Op de website van School aan zet vind ik een verslag van de presentatie die Jules Pieters, onze vakgroepvoorzitter, gaf op de driedaagse conferentie Tien jaar leren in Lunteren. Ik vond dit verslag eigenlijk alleen op basis van de titel "Ondersteuning regel je niet met een workshopje", iets waar ik me graag bij aansluit. Een stukje uit het verslag:
Jules ziet de steeds ‘dikker' wordende methodes als een signaal. "Hoe meer er in de methode staat, hoe minder een leerkracht hoeft te kennen en kunnen - denken we vaak. Maar dat beperkt de ontwikkeling van de leerkracht en - dus - van het onderwijs." Hij pleit voor ‘dikke' leraren. Door te zorgen dat de juiste mensen leraar worden, bijvoorbeeld, en hen goed op te leiden tot effectieve onderwijzers en te zorgen dat het systeem de beste instructie voor ieder kind mogelijk maakt.
Maar ja, hoe zorg je daar dan voor? Volgens Jules "Door samen data te onderzoeken en te analyseren en door samen onderwijs te ontwikkelen en te evalueren en vooral door te accepteren dat nascholing hoort bij het vak.". En dit is uiteraard de kern van ons onderzoeksprogramma.. Geinteresseerd? Zie het verslag van Jules' presentatie, of ons onderzoeksprogramma!
Posts tonen met het label ut. Alle posts tonen
Posts tonen met het label ut. Alle posts tonen
vrijdag 24 juni 2011
woensdag 6 oktober 2010
Pedagogy and technology
Last week my course was all about pedagogical approaches and this week it's all about technology. You can follow the ideas of my students on their own blogs (see the menu on the rigt side of this blog).
During the past week the students had to post something on different pedagogical approaches and about the way these approaches can be supported by a web-based learning environment. From traditional learning to problem-based and collaborative learning and inquiry and experiential learning, many approaches are mentioned and described. But... most of them from the viewing point of a student. But what about the teacher? Should he/she be able to choose a certain approach based on the topic, audience, assignment, etc., and do this for every teaching or learning activity? Maybe yes, but we know (and I as a teacher know) from practice that you usually choose something that you are familiar with.
Probably the same can be said about the technologies that teachers use. Most of us will use some kind of web-based learning environment such as Blackboard, Teletop or Moodle, just because it's there and the university requires us to use it. Generally speaking (with of course some wonderful exceptions!) within these learning environments nothing really exciting happens. We use announcements and course information and we provide students with a schedule and deadlines for assignments.
To show the students that it is possible to "think out of the box" I let them play with my GPS, Nintendo DS, a camera, and one group played an online game. They had to play a little bit with the technology and after that think about how this "toy" can be used in education and what this means for students and teachers. Most students agreed that students would be very happy to use the technology, but when thinking about the implications for the teachers most comments were related to logistics (the technology has to be there, you have to have time in your curriculum, you have to keep an eye on the students) and to the (low) knowledge, skills and attitude of the teacher. None of the comments were related to pedagogy and only a few were related to the content of a specific course.
This is not surprinsing by the way! First of all I did not ask them to think about the relation between technology, pedagogy and content. And second: for many of them the technology was regarded as a "new" technology for teaching. Getting used to a new technology takes time, getting used to using a new technology in education takes even more time. And... yes... that's where TPACK comes in. As of next week we will discuss the TPACK model in my course and we will discuss how teachers can develop Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge and what we (as Educational Science and Technology people) can do to support the teachers in acquiring this knowlegde!
During the past week the students had to post something on different pedagogical approaches and about the way these approaches can be supported by a web-based learning environment. From traditional learning to problem-based and collaborative learning and inquiry and experiential learning, many approaches are mentioned and described. But... most of them from the viewing point of a student. But what about the teacher? Should he/she be able to choose a certain approach based on the topic, audience, assignment, etc., and do this for every teaching or learning activity? Maybe yes, but we know (and I as a teacher know) from practice that you usually choose something that you are familiar with.
