Tools for learning: Technology and teaching strategies

Tools for learning: Technology and teaching strategies

1. The role of technology in education

   • Advances in technology have an influence on the way people create, share, use and develop information in society.
   • Young people need to be highly skilled in their use of information and communications technologies (ICT).
     • It provides equity of opportunity, regardless of background.
   • The need to keep pace with society and prepare students for their roles in society are two reasons to use technology in education.
     • Technology becomes an integral part of the learning experience and an important consideration for teachers.
       • Experimentation and trial land- error are just as important as experience in what influences teachers’ lesson plans.

2. Learning with technological tools

   • Students will need the ability to create in a variety of manners and bring their visions and ideas alive through different types of media.
   • Teachers can use technology to assist their students in transforming knowledge and skills into products, solutions and new information.

3. Technology for understanding

   • Teachers can support students to process information by helping them to organise new information, link it to their existing knowledge and use memory aids to retrieve information.
     • Digital learning resources and computer software can be used to facilitate these processes.

4. Digital learning resources

   • They support information processing by helping students to develop mental representations through the mix of media elements presented to them.
     • When students meaningfully interact with the multimedia information, they encode this information into their long-term memory.
   • They include content and, sometimes, learning activities.
   • They combine multimedia elements including text, image, video and audio to present information.
   • The ones that are effectively designed:
     • 1. Exclude information and activities that are not directly related to schema construction.
     • 2. Focus on information and activities that directly relate to schema construction.
     • 3. Clearly identify the complexity of learning materials and experience of learner.
   • Teachers use digital resources for a variety of purposes:
     • • As a way to introduce students to a topic.
     • • As part of a teacher lecture or demonstration.
     • • As a stimulus to group or whole-class discussion.
     • • To provide students with access to different text types.
     • • To engage students in activities that are not possible in the classroom.
     • • To allow students to work at their own pace as a review or extension activity..

5. Webquests

   • They are an inquiry based activity that embeds the use of a variety of learning resources.
   • They have a consistent structure:
     • Introduction.
       • Orients students to the activity.
     • Task.
       • Clearly and concisely describes the outcome of the learning activity.
     • Process.
       • Lists the steps learners will take to accomplish the task.
     • Evaluation.
       • Provides a rubric to indicate how learners’ performance will be assessed.
     • Conclusions.
       • Summarises what students will have covered and learned.

6. Tools for analysis

   • They allow learners to manipulate information and visualise information in different ways.
     • Examples:
       • • Concept or mindmapping tools.
       • • Database software.
       • • Spreadsheet software.

7. Using technology to communicate

   • Students learn when they interact and communicate with other learners in a positive environment.
     • Technology can be used to facilitate social interaction and communication among learners in class, within a school, between schools and around the world.
       • Teachers can set a range of communication learning activities for students, including journal writing, speech writing, preparing topic talks, newsletters and debates.

8. Blogging

   • Journal writing allows students to reflect on what they are learning and how they are learning.
     • Blogs are personal journal websites on which a user can type an entry, add images, video and links to other websites.
       • Readers of a blog usually can post comments.

9. Collaborative learning with technology

   • Typically understood to be a situation in which two or more students work together to search for understanding or meaning, or to solve a problem.
     • Students are working together in teams and using computer tools and resources to search for information, to publish results and create products.
       • Some education-specific, virtual worlds have been constructed to allow students to work together to develop their understanding of a topic.
   • Teachers are using websites such as Folder Share, Stickam, Talk and Write, Tikiwiki and Google Docs and Spreadsheets.

10. Creating with technology

    • The creation of new ideas can be exemplified through stories, maps, projects, games, journals and much more.
      • Perhaps one of the most innovative ways to use technology in the classroom is for students to create original texts.
    • For 21st-century students, creativity is an important focus.
      • Using technology to create artefacts and products allows learners to demonstrate creative thinking and their construction of knowledge.

11. Evaluating technology for teaching and learning

    • Some criteria and questions teachers might ask themselves when evaluating educational software, applications and resources are:
      • Age/year level:
        • • Is the application appropriate for the age and year level of the students?
      • Curriculum links:
        • • Are the content and examples relevant to the curriculum?
      • Instructional content:
        • • Is the information accurate, complete and current?
      • Engaging and interactive:
        • • Will the learner(s) be actively involved in using the tool?
      • Assessment:
        • • Are assessment tasks included, or can the teacher develop relevant assessment tasks that link to the use of the tool?
      • Flexibility:
        • • Can the tool be used for multiple curriculum units?
      • Media:
        • • Does the medium used support or distract from the learning activity?
      • Usability:
        • • Is the tool easy to use and intuitive?
      • Technical considerations:
        • • Does the tool work consistently?
      • Support materials:
        • • Are teaching support materials or online resources available to help a teacher embed the tool into lessons?

12. Challenges and barriers

    • The barriers to using technology in the classroom are many and include, among others, resource limitations, teacher knowledge and skills, and teacher attitudes and beliefs
      • Teachers also report having limited time to review and learn about new technology tools that they can use in their teaching.
      • The constant challenge for teachers is to draw upon their continually developing knowledge and skills about what to teach and how to teach.

13. Tendencias Actuales En La Capacitación Del Idioma

    • Zoila Delgado González