eLearning in an Irish Secondary School

copyright Donal O' Mahony Portmarnock Commnity School

Some ‘online’ ideas …

Portmarnock Community School

September 2009


…my research question …some policy …research with pupils in the school …a response to the policymakers …Scoilnet…Worldbook … Digital school-book publishing …YouTube…iTunesU …safety


My research question

How can I improve teaching and learning through engaging with the communicative, creative and collaborative nature of social software?


Social Software

… technologies that are easy to access and relatively straightforward to use. They allow people to connect with each other using a variety of media.

The term social-software was first used in 2002

Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube, Discussion boards on Sports sites etc., Blogs, Flickr etc


Action Research

… a form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own practices, their understanding of these practices, and the situations in which the practices are carried out (Carr and Kemmis 1986).


Action Research can be messy, can call for inventiveness, is unique to the particular area that is researched

A study of singularity

Carried out over cycles of research – continues over and over…


Some policy – National Council for Curriculum and Assessment

Benefits in using ICT in teaching and learning

Student’s active involvement in learning

development of higher order thinking skills

learning in authentic environments


Benefits in using ICT in teaching and learning

interest and engagement in learning

differentiated learning

collaborative learning

assessment of and for learning (NCCA 2007).


NCCA - ICT Framework of four headings


Learning opportunities

Creating, Communicating and Collaborating

Developing foundational knowledge, skills and concepts

Thinking critically and creatively

Understanding the social and personal impact of ICT


But who is to do this?

The ICT teacher?

Or

The subject teacher?


The subject teacher

…is doing this as they teach their own English, Maths, Gaeilge, Science etc. class…

…ICT not as an extra subject (though it still can be) but as integrated into everyday teaching and learning


…huge expectation from policymakers

…that expectation now beginning to appear at

…school-level policymaking


The e-Learning Plan

Integrating ICT into everyday teaching and learning


National Centre for Technology and Education


NCTE

good practice in using ICT for teaching and learning

Examples on their website - Integrating ICT across the post primary curriculum



Some practical research


10X…as a subject teacher

Timetabled for 3 History Classes per week Two in BX, one in HX by arrangement A lot of distractions:

Passwords: school and moodle Students email addresses Web filtering by the NCTE not allowing certain

actions to be carried out in relation to Web 2.0 Safety – the need to stop and teach about issues

as they arose e.g. tagging (and geo-tagging)


Specific issues

Using the HTML editor in Moodle

Uploading / copying / pasting photos

Various levels of confidence using ICT


Plagiarism

Wikipedia

Good search practices

Writing in your own words


Outcomes

All can use Moodle e.g. class glossaries, simple discussion forums

Attempted a project using Babberize to create a talking picture

Created 2 history websites each using Google sites


20X a new cycle of research

Blogging…see where it takes us!

[WordPress].


NCCA


How realistic are policymakers expectations?

BX: Laptop / data-projector / broadband / speakers

HX: Fully equipped computer room

Supportive principal, parents and colleagues


How realistic are policymakers expectations?

Teacher Training

Student training

ICT and pedagogy

Digital literacy

Wanting to do it - enthusiasm

With every class?


This is done during your three class periods per week!



Scoilnet/World book


Scoilnet

Department of Education and Science portal for primary and secondary level


Digital content

World Book The World Book Online which is available to

schools contains the entire text of the 22-volume Encyclopaedia, plus illustrations, video clips, 3D panoramic views, and sound files. Articles bring together a complete story with multimedia content, as well as research aids and links to related information.


Digital school-book publishing

In a digital future textbooks are history

NY Times

EdCo


Digital content – YouTube and iTunesU

YouTube YouTube-EDU

Apple and Education iTunes iTunes Podcasts iTunesU


Being sensible!

Stay within the school’s network – robust

Need to educate…need to monitor…

Children and time spent online

Tagging, tag-clouds and geotagging


Tagging – words to define yourself by


Tag-cloud: the word content of a site


Geotagging

Geotagging is the process of adding geographical identification to various media such as photographs….

eLearning in an Irish Secondary School

Education

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