Probably the same can be said about the technologies that teachers use. Most of us will use some kind of web-based learning environment such as Blackboard, Teletop or Moodle, just because it's there and the university requires us to use it. Generally speaking (with of course some wonderful exceptions!) within these learning environments nothing really exciting happens. We use announcements and course information and we provide students with a schedule and deadlines for assignments.
To show the students that it is possible to "think out of the box" I let them play with my GPS, Nintendo DS, a camera, and one group played an online game. They had to play a little bit with the technology and after that think about how this "toy" can be used in education and what this means for students and teachers. Most students agreed that students would be very happy to use the technology, but when thinking about the implications for the teachers most comments were related to logistics (the technology has to be there, you have to have time in your curriculum, you have to keep an eye on the students) and to the (low) knowledge, skills and attitude of the teacher. None of the comments were related to pedagogy and only a few were related to the content of a specific course.
This is not surprinsing by the way! First of all I did not ask them to think about the relation between technology, pedagogy and content. And second: for many of them the technology was regarded as a "new" technology for teaching. Getting used to a new technology takes time, getting used to using a new technology in education takes even more time. And... yes... that's where TPACK comes in. As of next week we will discuss the TPACK model in my course and we will discuss how teachers can develop Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge and what we (as Educational Science and Technology people) can do to support the teachers in acquiring this knowlegde!
zaterdag 25 september 2010
Flexible learning (2)
Last week I posted a message about the course that I am teaching in relation to "Pedagogies for Flexible Learning supported by Technology". In the mean time most of my students have made their own blog and are writing a post to introduce themselves and a post in which they share some ideas about flexibility and learning. I think it's great that they are doing this. They have just started their studies with me, for most of them it's the first time that they are blogging and they are just doing it! With some very nice results (you can follow them too, see the list of blogs on the right side of this blog)!
The interesting thing is that flexibility as a topic raises many different discussions. Not only about all the different kinds of flexibility that are possible (time, place, pace, content, learning strategies/approaches, etc.), but also in relation to for whom flexible learning is beneficial. In general the idea is that students would benefit most of flexible learning, especially if you follow the statement that my former colleagues Betty Collis and Jef Moonen are making in their book "Flexible Learning in a digital world". They argue that flexible learning is a movement away from a situation in which key decisions about learning are made in advance by the instructor or institution, toward a situation where the learner has a range of options from which to choose with respect to their learning.
Following this statement the idea raises that while flexible learning might be very attractive for students, it is on the other hand very inconvenient for teachers and for the organisation. And of course this argument can be made, because if a teacher has to cope with all the individual choices of each student, teaching will be an even more complicated job than it already is. But on the other hand.. this should not lead to instructors who are (as a response to all the demands) avoiding all kinds of flexibility in their teaching. Applying some level of flexibility can be great: working in your own time, choosing from different pedagogical approaches if you think it is necessary, using different kinds of resources to assure up-to-date information about your course/topic and using different kinds of technology to have an optimal support of your teaching and your students' learning.
The question is of course how to find the right balance..
The interesting thing is that flexibility as a topic raises many different discussions. Not only about all the different kinds of flexibility that are possible (time, place, pace, content, learning strategies/approaches, etc.), but also in relation to for whom flexible learning is beneficial. In general the idea is that students would benefit most of flexible learning, especially if you follow the statement that my former colleagues Betty Collis and Jef Moonen are making in their book "Flexible Learning in a digital world". They argue that flexible learning is a movement away from a situation in which key decisions about learning are made in advance by the instructor or institution, toward a situation where the learner has a range of options from which to choose with respect to their learning.
