Using interactive whiteboards in the classroom!

Having never previously encountered the term “interactive whiteboard”, I can surprisingly and assertively state that it is a useful pedagogical tool to incorporate. Simply put, I understand an interactive whiteboard to be a touch-sensitive screen that works together with a computer. It can be used as a tool for collaboration, improving student learning outcomes and streamlining lesson planning. Through interactive whiteboards, we can interact with digital content and multimedia in a multi-person learning environment.

Interactive whiteboards, also known as SMART boards have a vast array of advantages and potential. One such advantage is improved learning in the classroom. Students have various learning styles – some are auditory learners, absorbing information efficiently through spoken word, while others are visual learners. Interactive whiteboards provide the opportunity to absorb information in multiple ways, which helps to increase the retention and synthesis of the information being presented. Furthermore, considering images can be saved and printed, students are able to participate rather than take notes during a discussion. This links to the notion of collaboration, which I think is an important factor in the learning environment: Interactive whiteboards allow students to become part of the process, rather than simply receiving prepared information.

A study was done in the United States where it was found that the interactive whiteboard supports conversation in the classroom, and helps with the presentation of new cultural and linguistic elements. This is beneficial in both Life Orientation (LO) and English classes. In LO, interactive whiteboards can be used to introduce cultural diversity. Educational websites and videos can be viewed as a group, whereby the teacher can add constructive comments as the lesson progresses. These comments can be saved, printed and distributed to the class as a set of notes. In an English classroom, making notes in digital ink can be beneficial when teaching language and spelling, especially if it is a First Additional Language class in which elaborative explanations are required. In terms of oral communication or speeches, the teacher can showcase previous student presentations to the class. This offers a direct example of what may be expected from current learners.

In a nutshell, interactive whiteboards essentially promote student engagement, as teachers can use digital resources while maintaining a dynamic interaction with the entire class. Interactive whiteboards thus have great potential and I feel they should be incorporated where possible! 

Meaningful Involvement of Learners in my Classroom!

An effective way to facilitate the relationship between a teacher and his/her learners would be to establish a set of mutual boundaries and a code of conduct applicable to the classroom. In this way, learners are able to voice their expectations of the class, as well as any worries or concerns. This creates an environment of open communication, which Shannon Foley argues to be an effective practice of student well-being. Foley further argues that it is important to understand the learners’ circumstances and promote “pro-social bonding”. Meditating on the meaningful involvement of learners in my future classroom, I would incorporate activities that enable learners to share their background and culture with the class, thus informing and familiarizing the learners with their peers. I would also incorporate Foley’s idea of a birthday calendar, where learners will be given the opportunity to fill in their birth dates and have it displayed in the classroom, thus personalizing their classroom environment.

After reading the material by Abby Willis, the inevitability dawned on me that all of us PGCE students are bound to receive a restless and distracted class, be it due to the time of day or an inconvenient lesson slot. I found the Willis article incorporated participation, creativity, reflection and cooperation in a rather simplistic way. By trusting one’s learners with a fair amount of responsibility and resisting the urge to take full control, learners are given the opportunity to become actively involved and focus on the task at hand. Therefore, the ability to shift responsibility can become a tool in facilitating a positive outcome in the classroom.

As Foley states in “Effective pedagogy- teaching the whole child”, effective teaching involves the academic, behavioural and social elements that create and encourage a positive classroom environment. Should any obstacles be encountered regarding the above three elements, I as a teacher would like to present myself as approachable, available and accessible to students in need of assistance.

Resources are highly stimulating in the classroom and are defined by Foley as “materials and aids that support the delivery of a lesson or unit.” Resources further allow for the meaningful involvement of learners: assessments can be in the form of posters or models, which will be placed in the classroom and used as a learning tool during the course of a lesson. Lastly, a physical activity can be useful in attaining concentration, structure and cooperation in the classroom, as proven by Willis. I would therefore consider implementing a simple 5 minute physical task at the start of each lesson, in order to stimulate the necessary atmosphere needed for effective learning to take place.

