ICT: Interested in conversations and thinking

Primary school student Kimberley Fenton with CASI the Mars Rover model. CASI is remotely controlled by a Casio graphic calculator.

“ICT should be about the conversations students are having, not the technology,” according to 2008 MoE E-learning Fellow Michael Fenton.

“Technology should come second to what teachers’ are really interested about… what the students have learnt from the experience.”

For those familiar with Michael’s Real-world Interactive Games and Electronics Link (RIGEL) this may seem an odd comment. But he says this philosophy fits well with his research into the use of mobile sensor technology and authentic learning in primary and secondary schools.

His “black box” sensor unit has been attached to standard Texas Instruments and Casio graphic calculators to turn them into data loggers. The calculators were also converted into remote control units capable of driving a model Mars Rover robot in his Calculus class.

He is looking forward to seeing students “fly” a bike connected to a 3D virtual world this term. But he doesn’t like being labelled an ICT “expert”.

Michael says that any teacher would be hard pressed to keep up with the rapid changes in ICT and E-Learning and should not worry about trying to keep up with their students.

As an example, it doesn’t matter if the student uses Google Apps, or if hard copy, e-copy, static or animated presentations are created using applications the teacher is unfamiliar with. Social networking technologies and mash-ups add to the confusion of possibilities for learning experiences and assessment.

It seems the only constant in ICT is change.

“That’s OK if you realise that technology should be seen as a scaffold for the student to build their understanding on. Give them a chance to show off their expertise.

“With the games and robots this year I can see how students have developed their thinking by being stimulated through using the technology. So why not let them do things their way as long as it also meets assessment criteria?”

He goes on to add, “Unless the task specifically looks at the technology itself, why not let the students be the expert users while the teacher takes the role of the expert assessor?

“For instance, I might judge a student as working at Excellence level if their dialogue and presentations suggests a peer-to-peer level conversation is taking place. Simple recall of facts would indicate Achieved level.”

This concept of “levels of conversation” has appealed to the colleagues Michael has sounded out about his idea.

“The medium used should be irrelevant, the focus has to be on what the student is saying and how well they understand it. Students can converse orally, on paper, or via any appropriate ICT in use or yet to be devised.

“Teachers should be aware of different technologies as a matter of good professional practice, but don’t let them be seen as something to be afraid of.”

Michael has taught biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, computing and electronics to tertiary level as well as at various secondary schools.

He will be presenting a workshop at ULearn08 in Christchurch in October.

Michael has a website, for teachers and students of all ages, full of fun and educational projects involving technology, science and games design: www.nexusresearchgroup.com