Following this statement the idea raises that while flexible learning might be very attractive for students, it is on the other hand very inconvenient for teachers and for the organisation. And of course this argument can be made, because if a teacher has to cope with all the individual choices of each student, teaching will be an even more complicated job than it already is. But on the other hand.. this should not lead to instructors who are (as a response to all the demands) avoiding all kinds of flexibility in their teaching. Applying some level of flexibility can be great: working in your own time, choosing from different pedagogical approaches if you think it is necessary, using different kinds of resources to assure up-to-date information about your course/topic and using different kinds of technology to have an optimal support of your teaching and your students' learning.
The question is of course how to find the right balance..
woensdag 22 september 2010
Flexible learning
Today my course "Pedagogies for Flexible Learning supported by Technology" started. The course is part of the mastertrack Curriculum Instruction and Media Applications (CIMA) from Educational Science and Technology (EST) at the University of Twente (UT). The course deals with the issues and opportunities of flexible learning, different pedagogical approaches and the possibilities to support this with different kind of technologies. In relation to this we will be discussing the TPACK framework and the relation of all this with teacher support and professional development of teachers.
Today the main topic of the course was Flexibility. The interesting thing is that this topic has been part of my course for several years now (since 2004). During the discussion about what flexibility is and what this means for educational programs there really is a shift in the way people think about flexibility. 5 to 10 years ago people would talk about flexibility options that were mostly related to time and place (and predominantly about distance education). Today's discussion was more about flexibility in relation to choices with regard to content, entry requirements and teaching approaches. On the one hand all these flexibility options seem very attractive for both teachers and students, but when you think about putting all this in practice... a big challenge!
One other topic that we discussed today was the use of a weblog for doing the assignments. Not many students have experience in using a weblog and some of them think it is a bit scary that everyone can read what you are writing. Understandable, but my experience is that once they start posting messages they also start liking this way of communicating. Not only with me, but especially with their fellow students. And (very important for me as a teacher) I really think that students learn more deeply from posting on a weblog, because they are not only submitting assignments, but they are also reflecting on what they write and what they have learned!
Today the main topic of the course was Flexibility. The interesting thing is that this topic has been part of my course for several years now (since 2004). During the discussion about what flexibility is and what this means for educational programs there really is a shift in the way people think about flexibility. 5 to 10 years ago people would talk about flexibility options that were mostly related to time and place (and predominantly about distance education). Today's discussion was more about flexibility in relation to choices with regard to content, entry requirements and teaching approaches. On the one hand all these flexibility options seem very attractive for both teachers and students, but when you think about putting all this in practice... a big challenge!
One other topic that we discussed today was the use of a weblog for doing the assignments. Not many students have experience in using a weblog and some of them think it is a bit scary that everyone can read what you are writing. Understandable, but my experience is that once they start posting messages they also start liking this way of communicating. Not only with me, but especially with their fellow students. And (very important for me as a teacher) I really think that students learn more deeply from posting on a weblog, because they are not only submitting assignments, but they are also reflecting on what they write and what they have learned!
woensdag 23 september 2009
Pedagogies for Flexible Learning supported by Technology
Vandaag is het vak "Pedagogies for Flexible Learning supported by Technology" weer begonnen. Het vak is onderdeel van onze masteropleiding "Curriculum, Instruction & Media Applications" aan de UT.
Studenten leren wat de mogelijkheden zijn van flexibiliteit in het onderwijs, welke onderwijskundige benaderingen er zijn (veel!) en hoe je deze benaderingen flexibel kunt aanbieden met behulp van ict-ondersteuning. Elke student houdt zijn of haar eigen weblog bij. Het lijstje met deze weblogs is in het rechtermenu terug te vinden voor de geinteresseerden!
Studenten leren wat de mogelijkheden zijn van flexibiliteit in het onderwijs, welke onderwijskundige benaderingen er zijn (veel!) en hoe je deze benaderingen flexibel kunt aanbieden met behulp van ict-ondersteuning. Elke student houdt zijn of haar eigen weblog bij. Het lijstje met deze weblogs is in het rechtermenu terug te vinden voor de geinteresseerden!
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