand then when typing on the keyboard. The research found that notes taken in longhand were more effective with respect to learning outcomes than verbatim keyboard note-taking.
There are two types of notetaking – generative or non-generative. Generative notetaking involves summarising, reframing, paraphrasing and non-generative involves verbatim transcribing. As some students can type faster than they can write there is a tendency to take down everything – Verbatim notetaking typically involves relatively shallow cognitive processing . Generative note-taking, on the other hand, leads to greater encoding and better performance on conceptual items.
A later study by cognitive neuropsychologists Audrey van der Meer and Ruud van der Weel from the Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU) studied the differences between using a pen and a keyboard, to see how both tools impact learning . In their study, over 250 sensors were connected to students to monitor the difference in brain signals between using keyboard and pen to take notes. The results found that the when writing or drawing by hand different parts of the brain were active and in different ways. According to van der Meer, “This difference in activity is significant, it tells us that using a pen to take notes means that the brain is able to process learning in a much more effective way.”
The studies suggest that student’s ability to retain information is significantly increased through handwriting notes compared with typing them. The supports the benefits of using digital inking to take notes, annotate documents and visualise information in a meaningful way. Stylus technologies, not only provide students with an electronic record of their notes, the sensory-motor nature of writing and drawing may improve the learning process and retention of information.
Although 21st Century Learning Skills have been around for more than a decade, educators are still considering how to move forward and empower both the teacher and the student. Tools such as OneNote and Microsoft teams provide students with the ability to collaborate on projects, share ideas and extend the learning beyond the classroom walls.
For students to participate in a “knowledge-based economy and be empowered within a technologically sophisticated society now and into the future, students need the knowledge, skills and confidence to make ICT work for them at school, at home, at work and in their communities.”[1]
Tools such as OneNote and Teams enable students to better engage in inquiry approaches, collaborative work and real-world situations, opportunities the OECD recommends schools provide to equip students with 21st Century skills. Online tools, however, are only part of the picture, their use must be firmly supported with pedagogy with attention to 21st century skills and collaborative opportunities. The partnership for 21st Century Learning refer to 4 C’s in preparing students for the future – Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Communication and Creativity as specific skills that are important to prepare students for a global society. Also recognising the changing needs of the learner – The Foundation for Young Australian’s discusses the increasing demand for enterprise skills in their report ‘The New Basics’. Enterprise skills are problem solving, creativity, communication, teamwork, financial literacy, digital literacy, critical thinking and presentation skills. Their research identified a 70% increase in the demand for these skills in the workplace.
ICT capability is about equipping students with the skills needed to navigate and use the range of digital technologies available to them, develop new ways of doing things as technologies evolve and minimise risks to themselves and others in a digital environment.
[1] https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/information-and-communication-technology-ict-capability/
Small children are accessing technology before they start school. Kindergarten children can access apps and programs, primary school students can make their own blogs and access YouTube channels.Yet when we enter the classroom these skills are often not recognised or utilised. Our new 21st century learners, are different from those of the first decade of the 21st century. They are capable of engaging in collaborative and creative learning experiences and teachers and administrators need to rethink the role of technology in the classroom.
We need to put technology back in the hands of the students and provide them with more progressive options for technology use. We need to provide opportunities for students to explore, create, problem solve and collaborate, through the use of information technology, to enable students to achieve their potential.
With the demands of the curriculum, the question is “How do we fit this all in?” This requires a rethink of the classroom dynamic. A move from the teacher as the focus to an environment where the teacher creates and orchestrates learning opportunities through discovery and creation. An environment where the students acts as the explorer, designer and problem solver. Rather than the teacher providing the data, students can engage in discovery and exploration using real data to understand the changes in the water quality in the local waterways area. They can collaborate with schools along the waterway to share and compare real data about the changes in water quality. Students can research, theorise and communicate possible solutions, using a range of online tools and resources.