The Standards of Critical Digital Pedagogy

Sam Hamilton highlights a crucial point in arguing that all students need to become critically conscious of the cultural and political oppression employed through educational standards.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) involves thinking critically and creatively about information and communication, as citizens of the global community. Hamilton argues that the current standards of ICT literacy are limiting, particularly in the confinement of teacher–student roles. However, teachers are no longer in a position to control or dictate what kind of knowledge should be internalized. This is made explicit in the documentary “the Independent Project”, whereby a group of learners break away from the standardized education system and engage in self-directed learning. Self-directed learning can be defined as “a process in which individuals take the initiative with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying resources for learning, choosing and implementing learning strategies and evaluating learning methods.”

As illustrated in the documentary, self-directed learning can be highly beneficial as it captures the lost interest of students and allows them to take control of their learning environment. However, a key issue is the notion of access. All the learners who participated in “the independent project” had access to available resources in order to guide their objectives. Hamilton argues that functional, experimental and critical access are an assumed standard of ICT literacy, yet this challenge should not prevent educators from striving for inclusion. As Bernardo Trejos states, it merely presents an opportunity for teaching and learning to grow.

Hamilton brings forth a statement that changes the preconceived perspective regarding digital technology: “…digital technologies become tools to learn with, as opposed to dynamic processes to learn through.” This emphasizes the previous points made by Sean Michael Morris and Jesse Stommel, who state that digital technology is most valuable when used in a playful and creative manner. This is precisely what one sees when watching “the Independent Project”, as the learners take on new innovative strategies to teach themselves and learn from others.

ICT standards, in their rigid and unimaginative form, resist the idea of knowledge as an ever-changing and timeless construct. This conception limits the potential of technology-mediated, self-directed learning. Hamilton’s article argues how new digital tools can allow learners to progress via the adaptation and renewal of old tools, concepts and methods. This readjustment can be seen through the incorporation of critical digital pedagogy into existing ICT literacy. In agreement with Hamilton’s perspective, the above is a challenging objective with the potential to extraordinarily change the common assumptions regarding education and one’s role in the system.

Social Media in the Classroom!

While contemplating the incorporation of social media into the classroom, I decided to investigate the disadvantages. From cyberbullying to identity theft and corporate invasion of privacy, the list seemed rather extensive. Therefore, I would begin with an introductory lesson regarding social media in both my curriculum specialisations – English and Life Orientation. Setting the boundaries on what can be considered appropriate and illustrating how my learners can maintain a safe space from social media sharks, would be my first priority.

In agreement with Nicholas Provenzano, specific media tools can greatly expand learning beyond the classroom setting. Social media is inescapable, especially if your occupation involves teaching in the 21^st century. Twitter has proved itself useful as one receives instant responses from fellow followers, thus I would use twitter to tweet announcements and links that relate to the topics discussed in class.

As the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. In my English class, I would combine Instagram, blogging and Twitter as a form of assessment: students would be required to post a photo that relates to a particular theme, blog about the visual and share the accessible links via twitter. Provenzano argues that the action of commenting plays an important role, as it stimulates deeper thinking and communication. I think it would also make for a good class discussion. As an extension, students would need to read the blogs of their peers and bring their comments to class for engagement. This would provide an opportunity for students to practise their ‘social media commenting skills’ concerning sensitive topics. The advantage being that there would be no hardcopy of naïve and inexperienced comments that may create a burden in the future – Without paper, its vapour!

Life Orientation is considered an important subject, as it creates an awareness about and lays a foundation for the environment in which we live. What is social media if not communicating about the influential events around us? Social media can become an educational tool in the Life Orientation classroom, through the use of YouTube videos regarding awkward subjects like infections/diseases and anatomical changes. In order to facilitate learning, students would be encouraged to blog and comment about their responses. The environment is constantly changing, with our finite resources depleting at a rapid rate. In groups, learners can create videos about the ways in which people can intervene. These intervention videos can be posted on social media sites like Facebook, allowing learners to contribute to a worldly cause and learn in the process.

Vicki Davis said it best: “social media is another tool that you can use to make your classroom more engaging, relevant and culturally diverse.”

Decoding Digital Pedagogy

Sean Michael Morris makes a strong argument in part one of the ‘Decoding Digital Pedagogy’ article. My understanding being that there is a major difference between digital pedagogy and online teaching. Although I agree with this position, I do think that online teaching is a necessary step in the field of Education. The Learning Management System (LMS) can be defined as web-based technology used to plan, implement and access courses or training programs. It incorporates a rigid structure of learning, where a range of information is presented with expected memorisation. Yes, the interface and functionalities control the methods of online teaching and it is not the most creative decision, but it is still beneficial. The LMS is arguably a centralized source of learning, where multiple users can access the information at any given time. These systems ensure consistency and offer an affordable alternative to individuals who lack the necessary resources to pedagogically engage.

How smoothly would our PGCE course run without SUNLearn?

It isn’t that “we are not ready to teach online” per se, but rather that we are still in the process of understanding the technological terrain we have created, and hitting a pothole on the way to discovery does not necessarily make it an incorrect choice.

Upon reading these articles, I felt online teaching merely indicated a starting point on the ever-growing scale of technology and pedagogy. On this note, I view digital pedagogy as the next step – the utilization of electronic elements to correct the defaults embedded in online teaching. The major downside of online teaching is the lack of active learning and engagement, which is an aspect thoroughly emphasised in digital pedagogy through the idea of collaborative teaching. In hindsight, a number of teachers in the classroom (who have the ability and resources to be digital pedagogues) STILL merely slot “pre-written materials into an online framework” and call it teaching – this is neither pedagogy nor due to the LMS alone!

Jesse Stommel states that in order to become an expert in digital pedagogy, “we need research, experience and openness to each new learning activity, technology, or collaboration.”  I thus find Morris to be contradictory in his claim that the LMS has failed. In true pedagogical style, we should learn from the limitations posed. Digital pedagogy requires the pedagogue to take control of the tools at his/her disposal, where creativity is key! Do the unexpected and it is bound to keep the class interesting.

Digital pedagogy is not the final product… there is more to come in a world where flying cars are anticipated.

Digital Pedagogy Unplugged

Embarking on a teaching degree at Stellenbosch University has been an overwhelming experience to say the least. Moving down from Johannesburg presented a vast array of the unknown, but none quite like our 'Digital Pedagogy' module. In the very first lecture a valid point was highlighted, one that remains crucial to any future teaching career: teachers are slaves to the journey of learning! I feel this point has been made explicit in Paul Fyfe's article - 'Digital Pedagogy Unplugged'.

In our rapidly progressing world, technology is inevitably influencing our reality and what is teaching if not to prepare us for the real world? Fyfe ultimately makes the point of adapting pedagogy to cohere in a digital age. My understanding of digital pedagogy involves a process of critical thinking in deciding what digital tools to incorporate and exclude in the classroom, in order for effective learning to take place. As Fyfe states, many educators are under the impression that digital pedagogy is "just something that uses electronic tools or computers". This assumption disregards the multitude of innovative teaching strategies that are now available and that can stimulate new ways of thinking.  

However, the article also incorporates the idea of "teaching naked" or removing electronic tools or computers from the classroom. This becomes an important skill when considering the South African context, since many learners are situated in environments that are made up of the bare essentials – if that. Essentially, the optimal teaching space draws on the strengths of both 'old-school' teaching methods, as well as digital tools. Fyfe presents a dialogical argument with several examples illustrating the ways in which this can be achieved.

Although I stumbled blindly through specific sections of this article, I thoroughly enjoyed the idea of a ‘flipped classroom’ in which students are given the opportunity to take ownership of their learning. By allowing discussions and engagement in various activities, the digital environment shifts the position of authority in the classroom. I believe that this is a necessary change, since today’s adolescents encounter a more complex and diverse social network when leaving the classroom setting. Therefore, critical thinking enabled by digital pedagogy is a necessary skill. And so teachers remain slaves to the journey of learning, for it is not about maintaining superiority in the classroom, but rather about creating an active environment in which students can thrive.